[UPDATE, 9:27 a.m.: A rejiggered, far less harsh ballot has been submitted. See it here.]
A bit harsh? Not harsh enough? Add your thoughts...
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| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | |
| 2 | Texas | |
| 3 | Alabama |
 7 |
| 4 | Southern Cal | |
| 5 | Penn State | |
| 6 | California |
3 |
| 7 | Oklahoma State |
1 |
| 8 | Ohio State |
 2 |
| 9 | Brigham Young |
15 |
| 10 | Boise State |
5 |
| 11 | Georgia Tech |
3 |
| 12 | LSU |
1 |
| 13 | Mississippi | |
| 14 | Notre Dame |
4 |
| 15 | Utah |
5 |
| 16 | TCU |
1 |
| 17 | Cincinnati | |
| 18 | Missouri | |
| 19 | Kansas |
6 |
| 20 | Nebraska | |
| 21 | Miami (Florida) | |
| 22 | Virginia Tech |
10 |
| 23 | Georgia |
7 |
| 24 | Oklahoma |
21 |
| 25 | Florida State |
4 |
| Last week's ballot | ||
Dropped Out: Oregon (#7), Iowa (#19), North Carolina (#22), Rutgers (#23).
On the Radar (in no particular order): Michigan, Texas Tech, Michigan State, Oregon St., West Virginia, Tennessee
NOTES:
- Let's actually begin at the bottom, where Virginia Tech, Georgia, Oklahoma and Florida State all stay in my Top 25. I fought with the whole "winless teams have proven nothing and therefore shouldn't be ranked" philosophy, but I don't feel like you can accurately use resume ranking this early in the season. So, in effect, 22-25 are somewhat of a compromise between two schools of thinking that are extremely prevalent within the BlogPoll.
- Despite a shaky first half from Greg McElroy, 'Bama shoots to No. 3 in my ballot. Southern Cal has its own proving ground next week.
- Cal gets rewarded for destroying Maryland and Ohio State gets docked for failing to destroy Navy.
- BYU and Boise reap the rewards of their performances.
- I didn't know what to do with LSU and Ole Miss. You wouldn't have expected Washington to give LSU a huge fight, but the close margin of the Tigers' road win seemed to be more a function of decent play by UW rather than poor play by the Huskies. Ole Miss had to turn it on late to put away Memphis, but it's another season-opening road win to take into consideration.
- Cincy and Mizzou make their debuts at No. 17 and 18 after destroying teams that were expected to be decent but may in fact be awful. Too high on either of these teams?
- That Big 12 North trio is tightly packed. I'm already looking forward to Nebraska/Va Tech.
- Credit to Miami. I gave a lot of thought to ranking them in the Top 25 before the season, but I thought their schedule would eat them alive. It very well may do just that, but for at least one week, they're a Top 25 team.
- My apologies to UNC, who drops off my ballot without even playing a game. Someone had to go to make way for some of the new teams, and the Tar Heels drew the short straw.