Alligator Army Ballot - Week 5
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU Tigers |
 1 |
| 2 | Oklahoma Sooners |
 -1 |
| 3 | Alabama Crimson Tide |
1 |
| 4 | Boise St. Broncos |
-1 |
| 5 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys |
4 |
| 6 | Stanford Cardinal | -- |
| 7 | Wisconsin Badgers |
-2 |
| 8 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 9 | Nebraska Cornhuskers |
2 |
| 10 | Florida Gators |
7 |
| 11 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
| 12 | Baylor Bears |
4 |
| 13 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -- |
| 14 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 15 | Texas Longhorns |
4 |
| 16 | West Virginia Mountaineers |
-1 |
| 17 | Virginia Tech Hokies |
-5 |
| 18 | Texas A&M Aggies |
-8 |
| 19 | South Florida Bulls |
-1 |
| 20 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | -- |
| 21 | Florida St. Seminoles |
-14 |
| 22 | Fla. International Golden Panthers |
-1 |
| 23 | Illinois Fighting Illini |
2 |
| 24 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | -- |
| 25 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| Dropouts: Vanderbilt Commodores, USC Trojans, Michigan Wolverines | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
After the jump, reasoning.
- LSU has the nation's best or second-best defense and the nation's best resume. There's no reason why the Tigers shouldn't be undefeated for that November showdown against Alabama, and there's virtually no chance they lose their hold on the top spot in my BlogPoll ballot until they do lose.
- Oklahoma's win at Florida State + Oklahoma's win over Missouri > Alabama's win at Penn State + Alabama's win over Arkansas. I do think an Oklahoma-Alabama game might go to the Crimson Tide, because I think Alabama forces Oklahoma to throw at that incredible secondary.
- Boise State is only slipping because those three titans ahead of it have better wins. I still think the Broncos are very, very good.
- Oklahoma State won a game against a Texas A&M team that had it drawn and quartered a week after winning a game that started after midnight. And they didn't do all of it with offense. I'm comfortable putting the Cowboys in front of Stanford.
- Wisconsin falls because its best wins are against UNLV and Oregon State teams that are very, very bad.
- Nebraska rises because teams ahead of Nebraska lost, not because Nebraska's really done anything. (I've completely forgotten to rank Nebraska in my first go-through of the ballot more than once.)
- I swear I'm not just being a Florida homer: Other than the receivers, where are this team's weaknesses? The forced turnovers against Kentucky are a big part of why the Gators are No. 10.
- Baylor may have the nation's best player, which makes up for some worries about the Bears' schedule for me.
- I probably have Arkansas too high. But this is just a draft.
- South Carolina falls because South Carolina has managed to look unimpressive against four teams I don't rate among the top 25 nationally, and also because an offense with Alshon Jeffery and Marcus Lattimore is somehow inconsistent. I might like the Carolina offense more if Steve Spurrier himself were under center; he, at least, would know to let the best players make the plays.
- Virginia Tech is not as good as its undefeated record, either.
- Florida State's defense is not nearly as good as advertised if Greg Reid isn't a part of it.
- I toyed with the idea of ranking Arizona State ahead of the only team it lost to, because I think the Sun Devils win more than they lose against Illinois at a neutral site, but chickened out.
Thoughts, aggrieved Michigan defenders?