Over The Pylon

Well, well, well… wasn’t that a nice little weekend of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and upsets galore. Granted, it wasn’t Earth shaking upsets like Alabama getting beat by Auburn or Florida getting dusted by Florida State, but many of the games that ended up exactly as they were supposed to certainly didn’t go according to plan.

This week’s poll was challenging mainly because it’s at that point in the season when one loss won’t necessarily knock you out of the Top 25 depending on your body of work. Take Georgia Tech for example… or Pitt. Solid teams who stumbled to rivals in games that could have gone either way. Both were Top 10 teams before the weekend, and I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone that would argue they still are not two of the 25 best teams in the country. Here goes the rationale…

Florida
Alabama
Texas
TCU
Cincy
Boise State
The undefeated teams remain locked at the top, and in my opinion, this is the order of talent, skill, and deservingness to play for a national title. Truthfully, there’s the first three and then everyone else, based again on that pesky body of work. The SEC and the Big 12 are head and shoulders above the Mountain West, WAC, and the Big East and the elite teams in those leagues benefit because of it.

Ohio State
Oregon
Penn State
Virginia Tech
These teams essentially slide into the back half of the Top 10 only because of the losses in front of them. Has has been the case most of the season, these back half Top 10 teams have significant accomplishments but more than a couple significant reservations or concerns. In OSU’s case, it’s their inability to not get thrashed by any team faster than a banana slug on Vicodin.

The rest of the poll is comprised of teams that either moved down because of a devastating loss or moved up simply because teams in front of them inexplicably lost. Virtually no one has earned their ranking solely on their accomplishments since each and every one has had at least one head scratching screw up this season. Utah (#20), North Carolina (#21), Navy (#22) and Ole Miss (#25) all drop out on the heels of losses, further proving again that Ole Miss is probably the most schizophrenic team in the entire FBS division.

Clemson hangs on by its teeth, and Northwestern squeaks in, mainly because there was no other program I felt deserving of being ranked. Your thoughts on what we got wrong, who we over valued, who we under valued, and who should be in there in the comments section. Go.

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