First off let me establish what you're gonna see here, I'm going to compare my top 25 to the AP, USA Today and BCS top 25's in the coming weeks on and share my ideas on the teams in each 5 team tier. To make this clear if I say a team is overrated or underrated I mean in relation to the polls and not necessarily in real life...
AP Top 5: LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Boise State
USA Today Top 5: Oklahoma, LSU, Alabama, Wisconsin, Stanford
My Top 5: LSU, Alabama, Oklahoma, Boise State, Wisconsin
Reaction: One could make an argument for any arrangement of the top 3 but I believe that LSU has the best resume of the 3 and deserves it's place at the top. I have Boise at 4 because it has the next best win and resume. Wisconsin rounds out the top five on the strength of it's Nebraska win and it's demolishing of the teams it should beat in it's non-con just edging out Stanford.
AP 6-10: Oklahoma State, Stanford, Clemson, Oregon, Arkansas
USA Today 6-10: Boise State, Oklahoma State, Clemson, Oregon, Michigan
My 6-10: Stanford, Clemson, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Arkansas
Reaction: Stanford is still a top 5 team with Luck at QB but it falls due to no marquee wins on it's resume. I have Clemson so high because they won three straight against ranked opponents including one at Lane Stadium and have looked impressive all year. Oklahoma State's only such win is Texas A&M otherwise the resume is a little flat. Oregon and Arkansas round out the top ten having top 5 losses but nothing spectacular to fill out their respective resumes so far.
AP 11-15: Michigan, Georgia Tech, West Virginia, Nebraska, South Carolina
USA Today 11-15: Arkansas, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Nebraska, Illinois
My 11-15: Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Michigan, Nebraska, Illinois
Reaction: Georgia Tech, Michigan and Illinois are gained their spots through going undefeated and are ranked according to strength of opponents and wins. South Carolina lost a "meh" game to Auburn but also has a good win over Georgia, Nebraska had a nice bounce back against Ohio State and has a good win over a top 30-35 Washington team. The AP has WVU up here but until they show that they can play a complete game I think 13 is a bit overrated for the Mountaineers.
AP 16-20: Illinois, Kansas State, Arizona State, Virginia Tech, Baylor
USA Today 16-20: West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Kansas State, Michigan State, Arizona State
My 16-20: Kansas State, Arizona State, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M
Reaction: First off let me just say that Kansas State is getting no respect coming off wins over Miami (FL), Baylor and Mizzou. I know Miami is down but on winning on the road there is still tough and Baylor and Mizzou have better talent than they do. I also think A&M has fallen a bit too far, they blew leads to two very good offenses in back to back weeks but have shown they have the team to compete with both of them for an entire game.
AP 21-25: Texas A&M, Texas, Michigan State, Auburn, Houston
USA Today 21-25: Texas, Houston, Texas A&M, Baylor, Penn State
My 21-25: Houston, Michigan State, Baylor, Notre Dame, Penn State
Reaction: First off, let me just say that this was the toughest 5 to figure out as I made my top 25. Houston Baylor and Michigan State were all right there in the conversation around 20 so lets focus on the last two teams I put in and the two that appear in the polls that I didn't. Notre Dame has two blown lead losses to teams that are much better than we expected them to be and have gone on to win convincingly in 3 out of the next four games. Penn State on the other hand keeps winning and their only loss is to the #2 team in the country. I left Auburn out of my top 25 because I just don't believe they are a top 25 team, yes they find ways to win but you could see how much the youth hurts this team this week against Arkansas and that was enough for me to drop them. Similarly, Texas' youth is a detriment to them and they seem to be partially back to being Texas but not quite, which makes them a top 35 or so team instead of a top 25 team.
Feel free to leave comments below and I'll have my week 7 picks blog posted Tuesday or Wednesday.
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