Some major changes this week, especially with the BCS standings coming out tonight. Alabama's loss on the surface hurts them under my new standards, but there is still plenty of time for them to climb. First, here is the preliminary ballot:
Hammer & Rails Ballot - Week 7
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio St. Buckeyes |
 2 |
| 2 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 3 | Boise St. Broncos |
1 |
| 4 | TCU Horned Frogs |
1 |
| 5 | Oklahoma Sooners |
6 |
| 6 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 7 | Auburn Tigers |
3 |
| 8 | LSU Tigers |
1 |
| 9 | Michigan St. Spartans |
6 |
| 10 | Utah Utes |
 -2 |
| 11 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys |
11 |
| 12 | Missouri Tigers |
9 |
| 13 | Nevada Wolf Pack |
6 |
| 14 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
6 |
| 15 | Alabama Crimson Tide |
-14 |
| 16 | Arkansas Razorbacks |
-2 |
| 17 | Florida St. Seminoles |
7 |
| 18 | Stanford Cardinal |
-5 |
| 19 | Arizona Wildcats |
-12 |
| 20 | Iowa Hawkeyes |
-3 |
| 21 | Wisconsin Badgers |
2 |
| 22 | Air Force Falcons | -- |
| 23 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 24 | Oregon St. Beavers | -- |
| 25 | Florida Gators |
-9 |
| Dropouts: Miami Hurricanes, Michigan Wolverines, Northwestern Wildcats | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
Now, some explanation:
- New rules are in effect: No undefeated team shall be ranked behind a one loss team. If you don't want to bitch, then don't lose.
- South Carolina is now forever ahead of Alabama based on their head-to-head win. They move behind them if/when they lose again.
- People may freak because I dropped Alabama to #15, but there will not be 13 undefeated teams, so they will climb back up quickly.
- Auburn would stay ahead of South Carolina even with a loss based on head-to-head.
- Florida State makes a big jump, and so does Oklahoma, because of what I saw in person last night. If Oklahoma can wax the FSU team I saw they deserve to jump.
- I very nearly put Oregon #1, but the way Ohio State shut down a very good Indiana offense was impressive.
- If it wasn't for the friggin' loss to Toledo I might have ranked Purdue just for the hell of it at #25.
- Calling Miami's performance against FSU craptacular would be a compliment.