1. Oklahoma (3-0) – The Sooners’ offense looked outstanding against Fresno State Saturday, scoring 58 points. That’s bad news for the rest of the country, because nobody can really score on Oklahoma’s defense.
2. Michigan (3-0) – Chris Perry leaped into the frontrunner spot for the Heisman Trophy with his 133 yards rushing, 44 yards receiving and four touchdowns against Notre Dame in the Wolverines’ 38-0 win in the Big House.
3. Miami (3-0) – Miami plays Boston College and West Virginia before traveling to Tallahassee to play Florida State Oct. 11. The Hurricanes should be 5-0 entering that game. Will we see another “Wide Right?”
4. Southern California (3-0) – The Trojans look as good as any team in the country right now. They start Pacific-10 Conference play this week at California.
5. Kansas State (4-0) – The Wildcats handily took care of yet another Division I-AA team. Now they will play a Marshall team that just got beat by Toledo. After that they get two weeks off to prepare for Texas.
6. Virginia Tech (2-0) – The Hokies take on Texas A&M on ESPN’s Thursday Night Football. Bryan Randall and Kevin Jones should take care of business.
7. Ohio State (3-0) – The Buckeyes slipped two spots in this week’s poll after back-to-back close games, this time a triple overtime win against NC State. If you want to be in the Top 5 you have to win convincingly.
8. Georgia (3-0) – The Bulldogs don’t overwhelm you and they don’t overly impress you. They just beat you. They are well-coached, but they are without big play receiver Fred Gibson for the big game at LSU. Will that cost them against one of the nation’s top pass defenses?
9. LSU (3-0) – The Tigers stumbled out to another slow start at home Saturday against Division I-AA Western Illinois. They were able to overcome many turnovers and mistakes against the Leathernecks. If they make the same mistakes Saturday, it will cost them the game against Georgia.
10. Florida State (3-0) – The Seminoles needed two late fourth quarter touchdowns to upend Georgia Tech 14-13. FSU welcomes Colorado to Tallahassee this weekend. If the Buffaloes establish the run, do not be surprised by an upset.
11. Pittsburgh (2-0) – Pitt beat Ball State this week and plays Toledo next week, ooh! Their real schedule includes A&M, Notre Dame, Miami and Va. Tech, ouch!
12. Tennessee (2-0) – CBS has a dream day Saturday with Tennessee-Florida at 11 a.m. and LSU-Georgia at 2:30 p.m. The Vols and the Gators in The Swamp is one of the best games in college football year-in and year-out.
13. Florida (2-1) – The Florida offense looks as good as ever this year. Ingle Martin and freshman Chris Leak will showcase their skills in front of the whole country Saturday. If the Gators can stop the Vols’ ground game, they should win the game.
14. Arizona State (2-0) – The Sun Devils travel to the Midwest with a big game against Iowa. If Andrew Walter can keep up his sick numbers (155.5 quarterback rating) ASU will keep passing until it reaches the Rose Bowl.
15. Alabama (2-1) – Shaud Williams is averaging 121 yards rushing per game. The Crimson Tide face off with Northern Illinois this week before the big Sept. 27 matchup with Arkansas.
16. Arkansas (2-0) – The Razorbacks marched into Austin and beat the Longhorns at home, something no other team had done in 20 straight attempts. Matt Jones and the rest of the Arkansas offense looked great.
17. Texas (1-1) – Maybe Chris Simms wasn’t the problem. Maybe there is somebody else in Austin that can’t win the big game. Mack Brown has gotten a top five recruiting class the past five years and has not once played for the national title. They drop ten spots in the poll. If you get dominated by another ranked team, you shouldn’t be ranked ahead of them the next week. That’s ridiculous.
18. Iowa (3-0) – Fred Russell is still tearing it up on the ground and Iowa is still winning. The Hawkeyes look pretty good and could easily be the second best team in the Big Ten.
19. Nebraska (3-0) – The Cornhuskers have posted an average of 90 passing yards per game. Although they run for nearly 300 every game, they will need to be able to throw the ball at least a little bit come Big XII time.
20. Texas Christian (2-0) – The Frogs play a pesky, speedy Vanderbilt team this Saturday. After that, they play Arizona before Conference USA play continues. Must be nice.
21. Washington (1-1) – Cody Pickett to Reggie Williams. Cody Pickett to Reggie Williams. etc…
22. Oregon (3-0) – The Ducks were the newest team to overwhelm Arizona. They beat the Wildcats 48-10, a nice tune-up for the big game with Michigan Saturday in Eugene.
23. Boise State (2-0) – The Broncos play Oregon State this week in their only game against a worthy opponent. They should go undefeated this year, and they will complain that they were not considered for the national title. Then they will lose by four touchdowns to Georgia Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl.
24. Missouri (3-0) – Brad Smith threw for more than 2,000 last year and ran for more than 1,000. He is on pace to do the same this year. The Tigers should be 5-0 when they take on Nebraska Oct. 11. If Mizzou has an outstanding season and can pull an upset or two on K-State or Oklahoma, Smith could win the Heisman.
25. Texas A&M (2-0) – Two unimpressive wins have kept people off the Aggie bandwagon this season. A win against Virginia Tech Thursday night can turn all that around.
26. Washington State (2-1) – The Cougars bounced back after the meltdown at Notre Dame to beat a good Colorado team by a few scores.
27. Wisconsin (2-1) – When Anthony Davis went down, so did the Badgers’ hopes of beating UNLV. If he doesn’t return soon, any hopes of making it to a bowl game die as well. Lee Evans is great, but if no one can get the ground game going, he won’t get many chances to catch the ball.
28. Minnesota (3-0) – By default, Minnesota crept into the Top 30. No other team has showed any promise. There are only about 20 really good teams this year. The Gophers have scored more than 40 points in each game this year, but that was against Ohio, Troy State and Tulsa.
29. North Carolina State (1-2) – Two losses in a row can’t even get the Wolfpack out of the Top 30. Philip Rivers and T.A. McLendon have too much promise. Plus, they almost knocked off Ohio State last week. That deserves some props.
30. Notre Dame (1-1) – The Irish got murdered in the Big House Saturday. They have played one good half of football so far this season. They are lucky to have that one win.