Back In Action

I’m back on the beat after a brief hiatus, and what a time to return. It was quite the crazy week in the Top 25, and now a Kentucky team still trying to find itself is facing a road game against the nation’s hottest team. With that in mind, here’s my Top 25 for this week:

1-Alabama-Maybe Oklahoma is a little better, but the Crimson Tide’s destruction of Georgia was one of the most impressive regular season wins I’ve seen in years. Top that off with the season-opening blowout of Clemson, and ‘Bama has earned this ranking.

2-Oklahoma-Tore through a pretty good TCU team on Saturday. This looks like Mike Stoops’ most complete team in Norman.

3-Missouri-Chase Daniel has surpassed Tim Tebow as the country’s glamour quarterback.

4-LSU-Has a week off to prepare for the Oct. 11 trip to Florida.

5-Penn State-Looks like JoePa and the boys are for real this year.

6-Texas-The Longhorns have beaten four bad teams, but it is what it is.

7-BYU-How did they only beat Washington by one point?

8-USC-Vastly inferior opponents seem to turn the nation’s best big-game team into chumps.

9-Ohio State-I hate to put the Buckeyes this high, but they do look like a different team with Terrelle Pryor and Beanie Wells.

10-South Florida-The Bulls made a much-needed statement by pounding N.C. State on the road.

11-Georgia-There’s no shame in losing to Alabama, even at home. But 31-0 at halftime?

12-Auburn-Tommy Tuberville and Tony Franklin need to settle on a quarterback.

13-Florida-The loss to Ole Miss was a shocker, but the Gator offense had been sending warning signs all season.

14-Utah-Season-ending game against BYU is shaping up as a biggie.

15-Kansas-Three-point loss at South Florida tells us more about the Jayhawks than their three cupcake wins.

16-Texas Tech-Just don’t think the Red Raiders are that good.

17-Vanderbilt-How good does the road win at Ole Miss look now?

18-Boise State-Might be 11-0 going into regular-season finale against Fresno State

19-Virginia Tech-Quietly posted impressive back-to-back road wins at Georgia Tech and Nebraska.

20-Oregon-Ducks have used four quarterbacks in four games.

21-Wisconsin-Gacked one up in Ann Arbor.

22-Oklahoma State-Pushing Missouri for title of nation’s most explosive offense.

23-Fresno State-Had to work harder than they should have at UCLA.

24-Michigan State-All of a sudden the Spartans look like legit Big Ten contenders.

25-Kentucky-It came down to the Cats and UConn for the final spot, and UK gets the nod based on this: Both teams have three cupcakes wins and a road victory at Louisville. Kentucky beat the Cards 27-2, while the Huskies stole the game late. The Cats need to avoid embarrassment at Alabama to remain within sniffing range of the Top 25.

The Next Best Five

26-UConn-Win next week at North Carolina, and the Huskies will rise up several spots.

27-Wake Forest-You don’t lose to Navy at home without free-falling in the polls.

28-Maryland-They did lose to Middle Tennessee, but wins over Cal and Clemson negate that slip.

29-Ole Miss-Road win over Florida pulls more weight than close losses to Vandy and Wake.

30-Northwestern-Yeah, the Wildcats are 5-0, but their best win is at Duke (Yes, I think Duke is better than Iowa).