MSR Top 25

Motown Sports Revival Top 25

1. USC
2. Texas
3. Ohio St.
4. Florida
5. Va. Tech
6. LSU
7. Tennessee
8. Georgia
9. Arizona St.
10. Florida St.
11. Miami
12. Boston College
13. Louisville
14. California
15. Notre Dame
16. Michigan
17. Ga. Tech
18. Purdue
19. Iowa
20. Virginia
21. Michigan St.
22. Wisconsin
23. Oklahoma
24. Clemson
25. Minnesota

Next five: Texas Tech, Iowa St., Texas A & M, Fresno St., Auburn,

I know a lot of us have been taught by the pollsters that a team with one loss has to drop a minimum of 5-10 spots. The pollsters who think that are confused. A top 25 ballot should be how the pollster views the top 25 teams in football. If Ohio St. is four and Texas is two and Ohio St. loses but outplays Texas, how much sense does it make to drop Ohio St. to 9th? If the pollsters thought Ohio St. could beat Texas, they wouldn’t have been ranked lower than Texas coming into the game. So, Ohio St. loses as the pollsters expected and they drop? How much sense does that make? If a team is ranked 9th because it lost to the 2nd team by three points, then the pollsters obviously think that the #3, #4 and #5 teams would lose by less than one point! The logic behind the polls is ridiculous which is why there needs to be a playoff. Don’t get me wrong. Just because a team loses to another team doesn’t mean it should be ranked lower than that team. However, a team that loses to a higher ranked team should never drop five spots. Having said that, my top 25 will be how I view the top 25 teams and not how I “should” view them based on how the polls work.

I’m starting to think that Ohio St. could beat USC in much the same way they beat Miami in the Fiesta Bowl for the National Championship in 2002. Miami was considered one of the best teams in college football history. Ohio St. was a huge underdog. Defense wins championships and Ohio St. certainly has it this year. I guarantee you that the offense will improve as the season moves forward. Vince Young is a one man show. There isn’t a team in college football that he couldn’t beat by himself. Could any team really play Texas defensively any better than OSU did? I really don’t think so. I don’t see Texas losing from here on out. I would say there’s a 75% chance of a USC-Texas Rose Bowl as it stands right now.

The SEC teams are all pretty similar. They look good but they’re all unproven. I think the difference will be coaching. With Urban Meyer being the best of the bunch, I think Florida has the upper hand in the SEC. If LSU is a top five team then Arizona St. is a top ten team.

Va. Tech looks good. Granted, it was against Duke but Markus Vick has the offense rolling pretty well. Va. Tech will always be good on defense and special teams. The missing component is usually a high-powered offense. It looks like they might have one. I think they’re the best team in the ACC. Florida St. and Miami are pretty much the same team. They should be ranked next to each other for the rest of the season.

A lot was made about the Big Ten having a rough week but to be honest, the Big Ten is much stronger than anyone could have predicted. I think there are seven teams that are in the top 25 but only one in the top 10. Iowa was vastly overrated at #8 but they’re still a top 25 team. I think if they played Iowa St. ten times, they'd probably win six of them. Michigan St., Wisconsin, and Minnesota all look very impressive. I don’t see any reason to keep them out of the top 25. I honestly think that all three of those teams could beat anyone outside the top 15.

Oklahoma might be in for a rough season. Not only did they lose to TCU, but they struggled against Tulsa for the majority of their game. However, with Adrian Peterson apparently part of their game plan again, Oklahoma has enough talent to be in the top 25.