Well, let's get back to balloting.  Mucho justifications after the jump.  Yes, I ranked Texas #6. 

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida	1
2	Alabama	1
3	Cincinnati	1
4	Iowa	1
5	TCU	8
6	Texas	1
7	Boise State
8	Oregon
9	LSU	2
10	Southern Cal
11	Georgia Tech	5
12	Penn State	3
13	Virginia Tech	1
14	Houston
15	Oklahoma State	1
16	Miami (Florida)	7
17	Ohio State	1
18	Arizona	2
19	Notre Dame	5
20	South Carolina	3
21	West Virginia
22	Pittsburgh	3
23	Utah
24	Oregon State
25	Wisconsin	2
Last week's ballot

1 Florida
2 Bama
3 Cincy
4 Iowa
5 TCU

I've been ranking Bama ahead of Florida all season long, but the chinks in the Bama armor are getting too disturbing to ignore.  If Lane Kiffin wasn't such a moron or if Tennessee had a decent kicker, Bama loses that game.  Now, I hate the "should've lost" category, but when we're talking about who is #1, I think style points have to matter just a little bit.  Florida struggled as well, but not as mightily.  They return to the top of my ballot.

Iowa just keeps winning.  On a style scale, they rank about 50th in the country, but football ain't about style.  Iowa wins, and it's time to reward them for their rather impressive resume: home wins over Michigan and Arizona and road wins over Iowa St (eh), Penn St, Wisconsin, and Michigan St.  They aren't just winning, they are winning on the road.  I've been sleeping on TCU, waiting on the BYU game for them to prove themselves.  The Frogs made a huge statement to everyone by annihilating BYU. 

6 Texas
7 Boise
8 Oregon
9 LSU
10 USC

Texas #6?!  Am I crazy?  Maybe.  But hear me out at least.  First off, Cincy and TCU have looked great and Iowa might have the best resume in the country.  This ranking is a reflection of those teams climbing as much as it is Texas falling.  That said, I admit this ranking is rather punitive, but I've done the same thing all season with teams such as Penn St and Ole Miss, even before they lost.  Simply put, Texas' resume isn't very impressive to me.

Their OOC schedule isn't just poor, it is embarrassingly poor: UTEP, UL Monore, and Wyoming.  No team with national title aspirations should be allowed to get away with that.  That would be okay if the Big 12 was holding up its end of the bargain, but the conference has imploded this year, robbing Texas of impressive wins.  Texas needed some shaky officiating and last minute heroics to beat Texas Tech, a team that got clobbered by A&M.  Texas struggled for three quarters against an awful Colorado team, before blowing it open late.  The Horns barely got past a thoroughly mediocre OU squad.  The Mizzou blowout is Texas' first impressive win of the season, and it's not like Mizzou is a very good team. 

There's just nothing there.  BOISE has a better win than Texas.  Texas has not beat a team I have ranked, or even close to ranked (maybe OU).  Iowa has beaten three teams in my top 25 and another on the cusp (Michigan).  TCU has beaten Clemson and BYU, both on the road, which is equal to anything Texas has done.  Cincinnati has played a pretty lousy schedule, and even they have beaten a team in my top 25 (Oregon St).  I just can't justify a Texas ranking right now.  The talk of them as this automatic top three team ignores the fact that Texas has an empty resume. 

Boise stays ahead of Oregon, by virtue of what is turning into a huge win.  I'm sorting Oregon, LSU, and USC partly on their common opponent, Washington.  USC lost, LSU won, Oregon blew them out.  The teams are pretty close, but that is a pretty good eyeball test for the three teams. 

11 GT
12 PSU
13 VT
14 Houston
15 Oklahoma St

I've been punishing Penn St for too long.  They finally played and beat a good team, so they climb up my rankings accordingly. I noticed I just dropped GT in a week they won easily.  That's mainly because I was promoting other teams.  I have a mental line drawn after GT in the rankings, but someone had to miss out of the top ten.  I'm still not entirely sure how to rank the ACC schools.  Okie St is behind Houston in my rankings, but that will change if OSU beats Texas.  Head to head matters, but so does the entire resume. 

16 Miami
17 Ohio St
18 Arizona
19 Notre Dame
20 South Carolina

How many close wins is Notre Dame going to eke out this season?  It's getting absurd.  Miami takes a tumble, but I honestly think Clemson is a good team.  The mystifying loss is not Miami to Clemson but Clemson to Maryland.  How did that happen?  Arizona and South Carolina are both quietly putting together rather impressive seasons.  But both lack a big time scalp.

21 WVU
22 Pitt
23 Utah
24 Oregon St
25 Wisconsin

Yes, I'm ranking OSU after a loss.  Their three losses are to #3 Cincy, #10 USC, and #18 Arizona.  All three games were decided by less than a touchdown.  The Beavers are a good team that has just run into even better teams.  If you're gonna rank a three loss team, this is the one.  And I'm trying to get over the fact I am currently ranking three Big East teams.