Week 9 rankings

For once, a week in college football where a top 5 team didn't fall, though Alabama did their damnedest. That said, there were some ranked teams that lost and will be falling down (or falling out of) the rankings.
So without further ado, here's the new top 25 for week 9.

1. Alabama (8-0): They may have had a rough time against Tennessee, but even elite teams don't completely dominate every week. That game reminded me of Florida vs South Carolina in 2006. The Tide are certainly good enough to win it all.
2. Florida (7-0): It was better than last week's game against Arkansas... kind of. Tebow needs to stop making bad throws, and Steve Addazio needs to work on his play calling. If the Gator offense can't get it together, Georgia will be tougher than anyone thinks.
3. Texas (7-0): There's the Colt McCoy we're looking for! Texas absolutely lit up a good Mizzou team, which does not bode well for the rest of the Big 12.
4. Cincinnati (7-0): They jump Iowa because of the way they win. Cincinnati does not play teams close. Blowing out Louisville is just the latest example.
5. Iowa (8-0): Iowa has won every game they've played in so far this year, and they've done it in the ugliest way possible. They needed a touchdown on 4th down with two seconds left this week. Still, ugly or not, they are undefeated.

6. Louisiana State (6-1): I didn't expect to see LSU's offense show up, but now that they have, it would make for a very interesting matchup against the Crimson Tide in two weeks.
7. Texas Christian (7-0): Their toughest game is behind them, and the Horned Frogs dominated. A showdown with Utah is their only big test left this season.
8.  Boise State (7-0): A big win over Hawaii keeps them here. If the Broncos don't want slip down the rankings, they'll need wins like that the rest of the year.
9. Oregon (6-1): The Ducks continue on their rampage. They throttled Washington, and the matchup with #11 Southern Cal looms large.
10. Georgia Tech (7-1): It took some time to get it going, but Georgia Tech beat Virginia pretty handily. Can the Yellowjackets avoid the upset bug against Vanderbilt? Miami and Virginia Tech both lost as the top ranked ACC team.
11. Southern Cal (6-1): I'm not going to lie- I can't stand USC. Why the "experts" have them at #4 is a mystery to me. Oregon lost to a better team, and beat the team that beat USC. Halloween will hold a cruel trick for USC if they believe they can waltz into Autzen Stadium and grab a win.
12. Houston (6-1): Houston has the same problem as Boise State. With all their good opponents behind them, they suffer because their best remaining games are against Tulsa, Southern Miss, and UCF.
13. Penn State (7-1): All right, I'm a bit more sold on Penn State after they went into the Big House and beat up Michigan pretty good.
14. Oklahoma State (6-1): Their Halloween matchup with Texas is huge. If the Cowboys can win that game, they position themselves to win the Big 12, and enter the national championship conversation.
15. Pittsburgh (7-1): The toughest tests are still ahead for the Panthers. After their next game against Syracuse, Pitt gets Notre Dame, travels to West Virginia and then hosts Cincinnati. The Panthers will need to stay on top of their game to win out and play in a BCS bowl.
16. West Virginia (6-1): West Virginia probably has the toughest road in the Big East. It will be tough for them to win three more games this year, but it will be doable against South Florida.
17. Virginia Tech (5-2): With Miami's loss, things are looking up for the idle Hokies. If Georgia Tech loses another conference game, the Hokies will get to defend their ACC crown.
18. Miami (FL) (5-2): Some people saw the loss against Clemson coming- I was not one of those people. Miami is now playing for an upper-tier ACC bowl.
19. South Carolina (6-2): Well, they finally beat Vanderbilt! This could be the last hurrah for the Gamecocks for awhile though. They travel to Tennessee and Arkansas before hosting #2 Florida.
20. Notre Dame (5-2): They're back. The Fighting Irish snapped their losing streak against Boston College and now get Washington State. Their annual showdown with Navy follows, and then another chance to prove themsevles against a ranked team (#15 Pitt).
21. Ole Miss (5-2): I think this is the Ole Miss team people were expecting. They're not an elite team like many people thought, but they're a good middle-of-the-pack SEC team, which makes them a very good college football team. If Javon Snead can keep playing well, they have a chance to upset LSU later this year.
22. Arizona (5-2): Another team that was bitten by the Washington upset bug, the Wildcats just beat a respectable UCLA squad. Their biggest forcoming test is in three weeks against Oregon.
23. Utah (6-1): Well, I have to have at least one BCS-busting Utah school ranked, right? If only the Utes' schedule was beefier, I could feel justified in ranking them.
24. Ohio State (6-2): Is it too soon to rank them after their loss to Purdue? Maybe, but Terelle Pryor looked pretty good beating down a solid Minnesota team. They get a cupcake next week, followed by a brutal three game stretch against Iowa, Penn State, and Michigan.
25. Oklahoma (4-3): Losses by one point to two decent teams and three to the #3 team in the country (without their starting quarterback) are better than blowouts. Ask Kansas. Lucky for Oklahoma, losing to quality opponents is better than being a one loss team from the MAC- Sorry Central Michigan.

Dropped from the rankings: South Florida (formerly #16), Kansas (formerly #20), Auburn (formerly #22), Texas Tech (formerly #23), BYU (formerly #24), Nebraska (formerly #25). Hot damn that's a lotta teams dropping out of the rankings! Kudos to South Carolina for being the only team ranked in the 20's last week to avoid losing.

This week's matchups of ranked teams:
#3 Texas @ #14 Oklahoma State
#9 Oregon vs #11 Southern Cal

Prviews of those games will be up later this week.