Let's get to it:
Hammer & Rails Ballot - Week 7
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
 5 |
| 2 | Florida Gators |
2 |
| 3 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 4 | Oregon Ducks |
 -2 |
| 5 | Kansas St. Wildcats |
2 |
| 6 | Oregon St. Beavers |
3 |
| 7 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs |
1 |
| 8 | Rutgers Scarlet Knights |
2 |
| 9 | Louisville Cardinals |
3 |
| 10 | Cincinnati Bearcats |
1 |
| 11 | Ohio Bobcats |
3 |
| 12 | LSU Tigers |
6 |
| 13 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
-12 |
| 14 | Georgia Bulldogs |
5 |
| 15 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 16 | Oklahoma Sooners |
5 |
| 17 | Texas Tech Red Raiders |
6 |
| 18 | Nevada Wolf Pack |
6 |
| 19 | Texas A&M Aggies |
1 |
| 20 | West Virginia Mountaineers |
-15 |
| 21 | USC Trojans |
1 |
| 22 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| 23 | Northwestern Wildcats | -- |
| 24 | Louisiana Tech Bulldogs |
-11 |
| 25 | Toledo Rockets | -- |
| Dropouts: Texas Longhorns, Stanford Cardinal, Duke Blue Devils | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
As always, explanations after the jump:
- In possibly the toughest move ever, Notre Dame is No. 1. Consider it a last-ditch effort to reverse-jinx them. They are a damn good team, however. Purdue and its slapdash offense has scored the most against them and come the closest to beating them, but that was when we had a functioning D-line and a healthy No. 1 QB.
- Florida is my No. 2 because they have some very impressive wins over LSU, and Texas A&M. They could end up with the most impressive strength of schedule after playing South Carolina and Georgia the next two weeks.
- The rule of unbeatens follows, as there are 11 eligible teams left. The Mississippi State-Alabama-Florida troika will eventually sort itself out, as will Rutgers-Cincinnati-Louisville and Oregon-Oregon State. There can be a maximum of six undefeated teams because of remaining matchups.
- Ohio is the last undefeated non-BCS team. The win over Penn State is looking better and better, but they're best hope for the first ever MAC BCS bid is as follows. First: chaos ahead of them. Second: that Kent State can be in the top 25 when they meet on Nov. 23. Third: That the west winner between Northern Illinois and Toledo is also ranked in the MAC title game. Both NIU (one point to Iowa) and Toledo (Seven points in OT at Arizona) have one loss. Fourth: That they can somehow reach No. 16 in the final BCS standings and be ahead of the Big Ten winner.
- LSU reaches the glass ceiling of being the best one-loss team.
- Among the one-loss teams there is now some room for clear separation. Texas Tech can't pass Oklahoma until the Sooners lose again. The same is true for South Carolina passing LSU, West Virginia passing Texas Tech, and Louisiana Tech passing Texas A&M.
- Nevada would be undefeated had it not given up a 56-yard TD to South Florida with 38 seconds left. With Boise at the end of the schedule that could end up being a multi-million dollar mistake and cost the Mountain West yet another BCS bid.