BlogPoll: Rise of the Little Guy

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas	--
2	Penn State	--
3	Alabama	--
4	Florida	1
5	Oklahoma	1
6	Oklahoma State	2
7	Georgia	--
8	Southern Cal	--
9	Texas Tech	3
10	Utah	1
11	TCU	5
12	Boise State	6
13	Tulsa	12
14	Ohio State	3
15	Missouri	2
16	LSU	6
17	Florida State	9
18	Minnesota	2
19	Michigan State	7
20	Connecticut	6
21	North Carolina	5
22	Maryland	4
23	West Virginia	3
24	Virginia	2
25	Georgia Tech	12

Some explanations:

Texas is pretty much a no-brainer at #1 at this point.  The stretch of wins over Oklahoma, Mizzou, and OSU is the most impressive stretch of wins by anyone this season.

Penn St and Bama could go either way. I'm punishing Bama for losing focus in the second half of all of their wins, which isn't entirely fair, as they have played a tougher schedule than PSU.

#4 through #9 could essentially go in any order and I'm okay with that. Florida has hit their stride and look like the best of the bunch. OU and OSU both played the top team in the country close, so the loss isn't that bad. Texas Tech is still undefeated but now has beaten exactly one team with a pulse. Though they did look awesome doing it. But I'm reserving judgment until this week.

#10 through #13 is my pack o' mid-majors. TCU is the only one of the group with a loss, and it was to OU. Has anyone noticed how good their defense is? I'm not sold on any of these teams, and they all lack big wins, but no one else is stepping up, so we might as well reward the mid-majors. Because who else is there?

#14 through #16 all look really similar. Ohio St, Mizzou, and LSU all have two losses. And they all get blown out at least once by a top ten team. They aren't title contenders and they've all shown pretty emphatically they don't belong in the top ten. That said, who ranked beneath them look any better? Look at the contenders.

Florida St and Minnesota are both one-loss teams in a BCS conference. FSU hasn't looked great, and their best win is over an injury-riddled Virginia Tech team. What's happening in Minnesota is remarkable, but their best win was a close one against Illinois. Neither one of these teams look like they could beat the trio ahead of them, and this is pretty much the cream of the bottom half of the top 25 crop.

Michigan State got waxed by Ohio St, and lost to Cal.  UConn lost to UNC and Rutgers. Though the Baylor win is looking better, and I thought highly of Cincinnati, who UConn thoroughly beat. West Virginia is slowly looking better, but they did lose to ECU and Colorado. Though don't look now, they are in first place in the Big East.

Which leaves me with a bunch of flawed ACC teams. The ACC is cannibalizing itself, and no team represents the unpredictable nature of the ACC than Maryland. The Terps dominated Cal and shutout Wake Forest. On the flipside, they got crushed by UVa and lost to loswly Middle Tennessee St. They are the most unpredictable team in football. They're also tied with FSU and UVa for the ACC lead.