Okay, that game was a whole lot closer than it needed to be at the end of the game. I can’t believe A&M had a shot to win the game. Anyway, I will write more about that later since SC is now in the poll at number 25. On to the 24 teams ahead of the Gamecocks.

Georgia got to watch their strength of schedule go up on their bye week. Oregon is in the driver seat in the Pac-12, South Carolina gets ranked this week, and Tennessee and Kentucky stay where they were in the poll. Georgia gets the Gators in Jacksonville this weekend. This should be another tune up for Tennessee game that will determine who goes to play Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.

Ohio State slept through the opening of the Iowa game but did eventually wake up to score another 50 odd points. I think I saw where this was the longest streak of 50-point games in their long history. They have another tune up at Penn State this weekend. They might only get to score 40 points this time. I don’t think it will be much of a game…and neither does Penn State as they used their "White Out" game this last Saturday against Minnesota.

Tennessee did what you were supposed to do to Tennessee-Martin. You score a lot early and take your starters out at half time. It would be nice if SC could do that. The competition gets a little harder this weekend against Kentucky, but I don’t see this as being a tough game. Tennessee’s defense will need to step up though. They can’t keep getting into shoot outs and hope to win in the last seconds like against Alabama.

Michigan will have it’s second bye week this week with little brother coming to the Big House. Michigan has a very manageable schedule until the last 2 weeks of the season. Coach Khaki is loving life right now. He was probably watching his brother’s team barely beat Cleveland yesterday. Coach Khaki hopes he can pull off another win against Ohio State in the same fashion.

Clemson comes back from an eleven-point deficient to beat Syracuse. They also benched their starting QB midway through the 3rd quarter. I thought we’d see a QB controversy this year, I just thought it would have happened earlier this season. Dabo is still saying that DJ is his QB, but se have seen this song and dance before in the upstate. While this might not be another Bryant/Lawrence situation, it does make you wonder what will happen the next time DJ has a bad game (maybe on the road against Notre Dame).

Alabama wasted a shutout in the last seconds of the game Saturday night. I don’t know what happened to Miss State, but they have put on 2 stinkers in a row. Alabama’s defense decide to show up a week late. They still control their destiny in the SEC West right now. It was a little easier now that Ole Miss lost. They have a week off to get ready for a trip to Death Valley to play LSU. I think the last time Saban coached against Kelly, it was a blowout because Manti Te’o was looking for his girlfriend or something.

TCU is the first of many beneficiaries of LSU beating Ole Miss. TCU has the Big XII on lock right now. Another win against a ranked opponent, and TCU has the outright lead in the conference. I’m not sure here is a bigger turnaround in College Football this year. They already have more conference wins that last year. They still have 3 road games to play: at West by God Virginia, Texas, and Baylor. I would put those in the same order to rank them easiest to hardest. The home games against Texas Tech and Iowa State seem to be more manageable.

Oregon cake walked UCLA to be top dog of the Pac-12 again. I can’t believe Bo Nix actually won a biggish game. I think that might be a first for him, at least in college. The Ducks must have gotten some good mojo from their celebrity guest picker, Sebrina Ionescu. It’s not like she won any big games either, so maybe that mojo left Bo Nix for a day because someone else was in the area. I hope the team invites her back for the Pac-12 Championship game. They need something to help Nix win another biggish game.

Oklahoma State is back in the top 10 after beating Texas. The Cowboys can’t get too complacent with number 22 Kansas State up this week. It was a good bounce back win after losing to TCU though. They need TCU to lose twice though in order to claim the regular season title in the Big XII. Their schedule is a little easier than TCU the rest of the season. If they get bast the Wildcats and Jayhawks (who would have thought that), then they should win out.

Bottom Cal moves up 2 spots without playing this weekend. I hope they are over their trip and loss to Utah. The trip to Arizona should be a little easier this weekend, both in terms of weather and the competition. The best thing that happened over the weekend is UCLA losing finally. How long has it been that UCLA lasted longer in the realm of unbeatens than Bottom Cal? Riley and company need to finish the rest of the year unbeaten to have an outside shot at the playoffs.

Wake Forest ties Bottom Cal with 927 points in the poll to tie for 10th. An easy win against Boston College was enough to move up 3 spots (that and Ole Miss and UCLA losing). It does appear that Wake’s schedule is back loaded with NC State, UNC, and Syracuse all ranked. I’m not saying those will be hard games, but they will certainly need to keep scoring points to win games.

UCLA drops 3 spots after there loss in Eugene. They kept it to a 2-score game at least. Plus, who knew that Bo Nix could win a hyped game. You still have as many loses as Bottom Cal, so that should make you feel better. Besides Bottom Cal, you literally have no one to worry about on the schedule. This could be a historic 11-win season if you can win at home against Bottom Cal.

Penn State moves up 3 spots after beating Minnesota in the "White Out" game. I feel like Penn State is a yo-yo because they will drop back down after losing to Ohio State this week. They could possibly be the worst 10-2 team at the end of the year. I mean, Purdue or Minnesota is your best win so far this year. If you beat Maryland in a couple of weeks, that might be your best win? I’m sure there could be another team that will take that distinction, but Penn State would be right up there in the voting.

Utah is up one spot after their bye week. They are still 4 spots behind a team they beat, but when does head-to-head games actually matter? They are the first 2-loss team ranked though. So, they are doing better than some 1-loss teams. Washington State almost beat Oregon, so it’s not like you can go to Pullman and just walk out a winner. They only have one Pac-12 loss, so they are in it at least. That loss to Florida has to be like a rock in your shoe you just can’t get out…annoying as hell.

Ole Miss plummets down the poll only stopping at umber 15. Not scoring after half time usually doesn’t work out well for any team, and it didn’t help Lane out any on Saturday. They need regroup and go win at College Station. Not sure what the A&M QB situation will be, but you better hammer the Aggies to set up any chance you have to salvage the SEC West.

Syracuse only falls one spot after blowing an 11-point 4th quarter lead to Clemson. Why anyone thinks Clemson is like they were 2-3 years ago is crazy. I see there are 5 teams from the ACC in the poll, but would they hold up against teams from other conferences? It’s a good year for Syracuse, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t think they should only fall 2 spots. I think the next 4 teams would beat them on a neutral site.

Illinois moves up 1 spot during there bye week. I think that is the magnetic force of Bielema. A somewhat easy game against Nebraska is on tap this week. If you beat Nebraska, you basically wrap up the B1G West title. Well, I guess you need to beat Purdue in a few weeks. You know Michigan will be a loss. So, you really don’t need to lose to anyone else in the B1G West.

LSU comes back into the poll all the way up to number 18. Man, you should feel bad for beating Juice Kiffin. I thought you guys were animal friendly, with your live tiger mascot. But there you go just whipping that poor dog. Kelly seems to have things on track in the bayou. Just like with Utah, that opening week loss to Florida State is killing you guys right now. Honestly, I’m not sure how you lost to Mississippi state after their last 2 games.

Kentucky didn’t get any love for not playing this last weekend. They remain in the same spot at number 19. You have looked at the Tennessee death star for several weeks now, you better have an answer on defense. I don’t think your offense can score with them, so your defense better make it a game. I don’t see that happening. I guess it depends on how bad you lose as to if you will stay in the poll after this Saturday.

Cincinnati squeaks by SMU and moves up 1 spot. You are still the highest ranked group of 5 team. Voters are not looking favorably on your loss to Arkansas and the low margin of victory against other AAC teams. Tulane is trying to move up to catch you, but I guess you will settle that in a few weeks. The Bearcats are looking to play themselves into a New Year’s 6 bowl game.

UNC and their freshman QB move up a spot on their bye week. See how the theme is going. It’s SEC bias in reverse. Not a whole lot to say here other than good luck with your defense. Playing anyone with a pulse on offense has to keep Mack Brown up at night. I guess Chizik should have stayed in studio. I hope he wasn’t thinking he was going to go in a prove himself to be Mack’s replacement. I think their OC is holding on to that spot right now.

Kansas State falls 5 spots after the loss to a top 10 team. Not sure how that equates to Syracuse only falling 2 spots. I think the Clemson bias is strong with that. Everyone doesn’t want 3 SEC teams in the playoffs, I guess. TCU still has a chance to lose 2 games in the Big XII. You just have to keep winning the rest of your games to have a shot at the championship game. I still don’t think you are in the top 2 teams in the conference, but you can prove me wrong.

Tulane moves up 2 spots in their quest to spoil Cincinnati’s dream of a New Years 6 bowl. The good news is with 7 wins you are going to a bowl somewhere. I have no idea if it will be a good one or not. You still have 3 tough games on the schedule with UCF, SMU, and Cincinnati. It looks like your schedule is stepping up in the last month of the season. You still have that good win over Kansas State also.

NC State drops a spot sitting idle last week. Hopefully you got a lot of reps for your new QB. I hope he is more comfortable with the offense. You have a game against Virginia Tech to get him more acclimated before host Wake Forest. You know you will need to score to stay in that game. Good luck the rest of the way, you should be able to at least get bowl eligible unless something goes very wrong.

Last but certainly not least, South Carolina makes it back into the poll for the first time in 4 years. I’m not sure they actually deserve it after the A&M game, but everyone will take it. A noon game against Missouri will prove to everyone whether you deserve to stay in the top 25 or not. Then it is a night game in Nashville. I’m not looking forward to being live at that game. I was hoping that was going to be another noon game. It will make the drive back to Greensboro a little tougher.

Back to this week’s game against Missouri. You cannot allow them to stay in the game. You need another quick start and offensive success in the first half. None of that 1st and goal with 3 passes crap. None of that not giving the ball to Lloyd 3 times in the first half. Put Missouri on their back foot and keep them there.

Well, that is another week of reviewing the AP Poll. Is there a team that is too high or too low? Is there a team out there that deserves to be in the poll that is not?

As always, Go Cocks!