Same drill here: let me know if you have any thoughts or concerns about my choices.
1. LSU Tigers
2. Alabama Crimson Tide
3. Stanford Cardinal
4. Oklahoma St. Cowboys
5. Clemson Tigers
Oklahoma and Wisconsin losses shook up the top five. I really like how Stanford is playing right now, so I'm moving them up to three. Both Stanford and OSU will have chances to prove that they deserve to play the winner of LSU / 'Bama. With a schedule that doesn't give it opportunities to prove otherwise, Clemson will have to hope both fall if it wants its shot. I do like Clemson more than Boise, though. Boise is simply an unknown due to its schedule, and it struggled with Air Force this week. Boise really needs to be winning all of its games by 30 points or so if it wants to make a case for itself.
6. Boise St. Broncos
7. Oregon Ducks
8. Kansas St. Wildcats
9. Michigan St. Spartans
10. Arkansas Razorbacks
Oregon continues to win impressively despite the injuries, and they deserve to move up for that reason. KSU remains undefeated, and that win over Texas Tech certainly looks more impressive now, so I'm going to start giving them a bit more credit. They could make a case for themselves as a national-title contender if they beat Oklahoma. MSU was one of the week's big winners after knocking off Wisconsin. Arkansas won this week, but it looked less than impressive doing so, and I'm not as impressed with them as I am with fellow one-loss teams Oregon and MSU.
11. Wisconsin Badgers
12. Oklahoma Sooners
13. Texas A&M Aggies
14. Texas Tech Red Raiders
15. Auburn Tigers
Wisconsin and Oklahoma were the week's big losers, and I'm knocking Oklahoma lower because, quite frankly, their defense looked awful last night. The next three teams all have two or more losses, but all of the losses have come to top-flight competition, and each team also has some decent wins to its credit, so I'm placing them above some of the one-loss teams because I simply think they're better. I know some people are going to quibble with where I'm placing Auburn, but do you think any of the teams below them are clearly better than the Tigers?
16. South Carolina Gamecocks
17. Michigan Wolverines
18. Houston Cougars
19. Virginia Tech Hokies
20. Georgia Bulldogs
These are mostly teams that you just don't know what to do with. Other than Houston, any of them could potentially make a run towards the top 15 or higher with strong finishes, but any of them could just as easily fall apart down the stretch. As for Houston, I'm a believer and think they'll win out, with the one major challenge being a likely CUSA championship matchup with Southern Miss. However, that schedule is unlikely to impress voters enough to get the Cougars in the top 10. Houston played one BCS program this year, and that was a hapless UCLA team that UH struggled to put away. There's just not enough meat on the schedule there.
21. West Virginia Mountaineers
22. Arizona St. Sun Devils
23. Southern California Trojans
24. Cincinnati Bearcats
25. Penn St. Nittany Lions
More of the same here. These are teams that have won some games but that have question marks. I think WVU has the best chance of making noise down the stretch. I was kind of shocked they lost to Syracuse, and I don't expect them to play like that again.