A lot of voters scrap their ballots every week and select without looking at their previous positioning.  I can't do that, mainly because my memory sucks and I like to think that I'm fair in moving teams all over the place.  This week, as we near the midway point of the season, I'm not looking at last week's rankings and just going at it from where I feel teams deserve to be at this point in the season.

1) Ohio State- The only legitimate arguments that come against this team being number one are either those that point at Florida's recent string of victories or those that come from the devil's advocate position.  I realize that their rush defense gives up a relatively high amount of yardage, but you can't run the ball effectively against a team if you're always trailing them.  The Smith/Pittman/Ginn/Gonzalez offense is a war machine that's rolled over two hostile primetime crowds in Iowa City and Austin without a hint of hesitation, and despite slow starts or less-than-dominating performances against Cincinnati and Penn State, this team deserves to be at the top of a merit-based power poll or a performance-based power poll.

2) Florida- The Tim Tebow Effect is intoxicating, as he throws/floats two touchdown passes in the victory over LSU.  I'm not sure how effective the two-quarterback system will look if Leak starts playing poorly, but as long as he's the calm, supportive, steady senior leader and Tebow the change-of-pace fan favorite, things are going to be just dandy.  Maybe their running game and secondary aren't so hot, but the speed on the outsider combined with the front seven eating up everything that resembles a running game more than makes up for it.  Plus, how fantastic does the win over Rocky Top look now?

3) Michigan- Cold-blooded efficiency from the men from up north, with a multi-faceted offense that might not be as pretty as the Buckeyes', but is just as effective.  Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan State aren't world-beaters, but the Wolverines destroyed them - minus some first half efforts from the Badgers - with little or no effort.  The win over Notre Dame stands most proudly on their mantelpiece, partly because it's the Irish's sole loss and partly because of its embarrassing manner.  Perhaps the toughest non-SEC schedule to the title game, with Iowa coming to Ann Arbor and trips to Columbus at the end of the year and State College Saturday night in a big-time Vengeance Game yours truly will be attending.  Unless Henne suddenly starts throwing gopher balls, November 18th will punch one the Big Ten ticket to Glendale.

4) Tennessee- Really?  Really.  Their sole loss is a close game against the number-two team in the country and they laid waste in impressive fashion against Cal and Georgia.  They're sure tacklers and Erik Ainge is playing like it's freshman year again, only better.  This is the team that Rocky Top was supposed to be last year - especially the receiving corps, which is scintillating - and their schedule is fairly favorable for a SEC team, playing at home against LSU and with trips to South Carolina and Arkansas.  Have to be kicking themselves over the Florida loss, but a team that can get it done on both sides of the ball.

5) Texas- The only question the Longhorns really had coming into this season was how would Colt McCoy fill in for the imcomparable Vince Young.  After struggling against Ohio State, I think the question is answered after the Oklahoma game: He's going to be just fine.  Granted, Iowa State and Oklahoma aren't the best scalps to have earned, but they're nothing to sniff at.  I realize Oklahoma outgained them, but unless McCoy regresses, this team will be playing in a BCS bowl come January (And I'm imagine they're still very much in the national title hunt with a little bit of help).    

6) Southern Cal- You try to look impressive when your top two wide receivers aren't even on the field.  The Trojans of old wouldn't have bothered letting the Washington schools hang around, but these aren't the Trojans of old.  However, they're still pretty damn good, and their ability to churn out rushing yards in the fourth quarter has impressed me two straight weeks.  The win over Arkansas looks a lot better now, and they probably won't be tested until November when the Ducks, Golden Bears and Irish all come to town in subsequent weeks.

7) California- Am I biting into the hype?  Probably, but damn, those are some impressive numbers.  A lot like Texas, the big question was whether Nate Longshore could be Tedford's quarterback and use the weapons around him properly.  Like McCoy, he struggled in his first test on Rocky Top, along with the defense.  Apparently it took getting out of the south and busting out hideous uniforms to get rolling, but Cal hasn't been challenged since that first weekend of the season.  It's their turn to play the Washington schools, and if they're significantly more dominating than the Trojans were, they're moving on up, one loss or no one loss.

8) West Virginia- Blowout wins against everybody but East Carolina, but we still don't know a whole lot about the Mountaineers beyond the fact they're a helluva lot faster than Maryland.  I've soured on them the last couple of weeks, if only because other teams have been making statement wins while they have bye weeks and take on crappy competition.  Homecoming against Syracuse, a Friday night game in Storrs and a bye week separate them from the showdown in Louisville.

9) Louisville- Slow out of the gate against Middle Tennessee and with the Hurricane victory on Separation Saturday looking less and less valuable as Miami struggles against nearly every team they face.  Hunter Cantwell and the platoon at running back are filling in well for Brohm and Bush, but until they play West Virginia, Rutgers and Pitt, in the words of the great Michael Scott, "Whatevs".

10) Notre Dame- Four quality wins and a beatdown of Stanford, along with a loss to a top three team where the Irish could do absolutely nothing right.  The running game couldn't get going against anybody with a competent defense and tackling remains a huge issue, but I'm not sure if there's a team in the country that can slow down the no-huddle spread, which has an amazingly high success rate.  Will rise as teams above them fall until the Southern Cal game, which I grow both more confident that we can win and less confident that it will be against an undefeated Trojan squad.  Still rather enigmaish as a team for having played half of their season.

11) Georgia Tech- Saturday was a huge deal for the Yellow Jackets.  Down to a terrible Maryland team, the Chan Gailey Equilibrium was about to kick in...but it didn't.  Reggie Ball minimized his mistake, Tashard Choice broke out and Death From Above struck again as Tech pulled it out to maintain a 5-1 record at the halfway point of their season.  They've got a bye week before a difficult slate of Clemson, Miami (FL) and NC State in which the true test of the Seven Win Corollary will be implemented.

12) Arkansas- Seems a little high, but how do I put them below Auburn when they just dominated the Tigers on their home field?  Although that is their only quality win, it's quite quality, with the sole loss being the opening night blemish to the Trojans.  They had no business winning the Alabama game, but they did, and now they're set up to have Mitch Mustain gain confidence over the next three weeks before a trip to South Carolina and home games against Rocky Top and LSU.  That Phil Steele guy should release a magazine or something.

13) Auburn- I thought to myself "How will this team do against a team that can stop them on 3rd and 18?" when they pulled it out against South Carolina, and lo and behold, the answer was "Not very well".  Were outrushed 279 yards to 60 by the Razorbacks, but still have wins over Wazzu, South Carolina and LSU to hang their hat on.  Jump back into the top ten or continue their plummet depending on how the Florida games go on ESPN FULL CIRCLE Saturday night.

14) Clemson- I know Wake Forest was undefeated, but A) What the hell were they wearing in that game?, and B) where the hell were the Tigers for the first three quarters?  I still think this is the favorite in the ACC, but they can't sleepwalk for 45 minutes against everybody.  Sole loss comes in a flukey, kick-return, double-OT sort of way against BC and still have blowout wins over everybody and a victory in Tallahassee.

15) Boise State- After watching TCU just get dominated by the Utes Thursday night, last week's depantsing by the Broncos in Salt Lake City looks more and more impressive.  Louisiana Tech jumped out to a 7-0 lead on them before getting thoroughly drubbed, and if I had to bet one way or the other now, my money would definitely be on the Men from the Land of Blue Turf invading the BCS this year.

16) LSU- Two of the more quality losses you could have, but they only managed thirteen points combined in their trips to Auburn and Florida.  Did a lot of Les Miles-ish teams in the losses and still don't seem to be able to run the ball all that well, which means JaMarcus can't go throwing three picks.  They'll climb back into things, as the SEC West proves to be very, very interesting as the season progresses.

17) Georgia- Looked like an unstoppable force in the first half before things slowly started to unravel.  Tereshinski looked good, implementing the "run two times for little gain, throw up a jump ball" offense to prime perfection before a series of bad breaks -tipped ball, monster play on the ball by the Tennessee defense - resulted in a couple of picks the Bulldogs just couldn't recover from.  When their punting unit marched onto the field for the first time in the game late in the second half, I immediately said "Block", as the momentum was swinging the Vols' way and I doubted the punt squad would be crisp after hanging around the sidelines all night.  Lot of talent here, and will surely pull the upset on somebody before this season ends.

18) Oregon- Without a quality untainted victory on their resume, as Stanford, Fresno State and Arizona State have all proven to be absolutely terrible.  The performance in Berkeley was less than inspiring, as Ducks managed only ten first half points and allowed 235 rushing yards.  Dennis Dixon didn't play all that well, throwing some picks while defense refused to step up as well.  Interesting test on Saturday as a regrouped UCLA team travels north to Autzen.  Also must be disappointed a lot of people probably thought they were Cal on Saturday just because the Bears' jerseys were so much brighter.

19) Oklahoma- Two losses were of the "crappy PAC-10 official" index and the "Those guys are pretty damn good" section of the book.  Still have Adrian Peterson, but five turnovers will do you in rather quick-like.  Unless Texas stubs their toe, no chance at the Big XII South title and a more or less guaranteed trip to the Holiday or Cotton Bowl.

20) Washington- How terrible are PAC-10 officials?  At least the broo-ha-ha in LA gave us a lot of opportunity to make Ty jokes, including,

"If we get a touchdown, we're going for two.  Winning by one doesn't build character."
"We'll punt it with forty seconds left and play field position.  Gotta use those timeouts."
"Kick the field goal, get the onsides kick, kick another field goal.  Adversity builds character."
"BUBBLE SCREEN!"

Two tough losses and a win over UCLA will keep you in the top twenty.

21) Nebraska- At least Ty was willing to open up the playbook and try to win against the Trojans, which Bill Callahan refused to do in his team's only game of consequence this season.  Could care less about the win over Iowa State, as they were taken to OT by Kansas the week before.  Must travel to Kansas State before hoping to attain the only other impressive win left on their schedule: the Texas Longhorns come to town on October 21st.

22) Iowa- Much like Nebraska, blinked in their big game so far this season, but the Hawkeyes also haven't been that impressive in their other games until this Saturday's beatdown of Purdue.  Can still have a national impact when they travel to Ann Arbor, but Drew Tate's senior campaign tastes a little sour at this point.

23) Mizzou- They're undefeated, just rolled on Texas Tech and everyone who sees them play eventually comments "Hey, they look pretty damn good".  They're also awesome on NCAA 2007 for the umpteenth year in a row, leading me to believe that one of the programmers is a Tiger.  They avoid Texas on their schedule, but have a trip to A&M this weekend before getting ready for OU's visit at the end of the month.  

24) Rutgers- Have beaten nobody, but have remained fairly dominant in those beatdowns of John Does.  Road trips to Navy and Pitt should pose tougher tests in these next few weeks, although we know the true test of the Scarlet Knights season will be whether they can knock off one of the Big East Big Two when the time comes.

25) Wisconsin- Played Michigan tougher than anyone else have and are slowly starting to establish PJ Hill as the new feature back.  Extreeeeemely favorably schedule until traveling to Iowa City on Veteran's Day.  Beating people dominantly as of late + sole loss to a really good team in a competitive game = worthy of the number 25 slot.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	--
2	Florida	5
3	Michigan	3
4	Tennessee	8
5	Texas	--
6	Southern Cal	2
7	California	9
8	West Virginia	--
9	Louisville	4
10	Notre Dame	1
11	Georgia Tech	3
12	Arkansas	14
13	Auburn	11
14	Clemson	5
15	Boise State	--
16	LSU	13
17	Georgia	9
18	Oregon	8
19	Oklahoma	2
20	Washington	1
21	Nebraska	3
22	Iowa	2
23	Missouri	1
24	Rutgers	5
25	Wisconsin	1