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).

Kentucky Coach Rich Brooks said today that quarterback Randall Cobb, linebacker Micah Johnson and defensive tackle Ricky Lumpkin all remain out for “the foreseeable future,” with high ankle sprains. Brooks said that Cobb, who had been serving as UK’s backup QB behind Mike Hartline, was in the worst shape of the trio and would sidelined the longest. The Cats have an open date this week before hosting Western Kentucky on Sept. 27.

UK coach Rich Brooks accused Middle Tennessee of stealing some of his team’s signals during the Wildcats’ 20-14 win on Saturday.

This isn’t the first time that Kentucky has felt like they’ve being spied on. During last year’s 52-50 four-overtime loss to Tennessee, towels were placed around members of the UK staff in order to cover up signals.

“They were either getting them from the field or the press box,” Brooks said of MTSU. “They might have gotten some help from Tennessee. Tennessee had them last year.”

UK coach Rich Brooks said on Sunday that middle linebacker Micah Johnson, quarterback Randall Cobb and defensive tackle Ricky Lumpkin are out indefinitely with high ankle sprains. Brooks said that the UK medical staff should know more about the severity of the injuries on Monday but said all three players were doubtful for Kentucky’s game with Western Kentucky on Sept. 27. The Wildcats have an open date this week.

Brooks said the time frame for high ankle sprains can be anywhere from 2-3 weeks to 4-6 weeks depending on the severity of the sprain.

Cobb, UK’s backup quarterback, hurt the ankle early in the game while playing wide receiver. Johnson had nine tackles and two tackles for loss before going down in the second quarter.

“He was all over the field,” Brooks said. “It was his best game by far since he’s been here. His reads were great, he was physical at the point of attack. He was a dominant force on the inside.

Brooks said that Will Fidler will work as the No. 2 quarterback behind Mike Hartline in Cobb’s absence. Linebacker Braxton Kelley will slide over to middle linebacker to replace Johnson. Kelley was a three-year starter at middle linebacker before moving to the weak side this year to get Johnson in the lineup.

Welcome back for another version of my unofficial weekly Top 25, with last week’s rankings in parenthesis.

1-USC (1)-These Trojans are as good defensively as the Bush/Leinart teams were offensively.

2-Oklahoma (2)-Sooners and Trojans would be a toss-up right now.

3-Georgia (3)-Not playing to the level of USC or Oklahoma, but winning ugly in Columbia is nothing to be ashamed of.

4-Missouri (7)-Would love to see Chase Daniel, Jeremy Maclin and the Tigers’ explosive offense face off against Tim Tebow, Percy Harvin and the Gators..

5-Florida (5)-Should be rested and ready for next week’s trip to Knoxville.

6-Wisconsin (14)-Had the guts to travel to Fresno and the toughness to pull out a win.

7-Oregon (15)-The double OT triumph at Purdue is the type of win teams get during special seasons.

8-Texas (9)-The Top 25 team I know the least about.

9-East Carolina (10)-The magic continues for Skip Holtz. Considering how tough Tulane played Alabama, a victory in New Orleans has to be considered high-quality.

10-Alabama (14)-Took care of business against Western Kentucky, now comes back-to-back road trips to Arkansas and Georgia.

11-BYU (24)-Max Hall should now be on everybody’s Heisman radar.

12-Auburn (8)-Tony Franklin better get that offense fixed before LSU gets to town on Saturday.

13-Penn State (13)-Still haven’t played anyone with a pulse but averaging over 55 points a game.

14-South Florida (16)-Beat a darned good Kansas team in helping the Big East save some face.

15-Texas Tech (17)-Red Raiders just biding time. Should be 7-0 when they travel to Kansas on Oct. 15.

16-Utah (18)-BCS hopes will get a real test at Air Force on Saturday.

17-Virginia Tech (NR)-Held off a solid Georgia Tech team, and that close loss at ECU doesn’t look nearly as bad now.

18-Wake Forest (19)-Can cement itself as the ACC favorite with a win at Florida State on Saturday.

19-Kansas (12)-Can’t dog the Jayhawks too much for a narrow road loss to a good South Florida team.

20-Ohio State (5)-Now we don’t have to worry about the Buckeyes getting blown out in a third straight BCS title game.

21-West Virginia (18)-Not as down on the Mountaineers after the ECU loss as a lot of other folks.

22-Vanderbilt (25)-The Commodores dominated Rice in a game that past Vandy teams would have blown.

23-Oklahoma State (NR)-Mike Gundy doesn’t have any reason to go off on any reporters with the way the Cowboy offense is rolling.

24-Florida State (NR)-Seminoles might have finally found a quarterback in sophomore Christian Ponder.

25-Air Force (NR)-AFA picked up a nice road win at Houston and can skyrocket up the charts next week if they knock off Utah.

DROPPED OUT-Arizona State, Fresno State, California, Illinois

NEXT BEST FIVE

26-TCU-The Horned Frogs could be a sleeper BCS buster.

27-Tennessee-That UCLA-BYU score didn’t do Phil Fulmer any favors.

28-Boise State-Will have a chance to get into the BCS mix by knocking off Oregon next week.

29-Fresno State-Came up just short against the Badgers.

30-Clemson-Tigers didn’t pound a bad N.C. State team the way they needed to.

LOCAL UPDATE

Kentucky-MTSU showed that the Cats don’t have any business thinking Top 25 for awhile.

Louisville-Kansas State is a crossroads game for the Cards.

Indiana-Could end up with a better record than Kentucky and Louisville

Kentucky Coach Rich Brooks said Thursday that he hadn’t decided whether sophomore Mike Hartline or freshman Randall Cobb would start Saturday against Middle Tennessee State. However, UK offensive coordinator Joker Phillips indicated following Thursday’s practice that there would be no change in the starting lineup and that Hartline would take the first snap against the Blue Raiders. Brooks said that he’d continue to use both quarterbacks regardless of who starts.

“We’ll play both quarterbacks in first half, and depending on who’s moving the ball the best, that one might play more than the other one,” Brooks said.

Cornerback Trevard Lindley and punter / kicker Tim Masthay will be the game captains for Saturday’s contest vs. Middle Tennessee State, Coach Rich Brooks has announced.

Game captains are normally selected on the basis of performance in the previous game.  In UK’s 38-3 win over Norfolk State, Lindley led the Wildcats with six tackles and had an interception and a pass breakup.  Masthay played a key role in helping UK get a decisive advantage in field position.  Masthay averaged 44 yards per punt while nailing six touchbacks on seven kickoffs.  This is the second-consecutive week that Masthay has earned the game-captain role.

Lindley and Masthay will join permanent captains Tony Dixon and Braxton Kelley at the pregame coin toss.

Brooks stopped a moment to reflect on the Top 25 rankings. The 2-0 Wildcats received six votes in the Associated Press poll, which places them 35^th; and got 28 votes in the coaches poll, which is good for 29^th.

“I find it interesting that Kentucky football perceived as poorly as it is,” Brooks said. “I’m not saying we’re a top 25 team, but if some teams that I’ve seen are ranked, then we are too.”

“We haven’t had a touchdown scored on us. We did win a bowl game last year. We did beat the No. 1 team in the nation last year.”

Brooks said he believes that the lack of a winning tradition at Kentucky has affected his team’s ranking.

“If we had a history of being more competitive, we’d probably be ranked in Top 25,” Brooks said. “If we were in a different league, we’d probably be ranked in the Top 25. I don’t think people are looking at how good we are right now. They’re looking at our schedule and saying how many games are we going to win? I think they’re saying, ‘Well, they can’t beat that team or this team.”

Kentucky Coach Rich Brooks said during his Sunday teleconference that he’ll stick with a two-quarterback system with sophomore Mike Hartline and true freshman Randall Cobb.

“I’ve had to do to do (a two-quarterback system) in the past, and at this point in time it looks like we’ll be doing it for at least the short term,” Brooks said.

Cobb made the more dazzling plays and finished with 136 yards of total offense and three touchdowns, two running and one passing.

But Brooks also noted that Cobb made plenty of mistakes. He lost a fumble, threw an interception and had another potential interception dropped. Brooks said Cobb is like a lot of young and talented players in that he tends to freelance.

“Randall made plays athletically and threw a few nice passes, and he made a bunch of mistakes,” Brooks said. “He could have turned ball over a couple other times. He’s just got to learn the offense better. Athletically and talent-wise, it’s clear he can help us, and he did help us in this game. All of it wasn’t in the framework of off. Some of that isn’t bad, but some of it can be very bad.”

Brooks said that Hartline did an effective job managing the game while he was in there and noted, like he did last week following the Louisville game that the supporting cast must step up and make plays.

Brooks said Derrick Locke had a chance to break a huge run in the first half but missed the hole. Also, junior E. J. Adams dropped a pass over the middle from Hartline that was right on the money and ran a wrong route on a third-and-7 on UK’s second series.

“Mike can do a good job of managing the game, but we still have to help,” Brooks said. “There were things that weren’t helpful to Mike that wasn’t his fault.”

Last year I had the pleasure of serving as the state’s official voter in Associated Press Top 25 poll. My man Kent Taylor from WAVE-TV in Louisville is representing the Bluegrass this year, but I had so much fun with it last fall that I’ve decided to post my own unofficial top 25.

Here it goes:

1-USC-They probably sat at home this weekend thinking they’re going to make “Beanie Weenies” out of the Buckeyes.

2-Oklahoma-My preseason No. 1 pick, but they’ll need to be ready to play on the road next week against what should be an emotional Washington team.

3-Georgia-The Bulldogs don’t need to even worry about rankings. If they run the table with this schedule, they’ll be in the national title game.

4-Florida-The offense isn’t humming yet, but the Gator defense looks vastly improved.

5-LSU-One of three SEC teams using a two-quarterback system, joining Auburn (Chris Todd/Kodi Burns) and Kentucky (Mike Hartline/Randall Cobb).

6-Ohio State-Forget about USC. Do you really think the Buckeyes would beat Georgia, Florida or LSU right now?

7-Missouri-Best offense in the country at this point of the season.

8-Auburn-The Tigers are still trying to master Tony Franklin’s offense, but the defense is scary.

9-Texas-Don’t really know what to make of Texas, and might not know anything until the Oklahoma game on Oct. 11.

10-East Carolina-Why not this high? The Pirates have the most impressive two-game resume’ in the country, and it’s not even close. The bad news is that now the big boys will be coming after Skip Holtz.

11-Arizona State-Nobody’s talking about the Sun Devils, but they’ll be primed, ready and 3-0 when Georgia visits on Sept. 20.

12-Kansas-We’ll find out about the Jayhawks when they travel to South Florida on Friday.

13-Penn State-Oregon State’s not that good, but a performance like that with all the distractions is still pretty impressive.

14-Alabama-Still not convinced that the Crimson Tide are as good as they looked against Clemson, but they’ve earned their ranking.

14-Wisconsin-P.J. Hill is a darkhorse Heisman candidate

15-Oregon-I know Utah State’s a tomato can, but piling up 688 yards on anybody deserves a little love.

16-South Florida-Struggled with UCF more than I expected.

17-Texas Tech-Their trip to Nevada didn’t produce the offensive fireworks that most thought it would.

18-West Virginia-Somewhere in Ann Arbor, Rich Rodriguez is smiling.

19-Wake Forest-The Demon Deacons look like the early class of the ACC but still needed a late field goal to beat a second-tier SEC team in Ole Miss.

20-Fresno State-Watch out, Wisconsin. The Bulldogs have had a week’s rest after whipping up on Rutgers.

21-Utah-Figures to fight with BYU all season to become a potential BCS-buster.

22-Illinois-Will be on cruise control until a Sept. 27 trip to Penn State

23-California-Either the Bears are better than I thought, or Washington State is just plain awful.

24-BYU-Theme song should be Kool & the Gang’s ‘Celebration’

25-Vanderbilt-Don’t laugh. They went on the road and spanked perhaps the best team in the MAC (Miami), and were clearly better than South Carolina.

THE NEXT BEST FIVE

26.Tennessee-I still believe the Vols are good, but why start the season on the West Coast when you’re in the SEC?

27. Clemson-The Tigers are better than this, but they’ve got to earn their way back in after laying that egg against ‘Bama.

28. Oklahoma State-Mike Gundy has his offense rolling.

29. UCLA-Can the Bruins make it two upsets in a row at BYU next week?

30-Boise State-I’ve got to see more of the Broncos. A Sept. 20 trip to Oregon should tell me something.

LOCAL UPDATE

Kentucky-I know my mailbox will be flooded with inquiries from Wildcat fans wondering why they’re not in my Top 25. I don’t think the Cats are there just yet, but win the next two, and they should be ranked going down to Alabama on Sept. 27.

Louisville-This sounds a little silly considering how they looked against UK, but the way the Big East is looking, the Cards have to feel like they at least have a shot at a conference crown and BCS bid.

Indiana-I’m looking at the Hoosiers’ schedule and can see the potential for eight wins.

One final note: Notre Dame still stinks.