1. Oregon (11.5) [AP(2), Coach (2), Sagarin(1)]
2. Ohio State (11.5) [AP (1), Coach (1), Sagarin(15)]
3. Alabama (11.25) [AP (8), Coach (8), Sagarin(8)]
4. LSU (11) [AP (9), Coach (9), Sagarin(5)]
5. Auburn (10) [AP(7), Coach (7), Sagarin(17)]
6. Boise State (10) [AP(3), Coach (3), Sagarin(3)]
7. Utah (10) [AP (11), Coach (10), Sagarin(23)]
8. Florida State (9.25) [AP(16), Coach(17), Sagarin(10)]
9. Michigan State (9) [AP(13), Coach(11), Sagarin(18)]
10. Nebraska (9) [AP(5), Coach(4), Sagarin(6)]
11. TCU (9) [AP(4), Coach(5), Sagarin (2)]
12. Nevada (9) [AP(19), Coach(21), Sagarin(14)]
13. Oklahoma (8.5) [AP(6), Coach(6), Sagarin(12)]
14. Oklahoma State (8.5) [AP(20), Coach(18), Sagarin(32)]
15. Stanford (7.25) [AP(14), Coach(15), Sagarin(4)]
16. Iowa (6.25) [AP(15), Coach(14), Sagarin(21)]
17. Michigan (6) [AP(–), Coach(24), Sagarin(26)]
18. Missouri (6) [AP(21), Coach(19), Sagarin(16)]
19. Florida (5.75) [AP(22), Coach(22), Sagarin (28)]
20. Air Force (5.75) [AP(23), Coach(23), Sagarin (27)]
21. UTEP (5.75) [AP(-), Coach (-), Sagarin (112)]
22. North Carolina St. (5.25) [AP(-), Coach(-), Sagarin (22)]
23. USC (4.75) [AP(-), Coach(-), Sagarin (29)]
24. Southern Methodist (4.75) [AP(-), Coach(-), Sagarin (56)]
25. Arizona (4.5) [AP(17), Coach(20), Sagarin(7)]

Last Five Out: Northwestern (4.5), Army (4.5), South Carolina (4.25), Virginia Tech (4), Baylor (4)

Here are the calculations. I included the AP Poll, the Coaches Poll and the Sagarin ratings for context.

Alabama is a close third despite the loss. They would have remained in first, but I removed the “quality” point for their win against Penn State. It’s clear the Nittany Lions are not one of the best teams in the country.

My system rewards the resume rather than straight W-L record. I’d rather celebrate a 9-3 team that scored some big wins rather than a risk averse 11-1 team. Alabama has a quality blowout (Florida), a quality win (Arkansas) and three I-A blowouts (San Jose St., Duke, Penn State). They did lose on the road to South Carolina, but the wins remain as, if not more, impressive than any other team.

South Carolina just missed my Top 25. They played a I-AA team and had a bye week, limiting the pool of point-scoring games to four. They had one blow out (Southern Miss), one quality win (Alabama), one home win against Georgia resulting in five points. They lose .75 for the road loss to Auburn.

Florida State is ranked higher in my poll. The Samford win didn’t count. They lost .75 for the road loss to Oklahoma. The last four games were all blowouts. Miami was a quality opponent. Virginia and Miami were on the road.