NCAA Top 25 - Week 9

Upset of the week:  We had a few more candidates this week.  Tulsa confirmed their downward spiral with a two-touchdown loss at home against SMU.  Kansas fell from the Top 25 after being humbled by Texas Tech.  South Carolina stumbled against Tennessee in a loss that nearly wiped out their point spread for the season.  However, the biggest upset (and I have national analysts agreeing with me on this) came from my own Alma Mater, the University of Illinois Fighting Illini.  Winless in the conference, the Illini thoroughly humbled their arch-rivals from the University of Michigan, smashing them as badly as they did in last year's 45-20 battle, although the score was smaller this year (38-13).  Rich Rodriquez no goes 0-2 against the Illini; the only team that would be worse for him to go winless against would be Ohio State.  That game comes up in two weeks - watch for it!

This week's rankings [Last week's position]
1.  Alabama Crimson Tide (8-0) [1]
2.  Texas Longhorns (8-0) [2] : Another stellar performance for this offense, and the defense showed plenty of power, too
3.  Florida Gators (8-0) [3]
4.  Boise State Broncos (8-0) [4] : BCS busting seems likely this year
5.  Cincinnati Bearcats (8-0) [5] : Best season ever for the Bearcats!
6.  Iowa Hawkeyes (9-0) [6] : 2009's Cardiac Kids, this was their fourth come-from-behind fourth quarter victory
7.  Oregon Ducks (7-1) [10] : No doubt who the power in the Pac-10 is THIS year
8.  Penn State Nittany Lions (8-1) [8]
9.  TCU Horned Frogs (8-0) [9] : A shutout clears give them potential BCS busting power
10. LSU Tigers (7-1) [12] : This was one of FOUR FBS shutouts on the same day - tied for the all-time record!
11. Pittsburgh Panthers (7-1) [13] : We're all eagerly awaiting the Cincy v Pitt battle on Dec 5th
12. Utah Utes (7-1) [14] : Slowly and steadily moving up
13. Ohio State Buckeyes (7-2) [15] : They achieved their third shutout of the season (tied for school history record) and accounted for one of TWO shutouts in the same conference (Wisconsin, of all teams, scoring the other one), only the second time in NCAA history THAT has happened!
14. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-1) [18] : Clearly the strong team in a weakened ACC
15. Oklahoma State Cowboys (6-2) [11] : Getting thoroughly trounced by Texas may destroy their season
16. USC Trojans (6-2) [7]
17. Central Michigan Chippewas (7-2) [16]
18. Houston Cougars (7-1) [19]
19. BYU Cougars (6-2) [20]
20. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-2) [24]
21. Texas Tech Red Raiders (6-3) [NP]
22. Oklahoma Sooners (5-3) [25]
23. West Virginia Mountaineers (6-2) [17] : Lacking some offense
24. Virginia Tech Hokies (5-3) [23]
25. California Golden Bears (6-2) [NP]

On the Edge
+1 Temple Owls (6-2) - you read that right!  Temple's best year in school history!
+2 Miami Hurricanes (6-2) - a one-point win does little to help their point spread
+3 South Florida Bulls (6-2)
+4 Stanford Cardinal (5-3)
+5 Clemson Tigers (5-3)
+6 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (6-2)
+7 Wisconsin Badgers (6-2)
+8 Nebraska Cornhuskers (5-3)

Dropped: Kansas Jayhawks [#21], Ole Miss Rebels [#22]