I didn't rank Florida or Oklahoma. I feel like rankings should be heavily based on what you have accomplished already. Here is my defense of some of my rankings in case you care to read. I also want to point out a few teams that deserve to be noted for doing good things.
Florida rallied late and had over 100 yards in the 4th quarter to be TIED in offense to Miami (OH) who won ONE single game last year. Sure they brought back 20 starters, so we'll see how improved they are. But for Florida to only be able to muster 212 yards at home against them and to be only up 21-12 in the fourth quarter and like 50 yards is just embarrassing. Oh, and Miami's 12 points came on 4 red zone field goals. Florida first 3 touchdowns came off a returned INT, and two drives of 12 and 2 yards. That performance in no way deserves to be in the top 25, in my opinion. Especially when other teams actually decided to play football this weekend.
Oklahoma almost made it into my top 25, only because they got out to a 21 point lead and I feel like Utah State will be going to a bowl game this year. But they're also, well, Utah State. I mean, Utah State turns the ball over 4 times at Oklahoma and only loses by a touchdown? Oklahoma only had one more yard, also. Come on Sooners, I expected much more.
I ranked Oregon so high because of their pure dominance. I actually wanted to put them ahead of Alabama, but Alabama actually played an FBS team (yes, I'm saying New Mexico is not FBS anymore). I really think New Mexico would struggle to have a winning record in a decent FCS conference.
Not that these teams would have been ranked anyway, but Kansas losing to North Dakota State (and only putting up 3 points)? Wow. ND State only beat Wagner, Western Illinois, and Indiana State last year. And give Jacksonville St credit for coming back to beat Ole Miss in double OT. I'm less surprised about that considering Jacksonville St put up fights against Georgia Tech and FSU last year and the only FCS team they lost to last year was Eastern Illinois (who ended up 8-4 with 2 FBS losses).
Penn State is also ranked low because they struggled early with Youngstown State, which shouldn't really be a surprise since Penn St likes to do that. They kicked a FG at the end of the first half to make it 16-7. Then they returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a TD and it was all over from there.
I was also disappointed/impressed with Auburn. They gained over 600 yards on Arkansas State but also let up 366 yards and Arkansas State hung around until midway threw the third. This Ark St team won only 4 games last year but was 3 points from Iowa and Troy.
Now for some teams that deserve some recognition...First off, Oregon. I've said enough about them in other posts, so I'll skip that. But I'll just say, WOW. Also, Michigan put up 30 points on a UConn defense that returned 7 starters (the team returned 16) and their defense has been really tough in recent years. Plus, it's the Michigan team that has been stagnant. They could be good, Denard Robinson is the next Pat White. And how about Cal? Sure, UC Davis is bad (went 6-5 and won the Great West conference, which is where SUU plays) but I don't know what other defense let up under 100 yards this week. And the offense put up over 500. Houston's Case Keenum was impressive as usual. In one half, went 17/22 for 274 yards and 5 touchdowns. Almost 1/3 of his throws were TDs. He also threw 2 picks though, and it was only against Texas State. Florida State also looked GREAT, which is why I ranked them #7. In one half, Christian Ponder was 12/14 for 167 yards and 4 TDs. His 1 INT was on a tipped pass. Every pass I saw of his was right on target, and the white boy learned how to run too. Watch out for FSU. They're going to absolutely slaughter BYU, which looked underwhelming in their win against Washington (I think Ludwig is a Husky now).
And then, of course you have to give huge props to TCU and Boise State for pulling off big wins in exciting games. One other shout-out goes to Maryland. They forced 3 fumbles inside the 5 against Navy (recovered 2 and the other one made it go to the half). Then pulled off a goal line stop with under a minute to play to beat Navy. Yeah, two crappy teams, but it was exciting and Maryland's defense was impressive to stop Navy's offense in those situations. Some very exciting finishes this week (Utah-Pitt, Jacksonville St-Ole Miss, LSU-UNC, TCU-Oregon State, ECU-Tulsa, Maryland-Navy, Boise State-Virginia Tech).
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