The No. 1 Auburn Tigers should retain their hold on the BCS top spot, though a road win by the Oregon Ducks over the USC Trojans will likely close the gap somewhat. However, they should gain all sorts of ground on the Boise State Broncos in both human polls, which will in turn help their BCS standing, so maybe Auburn holds steady after all DEEP BREATH.
The No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide, who were off this week, should rejoin the top five in all polls after No. 5 Michigan State and No. 6 Missouri lost very convincingly. Unless we’re astounded by No. 8 Utah’s tight victory over Air Force or No. 9 Oklahoma beating Colorado. Everybody beats Colorado! I could see a case for jumping the No. 13 Stanford Cardinal pretty far into the top ten, but not all the way ahead of Alabama.
No. 12 LSU, also off, likely rejoins the top ten.
No. 19 Arkansas, No. 20 South Carolina, and No. 21 Mississippi St. will all queue up somewhat in the wake of No. 16 Florida State’s loss. FSU shouldn’t leave the rankings altogether, though they’ll likely join N.C. State and Maryland in an ACC clusterwhat at the bottom and into the Also Receiving Votes underworld.
No. 22 Miami is so very gone from the rankings after receiving its third loss. No. 23 Virginia Tech, who wisely took a week off from all this, will gain at least two spots from all the madness, meaning the team that lost to James Madison is your new ACC standard-bearer, which replaces the loss to James Madison itself as the most ACC thing to happen all year. The Hokies play next on Thursday night against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
No presently unranked SEC teams deserve any top 25 consideration whatsoever, though the Florida Gators will assuredly receive some votes after beating the Georgia Bulldogs.