My Top 25 is So Easy When I Can Ignore Two Conferences

Braves & Birds Ballot - Week 3

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
2	Ohio St. Buckeyes	1
3	Oregon Ducks	1
4	Oklahoma Sooners	11
5	Boise St. Broncos	-3
6	TCU Horned Frogs	-1
7	Texas Longhorns	--
8	Florida Gators	6
9	Nebraska Cornhuskers	--
10	Wisconsin Badgers	-2
11	South Carolina Gamecocks	10
12	Arizona Wildcats	-2
13	Iowa Hawkeyes	7
14	Auburn Tigers	-1
15	LSU Tigers	--
16	Clemson Tigers	-4
17	Missouri Tigers	5
18	Stanford Cardinal	--
19	Miami Hurricanes	--
20	Oregon St. Beavers	-3
21	Michigan Wolverines	--
22	Georgia Bulldogs	-11
23	USC Trojans	1
24	Arkansas Razorbacks	1
25	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	-7
Dropouts: Virginia Tech Hokies, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Mississippi St. Bulldogs

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OK, I didn't ignore the ACC completely, though the thought did cross my mind. I had the temptation to punish Clemson for the sins of the rest of its league, but then I relented and played a four-team Tiger parlay in the middle of my ballot.

Other thoughts:

• Alabama and Ohio State have established themselves as the top two teams in the country. Sometimes, the preseason consensus is right. The Bucks and Tide were on top of most preseason polls and lo and behold, they look the best of any contender right now.
• Was it Cecil Hurt who asked via Twitter "does this mean I need to rank James Madison #2? Whomever it was, that was the line of the weekend.
• I look forward to my friend, the anonymous Ute's latest invective about how I am not giving any love to the team of the Aughts that should have won multiple national titles. Because really, there's no difference between 12-0 seasons.
• I know that giving Oklahoma a massive bounce for beating an unranked team might be a little much, but we do know that Florida State has an excellent offense, so the Sooners shutting down that passing game is worthy of kudos. Phil Steele says "thank you, Bob Stoops."
• Take one look at Nebraska's schedule and you too will understand why Vegas pegged the Huskers for ten wins this year.
• Blogosphere debate of the week: is Jacory Harris overrated or is he a victim of a terrible offensive line. Saturday's game reminded me a little of the '95 Orange Bowl, when Nebraska pummeled Frank Costa more and more as the game progressed, to the point where he was chucking the ball immediately by the end. (Little remembered fact from that game: after Nebraska tied the game at 17 in the fourth quarter, the Huskers blew a coverage and Costa overthrew a wide open receiver on what would have been a sure touchdown, most likely because the pass rush had made him gunshy. That overthrow was the difference between Penn State winning the national title and being remembered as a nice 12-0 team. See, Boise State, luck comes into play even for the major conference teams.)
• Michigan's ranking is brought to you by Desmond Howard, Tim Biakabutuka, Ryan Mundy, Junior Hemingway, Rumeal Robinson, and Ray Jackson.