Florida is overrated, a case in point at what can happen inside the SEC cocoon. Then again there are a lot of teams that are better than them that have lost, so i have to rank them high.

I know for a fact the big East teams can play with Kansas State despite all the snickering that you all must be doing now.

Alabama had a bad quarter but is still #1

Top 5:

1. Alabama (don't know how you can omit them)
2. Oregon (again wtf, its like fulham the contrarian made these rankings, they've crush jobbed everyone they have played)
3. Ohio State (slip up this week but otherwise impressive)
4. Notre Dame
5. Florida
6. Oregon St
7. Kansas St.

Untouchables- Rutgers, Louisville, and Cincinatti (If they go undefeated they might crash the top 10! one sportswriter patronizingly announced)

put 6 and 7 in there to show i didn't think all was bad with the Cinderellas du jour.

Disclaimer - I rank according to what a team has accomplished on the field. Margin of victory is relevant, but the opponents' record matters significantly more to me and is a major point of reference for my rankings.

I think Alabama is a better example of the 'SEC cocoon' at work. I have them #6, so the top-5 cutoff line made it look worse than it does. Alabama's best win by record right now is a 4-2 Michigan team. They've yet to play anyone important in-conference. They'll get their chance to demonstrate they're the best with games against TAMU, Mississippi State, LSU and possibly (probably?) the SEC East champion. But to this point they don't have the best resume in the country.

Oregon is up there - notice the #4, they're not getting ignored. They have crushed everyone they've played - too bad half of them were either I-AA (Tennessee Tech) or lower-end non-BCS conference teams (Fresno St and Arkansas St), and the other half were middle-Pac-12 competition. Like Alabama, they'll get their chance with Arizona State, USC, Stanford, and Oregon State left on the schedule, but they haven't earned top-2 yet.

As for Florida, they've played and beaten two 5-1 teams (Texas A&M and LSU) who themselves both have decent credentials. They also picked up a good win against mid-SEC Tennessee. Maybe not the best resume in the world, but you can see it outshines the rest of the competition so far. They still have Georgia and South Carolina, plus a possible SECCG berth, to validate or invalidate that ranking, but so far I think they've earned it. I could put ND above them, though.

Speaking of ND, I laughed when I saw they were top-10 until I saw their schedule. They've played and beaten six teams that are .500 or better. No signature wins like Florida or Kansas State, but the sheer volume of strong wins puts them at #2 in my book (and again I could make the case that they're #1). Compare to Alabama; ND has Alabama's strongest win, and then instead of multiple creampuffs, they have a bunch of (mostly Big Ten) .500 teams as well. It's no contest based on performance to date that ND should be higher than Alabama.

I have Ohio State at #7, btw. They're in a similar boat as Alabama. As for the Big East, not sure yet. I'm trying to sort out the 1-loss teams as I type this. I have Rutgers ahead of Florida State (and Louisville, Cincinnati and Mississippi State all right behind FSU) and I'll probably end up putting most of the 1-loss teams in the same area, so I might have Rutgers as high as #8 right now.

And after I typed all that I noticed that if I extended to top-7, we have all the top-7 teams the same, just a matter of where to sort them.

I think Bama is for real, the beating they gave Michigan showed it. The beating they have given everyone put in front of them confirmed it. They have dominated every team they played. Florida #1 requires you to believe that their victories over strong teams put them there when seeing their victories as strong requires you to buy into the SEC hype, ie that Georgia, SC, LSU (who almost lost to Auburn) deserved their rankings. I don't take that hype as given. I think Florida will have 2 losses before the season is done. Same with K State.

No, it doesn't require you to believe the rankings, since I didn't base it on where the opponent was ranked at the time at all. They beat 5-1 TAMU, 5-1 LSU and 3-3 Tenn. I'm trying to avoid subjectivity with margin of victory, but for what it's worth Florida only really struggled game-long with LSU (and I would anticipate Alabama doing so as well). TAMU and Tenn gave Florida a good half but got crushed in the second half. Whether Alabama would do better, can't say yet, but the nice thing is that since they still have all three of Florida's good wins on their schedule, we'll be able to compare them before the season's even over.

As for future prognostications: I could see Florida dropping their games to Georgia and South Carolina and finishing 10-2 before the bowl game. I could also see them beating both teams, upsetting the SEC West champion (if it would even be an upset) and clobbering somebody in the title game to go 14-0. I think it's too early to tell, and I'm ranking based on what I think teams have done to this point, not how I think they will do later.

btw, finished sorting the 1-loss teams and made a top-25. Rutgers is #8, Louisville #14, Cincinnati #16. All three are seriously underrated in national media coverage, especially Rutgers and Cincinnati (who - albeit, before the rankings from this weekend are released, which should see them move up - are currently 12 and 5 spots below where I have them, respectively).

WTF?!?! First, I am SHOCKED that you all have even heard of the Beavers. Second, the week before Oregon State barely beat Arizona 38-35, The Ducks beat Arizona 49-0, how in the hell could anyone rank the beavers ahead of THE DUCKS?!?!

As indicated above, largely based on strength of schedule, and Oregon State has had a much tougher schedule so far than Oregon.

Note, that while I love my Beavers, I wouldn't put them above the Ducks. Later this season, maybe depending on how it goes. Thankfully that's what we've got the Civil War for.

Thursday's Oregon @ Arizona State game will be very exciting. I'm guessing that Oregon will be 7 point favorites, but the game could certainly go either way.

Oh, regarding Notre Dame, I didn't see the game but I heard that Stanford got the shaft from the refs. Next weekend Notre Dame hosts BYU. Will be interesting to see how BYU fairs against Notre Dame. While Oregon State beat them by 18, it was a competitive game until the 4th quarter when it slipped away from BYU. BYU getting their starting QB back really got their formerly stagnant offense going.

@MM: For the same reason that we don't say Louisiana Tech has a better offense than Florida because La Tech put up 59 on Texas A&M, while Florida only put up 20. We can't look at one result among many and decide a trend or overall statement just from that. For what it's worth, Oregon at #3 and Oregon State at #4 would be reasonable too - but I'm sticking with OSU over Oregon for the moment. The nice thing, as Alderian noted, is that some of the more counterintuitive rankings up here (i.e. UF over Alabama and at #1) involve teams that will either directly face one another (Oregon-Oregon State) or teams whose signature wins will be directly comparable by season's end (Florida-Alabama; even if by some happenstance they don't play in the SECCG, they'll both have had big games against Tennessee, LSU and Texas A&M against which we can compare).

Eden, I think you're unfairly discounting Bama's big neutral field victory over Michigan. Yes, Michigan is 4-2 but their other loss was a very close one to Notre Dame, which is probably also a top 5 team. And they've looked very dominant on offence and defence the last two weeks.

I think Alabama is #1, followed by Oregon and then Notre Dame.

Also, I don't think Rutgers is underrated. Their only remotely good win is over an Arkansas team that is mediocre at best and was in the midst of a terrible stretch. I like Louisville but they also haven't beaten anyone very good yet.

Also, how would you guys rank the 1 loss teams? My top 3 are Oklahoma, LSU and USC in that order

Putting such a high importance on a team's schedule when ranking is ridiculous, which clearly leads to such absurd things as OSU being ranked ahead of The Ducks. To only look at the past, and ignore valid information in the present, makes yours the "gunboat" of ranking systems, clearly lacking in most everything that matters.

And what sort of ranking system brags about how, even though it isn't very accurate right now, that at the end of the season when all the games have been played it will be very accurate?

"Also, I don't think Rutgers is underrated. Their only remotely good win is over an Arkansas team that is mediocre at best and was in the midst of a terrible stretch. I like Louisville but they also haven't beaten anyone very good yet."

I think Rutgers is where they should be. I KNOW they could play with K State. I saw K state play an Iowa St. team who rutgers played last year in a bowl game. They definately didn't do any better than rutgers did against the same team.

I think the arkansas point you made is typical of the national sports media. Rutgers went into SEC country and came out with a win. Now that team only lost to rutgers because "they were in the middle of a bad stretch" and now that that team is "back" any losses they had to teams like Rutgers are inadmissible (any short-handed losses to Alabama, however are the real deal). The mental gymnastics to keep the big East the Big Least are always astounding. Florida goes in and beats Vandy and thats part of a "buzz saw SEC schedule" Rutgers goes in and beats Arkansas and that is a "fluke"

Bama is the real deal, there is no doubt about that. They're going to win the NC pretty easily, I think.

ND is lucky, and Michigan should have (and would have) beat them if not for a INT fest. But, I think they deserve their ranking as they do play a tough schedule. My prediction is Bama v. Oregon in the NC game, with Bama winning.

I predict a Big 10 invitation for Rutgers should they win the Big East and have a decent showing in a bowl

I don't think that will happen Santa. Maybe, but they're going to need 2 teams to keep the divisions even.

Oklahoma and USC crush ND's "Return to Glory" though. Oh, BTW, ND has to cheat to win, which is pathetic.

What really surprised me was the way Texas Tech demolished what appeared to be an unstoppable WVU team, at least offensively. Great defensive scheme by Tubberville, that is for sure. I still think Geno Smith wins the Heisman.

"Eden, I think you're unfairly discounting Bama's big neutral field victory over Michigan. Yes, Michigan is 4-2 but their other loss was a very close one to Notre Dame, which is probably also a top 5 team. And they've looked very dominant on offence and defence the last two weeks."

I'm not discounting their win! It's just that that's it. Literally that's all they have. Alabama looked dominant on offense and defense against Ole Miss and Missouri? Good! Every team in the top 10 should. Those teams are garbage. That's not something that should differentiate a team within the highest ranks. What would do that is going undefeated with a schedule full of .500 or better teams (Notre Dame) or multiple wins against 4-2/5-1 teams (Florida).

"Also, how would you guys rank the 1 loss teams? My top 3 are Oklahoma, LSU and USC in that order."

LSU, Oklahoma, South Carolina. USC looks good but they haven't done anything - the only truly good team on their schedule (Stanford) beat them, and the only win they have against .500 competition is Washington.

"Putting such a high importance on a team's schedule when ranking is ridiculous, which clearly leads to such absurd things as OSU being ranked ahead of The Ducks. To only look at the past, and ignore valid information in the present, makes yours the "gunboat" of ranking systems, clearly lacking in most everything that matters."

You're not being very reasonable about this. The ranking process is incredibly subjective in general, and no list is going to be absolutely correct by any means - but surely the one thing that actually CAN be qualified (past results: record, and against whom) should be the basis for ranking things, and not whatever nonexistent criterion you've set out to this point. There's no "valid information in the present" being ignored, or at least, none I'm seeing, and certainly none that you've pointed out.

"And what sort of ranking system brags about how, even though it isn't very accurate right now, that at the end of the season when all the games have been played it will be very accurate?"

That's not what I said. I think this is quite accurate to this point. I'm also acknowledging that our information is very much incomplete, with a lot of important games left to be played. So I'm saying that my rankings, like the season, are incomplete, and that as more information comes out, they'll adjust accordingly. To rank based on future performance is just assuming wins and losses and margins of victory. That might work around the office water cooler, but it won't do for trying to craft accurate rankings.

Besides "baww my team isn't #1/is ranked below a rival," what exactly is your issue with these rankings? Because the one thing I can discern with clarity from your posts is that you're not happy that Oregon isn't higher in the ranks, and that Oregon State is higher - but with just one data point that doesn't actually contradict the findings (mutual win vs Arizona), neither of these are actually supported to any extent.

@MichMan - I have a feeling Oklahoma and Southern Cal will beat them, yeah. The refs erred badly in handing ND the win when they did vs Stanford; I'm not sure if ND doesn't go on to beat them later in OT, but it's a shame how that game ended. But for now, they're undefeated, have arguably the toughest schedule in football and deserve the spot they've got.

@Eden: Your rankings actually came pretty close to the BCS computer rankings with Florida #1, ND #2 and Oregon State ahead of Oregon. I guess this makes sense because the computers basically do with better accuracy what you were trying to do in your rankings. Of course, there is a reason why the human polls are two-thirds of the BCS -- there is more to ranking football teams than just strength of schedule and opponents' strength of schedule.

"I predict a Big 10 invitation for Rutgers should they win the Big East and have a decent showing in a bowl"

That would be a step down for Rutgers.

Eden is right, Alabama is overranked, Florida is underranked slightly. Oregon is overranked too. I think their defense is suspect and they'll get exposed as soon as they play a formidable opponent. I think Alabama is a #4. Notre Dame is underranked, I have to admit, despite disliking them intensely. They've played pretty much nothing but above average opponents - Navy excepted.

My top 5 -
1 - FLA
2 - ND
3 - K-State
4- Alabama
5 - Oregon St

I still don't get how Oregon's defense is over-rated when they shut out an Arizona team that was ranked in the Top 25, and that's the reason The Beavers are ranked higher than Oregon even though OSU's defense gave up 35 to the same Arizona team/offense, where are the same concerns for OSU's defense? Clearly OSU's offense is worse than Oregon's, I'd clearly argue OSU's defense is worse as well... And the one thing nobody is giving The Ducks credit for is: THEY GOT PHIL KNIGHT MONEY!!!! :-P

"I still don't get how Oregon's defense is over-rated"

Maybe because they are ranked 43 in total defense despite playing juggernauts like Arkansas St, Tenn Tech, Fresno St, and Washington St. Granted, Oregon St.'s defense is ranked about the same but they've played a much tougher schedule.

Oregon State isn't ranked higher than Oregon because of the Arizona win.

Oregon State is ranked higher than Oregon because Oregon State played and beat a 5-2 Wisconsin team, a 5-2 UCLA team and a 4-3 BYU team on top of that 3-3 Arizona team. Oregon's best win of the year was against a .500 team. That's Oregon State's 4th best win.

Oregon plays their second and third string defense forthe entire second half in those games! I was unable to tune into the Washington game until the second quarter, it was already 35-7 (the same Washington team that beat USC), so clearly UO is playing a lot of prevent defense, the give the opponent a bunch of short/easy yards to run time off the clock... Have any of you watches The Ducks play this year?!

Stats can be seriously misleading, it's like when you hear some team is undefeated when they run the ball 25 times, so then people say they need to focus on the run, but statistics don't prove causality and it's really the winning that results in the running, not the other way around...

Bottom line: The Ducks are the real deal, the only team that can beat The Ducks is The Ducks, and unfortunately that's a very real possibility...

The fact that OSU is ranked 8th and Oregon 2nd demonstrates that human polls are dumb.