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Alligator Army Ballot after Week 5
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 3 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 4 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 5 | Kansas St. Wildcats |
 1 |
| 6 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
1 |
| 7 | Georgia Bulldogs |
 -2 |
| 8 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
3 |
| 9 | Florida Gators |
1 |
| 10 | Oregon St. Beavers |
8 |
| 11 | TCU Horned Frogs |
5 |
| 12 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 13 | Clemson Tigers |
1 |
| 14 | Oklahoma Sooners |
3 |
| 15 | Texas Longhorns |
-6 |
| 16 | Texas A&M Aggies | -- |
| 17 | Ohio St. Buckeyes |
3 |
| 18 | Nebraska Cornhuskers |
1 |
| 19 | Louisiana Tech Bulldogs |
5 |
| 20 | Stanford Cardinal |
-12 |
| 21 | Northwestern Wildcats |
2 |
| 22 | USC Trojans |
-7 |
| 23 | UCLA Bruins | -- |
| 24 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | -- |
| 25 | Rutgers Scarlet Knights |
-3 |
| Dropouts: Louisville Cardinals, Baylor Bears, Iowa St. Cyclones | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings
Because these explanations always go better in list form:
- Florida State struggled to put away a decent USF team; Alabama beat a bad Ole Miss team by one touchdown more. I suppose I'm supposed to penalize FSU because USF's not an SEC team or something, but all this week made me think is that Florida State beats Alabama 52 of 100 times and not 55. Losing DeAndrew White and Dee Hart hurts the Tide, too.
- LSU would have slipped lower than No. 4 if any team behind it had stepped up, but Georgia was sloppy and indifferent on defense until the final moments against Tennessee; South Carolina trailed Kentucky by 10 at halftime (though its second half surge was impressive); Kansas State, Notre Dame, and Florida didn't play; and West Virginia has a smoking crater of a defense. (Also, the only decent pass defense WVU has faced, Maryland's, limited the 'Eers to just 338 yards through the air.)
- I wrote about Oregon State elsewhere, but the Beavers' hardiness in various situations has me thinking that they just might be the second-best team in the Pac-12. At least, they have three wins over teams that will probably head to bowls, and two other teams I have ranked here, so I'm fine with having them here.
- TCU has yet to allow an opposing team to complete 50 percent of its passes. I imagine this isn't common knowledge because TCU hasn't really played anyone, but SMU's a spread team and Kansas has Charlie Weis and Dayne Crist, and that stat would be impressive against anyone. Alabama, which had the nation's best pass defense in 2011, accomplished that feat five times last year, once against an option team; TCU's already done it four times.
- Texas' defense is just not very good. 31 points allowed to Ole Miss was a sign; 576 yards allowed to Oklahoma State, split almost evenly between rushing (275) and passing (301) is a sign on fire. West Virginia's going to make the 'Horns score with them. It'll end poorly.
- Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M are for real and really good. Florida's win over the Aggies may be the best in terms of opponent and locale in 2012 so far.
- Louisiana Tech is overrated, but there aren't a lot of good teams in the Nos. 18-25 range anyway.
- Stanford gets heavily penalized for losing to a bad Washington team.
Got any alterations, other than actually including Louisville? The floor and the comments are yours.