Week 8 rankings

Another weekend of college football behind us, and more top 5 upsets in the books. Virginia Tech went down, Florida lucked out, and Colt McCoy showed that he's only a field goal better than Landry Jones (which my girlfriend pointed out before me). More undefeated teams fell by the wayside (South Florida, Kansas), and the first BCS rankings of the year are out. Without further ado, my rankings for week 8.

1. Alabama- They've played better than and worse than Florida against Arkansas and Kentucky respectively, but a win over Virginia Tech (which honestly, doesn't look quite as good now) has them ranked #1 in my poll for the first time this season.
2. Florida- Even elite teams have a bad game. If the Gators didn't want to lose the top spot, they should probably stop scheduling cupcakes and start playing some better teams.
3. Texas- "Colt McCoy is only 3 points better than Landry Jones."- Megen Olivo. True, but they're still undefeated in the Big 12.
4. Iowa- It's not pretty watching this football team, but they're 7-0 and that's impressive. Why they're not getting more love from the flesh and blood, I don't know.
5. Cincinnati- They steamrolled a good South Florida team in Tampa despite losing star quarterback Tony Pike. They still have Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Connecticut, but if they win out, they have a real shot at playing for a national title.
6. Miami (FL)- Their loss looks worse now than a week ago, but the Canes did enough this weekend by beating UCF. If the Hokies lose again, the Canes control their own destiny.
7. Louisiana State- The Tigers had the weekend off, and their only loss was to #2 Florida, albeit at home. There's a catfight coming up this weekend in the Bayou as #22 Auburn comes into Death Valley.
8. Texas Christian- A good non-conference slate has the Horned Frogs ranked above Boise. That the Mountain West is far better than the WAC will only help as the season wears on. A matchup with #24 BYU in Provo is this weekend.
9. Boise State- To be fair, the only reason the Broncos are this high is because they're undefeated and have a win over Oregon that looks better every week.
10. Oregon- Speaking of the Ducks, they round out the top 10 due to their phenomenal play since the first week. Their loss to Boise State is much better than USC's loss to Washington. They're not above Boise due to their head to head loss.
11. Georgia Tech- A win over what I had considered to be a very good Virginia Tech team and a bunch of losses by the teams above them vaults the Yellowjackets to #11. If they, Virginia Tech and Miami all win out, it will make for an interesting story in the ACC.
12. Southern Cal- They knocked off a good Notre Dame team in South Bend, but just barely. The humans have them ranked too high, as does the BCS. Their big test comes in two weeks in Eugene against #10 Oregon.
13. Houston- Case Keenum and co. keep blasting their opponents. If they hadn't lost to UTEP, Houston would be in my top 5, with wins against Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Mississippi State.
14. Penn State- By virture of being a good team whose only loss came to the #4 team in the land.
15. Oklahoma State- It's too bad that Houston lost to UTEP, because Oklahoma State would be ranked in my top ten if not for Houston's slide. I think that they're a better team than Penn State, but all things considered, Iowa is a better team right now than Houston, so I can't justify ranking the Cowboys over the Nittany Lions.
16. South Florida- Have the true South Florida Bulls shown up? Maybe, but Cincinnati is an elite football team. The fact that they still got doubled up at home lands the Bulls behind a host of other one-loss teams. That and the fact that their schedule hasn't been as good...
17. West Virginia- They're ranked above Pittsburgh because Auburn is a far superior team to North Carolina State, even with two losses. That said, West Virginia has a murderer's row of Big East teams the next five weeks. If they can win them all though, they're pretty much guaranteed a BCS bowl.
18. Pittsburgh- The last of a group of three Big East teams, the Panthers get #16 South Florida at home this weekend. If they win that game, they'll have some swag going into their next three games against Syracuse, Notre Dame and at #17 West Virginia.
19. Virginia Tech- They're not the first team that couldn't stop the triple option, and they won't be the last, but the Hokies's national championship hopes are gone. A BCS bowl is still possible if they win out and Georgia Tech loses another game.
20. Kansas- A loss to Colorado, on the road or not, will cause you to drop nine spots every time. With their porous defense, this wasn't unexpected. Things don't get any easier against Oklahoma and Texas Tech the next two weeks.
21. South Carolina- The Gamecocks can do a lot of things, and do them alright. However, the Gamecocks cannot do a lot of things well. They obviously lack the athletes of teams like Florida and Texas, so a loss to those teams is almost expected, but if they can't win against Vandy and Tennesse in the next few weeks, they could be in big trouble.
22. Auburn- Is there trouble brewing in Alamaba? A bad pass defense losing agaisnt Ryan Mallet wasn't too surprising, but Kentucky is an overwhelmingly mediocre team. Memo to Gene Chizik- the honeymoon is over. If you can't best #7 LSU this weekend, don't be surprised to find "For Sale" signs in your yard.
23. Texas Tech- They're 2-1 in the Big 12 and their losses have come to #3 Texas and #13 Houston. They lost Michael Crabtree, Graham Harrell, and new starter Taylor Potts, so I'd say that's pretty darn respectable.
24. Brigham Young- I really didn't want to have BYU ranked, since their best win is against 3-3 Oklahoma, they got absolutely shellacked by miserable FSU (at home), and other than that, they've played absolutely nobody.
25. Nebraska- Losses to #19 Virginia Tech (in Blacksburg) and #23 Texas Tech (at home) aren't so bad. They may have two losses, but they hang on to their final spot because Utah (5-1), Idaho (6-1), and Central Michigan (6-1) have played nobody. Well, Utah played #10 Oregon, but they lost. Nebraska has played better competition thus far.

Dropped from the rankings: Ohio State (formerly #19), Wisconsin (formerly #22), Notre Dame (formerly #24).

Matchups of ranked teams this week:
#7 LSU vs #22 Auburn
#8 TCU @ #24 BYU
#16 South Florida @ #18 Pittsburgh
Previews of these games will be posted throughout the week, and this time I promise, I will get to all of them!