Week 7 Power Poll

Another wild week means some upheaval in the power poll. Some of the Husker Blogpollers are really punishing Oklahoma and Missouri for their losses, but I'm not. Again, the point of the Power Poll is to rate teams as to their relative strength, and which teams I think are better than the others.

1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Penn State
4. Oklahoma (Not going to get penalized too much for losing to the Bovines)
5. BYU
6. Utah
7. USC
8. Florida
9. Georgia
10. Oklahoma State

Big XII Power Poll
1. Texas
2. Oklahoma
3. Oklahoma State
4. Missouri (Again, still better than Tech.)
5. Texas Tech
6. Kansas
7. (tie) Nebraska
7. (tie) Baylor (Definitely not the old Baylor)
9. Colorado (A must win this week)
10. (tie) Iowa State (That one hurt...badly...)
10. (tie) Kansas State (Beating A&M means absolutely nothing)
12. Texas A&M

Contract Extensions & Power Polls

My boss asked earlier today why I hadn't posted anything about Bill Callahan's contract extension. I could have used the excuse it's been a busy week, but the truth is, it's not really news. It was simply the next step after Steve Pederson's contract extension. Did he deserve a contract extension and a raise? Depends on your perspective. On one hand, he hasn't really accomplished anything on the field. On the other hand, the team has made great progress since November 2005. Does he deserve $2 million a year? Again, compared to the Average Joe? Of course not. But compared to other coaches? Probably. And like I said in July, if Gary Pinkel is deserving of a contract extension, Bill Callahan is.

I've had a couple of invitations to participate in the Blogpoll and declined for any number of reasons, the most important being that until we get to October, it's really irrelevant. The boys over at Big Red Network seem to agree with their first ballot. That spawned my own idea... the Husker Mike Power Poll, where it's based almost entirely on what you've done this season, not what people thought you would do. With that in mind, here's my Top 10.

1. LSU (Beauxshirt defense was as dominating as ever)
2. Oklahoma (New QB, no problem.)
3. USC (Fast start, then sleepwalked...)
4. Florida (Score held down due to lightning...)
5. Wisconsin
6. Cal (Looked great against Tennessee)
7. Nebraska (Blew out bowl team from last year)
8. Louisville (Will drop next week after giving up 42 to Middle Tennessee State tonight)
9. Georgia
10. Kansas (Again, blew out a bowl team from last year.)

Next week's poll will be based on the first two weeks only, so it probably will look quite a bit different. And as long as I'm doing a Power Poll, here's my Big XII Power Poll based solely on last week's games.

1. Oklahoma
2. Nebraska
3. Kansas
4. Texas Tech
5. Kansas State (lead most of the game against Auburn means more than some teams "victories")
6. Missouri
7. Colorado
8. Texas A&M (blew out on scoreboard, but outgained by 1-AA Montana State)
9. Oklahoma State
10. Texas (outgained by Sun Belt team, and only winning by 8 when Ark State misses 2 field goals?)
11. Iowa State
12. Baylor

Week 9 Power Poll

Here's the deal with the "Power Poll". Most other pollsters take last week's poll, and promote or demote teams based on whether they win or lose, then fill in the teams around them. This leads to some weird results, but everybody just accepts it. I do it differently; I just take each week's game, and decide who is better than the next team. On a week like this, you get different results, such as teams moving up in the rankings for losing.

1. Texas
2. Alabama
3. Penn State (nice win on the road with your backup quarterback)
4. Florida
5. Oklahoma State (Example #1... take the #1 team down to the wire in their house, you get credit for that...)
6. Georgia
7. Oklahoma (defense has completely disappeared)
8. Utah
9. USC
10. Ohio State (Example #2... lead the #3 team in the country for most of the way, you get credit for that, even if you lose...)

Big XII Standings
1. Texas
2. Oklahoma State
3. Oklahoma
4. Texas Tech
5. Missouri
(Huge gap here...)
6. Nebraska (Only win by the North over the South on Saturday)
7. Kansas (Badly exposed by Tech, and in common opponents Tech and Iowa State, fall far short of the Huskers)
8. Baylor
(Another gap seems to be forming here...)
9. Colorado (Only because of their victory over Kansas State)
10. Kansas State (Only because of their victory over Texas A&M)
11. Texas A&M (Only because of their victory over Iowa State)
12. Iowa State (Fallen off the face of the earth after leading Kansas at halftime three weeks ago...)

B1G Power Poll, Week 14

This week's poll is much like the others... very few changes, and in the lower part.  Pretty much know who is where now.

1. Ohio State
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan State
4. Nebraska
5. Iowa
6. Minnesota
7. Michigan
8. Penn State
9. Northwestern
10. Indiana
11. Illinois
12. Purdue

The rest of the CornNation.com Power Poll ballots should be posted to CN in the next day or so...

Week 2 Power Poll

No change in this week's Power Poll after a week of crappy matchups.

1. Southern Cal
2. Oklahoma (Almost moved down because of the first half against Cincy)
3. Florida (Almost moved up, but I'm not sure Miami is any good... So they hold steady for now.)
4. LSU (The Tigers may hold steady until Hurricane season is over...)
5. Missouri
6. Georgia
7. Auburn
8. Oregon
9. Alabama
10. Wisconsin

Big XII Power Rankings
1. Oklahoma
2. Missouri
3. Kansas (The rise is based more on the suckage of others this week...)
4. Texas (Outyarded by UTEP? Turner Gill's Buffalo Bulls did a better job defending the Miners than the Bovines...)
5. Oklahoma State (Have you been consulting with Kevin Cosgrove?)
6. Kansas State (Again, rising due to other's suckage...)
7. Texas Tech
8. Nebraska
9. Iowa State
10. Colorado (Nearly lost again to another 1-AA team...)
11. Baylor
12. Texas A&M

B1G Power Poll - Week 7 Ballot

Here's how voted in this week's Big Ten Power Poll at CornNation:

1. Ohio State
2. Wisconsin
3. Nebraska
4. Michigan State
5. Northwestern
6. Michigan
7. Penn State
8. Indiana
9. Iowa
10. Illinois
11. Minnesota
12. Purdue

Nebraska moved up, partially because of a strong defensive performance, but more importantly, because of the poor showing by Northwestern.  Yes, Kain Colter and Venric Mark were injured, but even so, Wisconsin shouldn't have dominated the Wildcasts like that.  Michigan State makes the biggest jump, mostly due to the emergence of an actually productive offense.

And yes, I know that on the field, the games say Indiana > Penn State > Michigan.  I attribute those results to the "any given day" phenomenon. So I'm going with my gut for now.

Easiest choice is to put Purdue at #12. Nobody is going to argue that point until they actually beat somebody.  Best chance might be on November 23rd when Illinois comes to West Lafayette.

Power Poll - Week 3

Here's my updated "Power Poll"... again, this is based solely on what teams have done on the field, not what they are expected to do.

1. LSU (NOBODY is playing better defense than the BeauxShirts, and defenses win championships)
2. Southern Cal (Throttling Huskers on the road rates higher than throttling Hurricanes at home))
3. Oklahoma (Separating themselves from the rest of the Big XII, though they didn't do anything to deserve a drop from #2 to #3)
4. Oregon (Huge gap between #3 and #4)
5. Florida (Fun offense to watch, but lack of defense will catch up with the Gators eventually)
6. Cal
7. West Virginia
8. Rutgers (Yes, they haven't played anybody, but they don't give you a reason to downgrade 'em either.)
9. Boston College
10. Kansas (Hey, Sagarin's computer has Kansas ahead of Rutgers. Once they hit the conference season, it'll work out...)

In the Big XII...

1. Oklahoma
2. Kansas (They've crushed everybody on their (weak, granted) schedule... a lot of other teams can't say that...)
3. Texas (Should get bonus points for going on the road to Central Florida)
4. Missouri (No defense, but the offense is tops...)
5. Nebraska (No defense either, but the offense is getting better...)
6. Texas Tech (Tell me if you've heard this... "No defense, but the offense...")
7. Texas A&M
8. Kansas State
9. Oklahoma State (Didn't show up at all against Troy)
10. Colorado
11. Iowa State
12. Baylor

Power Poll - Week 6

My original "invincible" three now is down to one...and even that isn't quite so invincible.

1. LSU
2. Cal (almost by default)
3. Ohio State (also by default)
4. Oklahoma (sorry, but I can't rate those other teams this high...)
5. Florida (lead LSU most of the evening in Death Valley...)
6. South Florida
7. Boston College
8. Oregon
9. USC
10. Kansas (They'rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre baaaaaaaaaaaack!)

And in the Big XII:

1. Oklahoma
2. Kansas
3. Missouri (Tigers probably would be 11th or 12th in the overall Power Poll...)
4. Kansas State
5. Colorado
6. Texas
7. Texas A&M
8. Oklahoma State
9. Texas Tech
10. Nebraska (Now officially in a free-fall... Mayday! Mayday!)
11. Baylor
12. Iowa State

Preseason BlogPoll Ballot Draft

Let me start off by saying I hate preseason polls. It's all a bunch of guesswork based on what you think teams have coming back and how it translates to this season...or in other words, it's a big wild-ass guess. Which is fine, except that these preseason rankings have a way of becoming entrenched.  If teams win, but they don't look as good as you thought they would be, you'd think that pollsters would move them down...but many voters don't feel you can drop someone unless they lose.

I'm a big believer in a "power poll", and that the rankings should be based by how strong you think a team is. Last year, I caught all sorts of grief by keeping Oklahoma up there in the rankings even though they lost several squeakers in September and October. (I think the number of Sooners that were selected in the NFL Draft validates just how good the Sooners probably were, even if their won-loss record didn't reflect it.) But the problem with a "power poll" is that you have absolutely zippo to base your preseason rankings on.

So what to do? Well, take your best shot and rank the teams as you think, knowing full well that you are guessing.  Any issues will eventually work their way out, as real results will quickly overwhelm these preseason guesses.

Husker Mike's Blasphemy Ballot - Week 1

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
2	Oklahoma Sooners	--
3	Boise St. Broncos	--
4	Ohio St. Buckeyes	--
5	TCU Horned Frogs	--
6	Virginia Tech Hokies	--
7	Florida Gators	--
8	Texas Longhorns	--
9	USC Trojans	--
10	Miami Hurricanes	--
11	North Carolina Tar Heels	--
12	Nebraska Cornhuskers	--
13	Wisconsin Badgers	--
14	Oregon Ducks	--
15	Penn St. Nittany Lions	--
16	Missouri Tigers	--
17	Auburn Tigers	--
18	Iowa Hawkeyes	--
19	Arkansas Razorbacks	--
20	Georgia Bulldogs	--
21	South Carolina Gamecocks	--
22	Utah Utes	--
23	Houston Cougars	--
24	Florida St. Seminoles	--
25	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	--

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »

So after throwing down these guesses, where am I out of line?  Who is too high?  Who'd I forget?

Big Ten Power Poll, Week 9 Ballot

When Nebraska loses to a team that they shouldn't, they fall. Maybe not as much as some people would think, until it's validated by other losses.

So with that, here's my ballot for the CornNation Power Poll this week:

1. Ohio State
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan State
4. Michigan
5. Nebraska
6. Iowa
7. Penn State
8. Minnesota
9. Northwestern
10. Indiana
11. Illinois
12. Purdue

Why Nebraska still fifth? I'm still not a believer in Iowa.  We'll see if the Minnesota game was an aberration or not; I suspect it is.  If it's not, we'll know for sure in three weeks.

Preseason Big Ten Power Poll Ballot

With the death of the BlogPoll, the CN staff decided to implement a staff "PowerPoll" of the Big Ten teams. In the interests of full disclosure, here's my preseason ballot.  Remember, this is a "Power Poll", which ranks the teams in terms of perceived strength  Because each team plays a different schedule, it doesn't necessarily mean that this is a predicted order of finish.  And because it's preseason, it's all just a guess.

1: Ohio State

With Braxton Miller back after an undefeated season, it's hard to vote anybody else on top at this point.

2: Nebraska

Most of the offense is back, which should be even better in 2013. And I'm cautiously optimistic about the defense; no, Bo Pelini didn't forget how to coach defense. He may have made some mistakes in recruiting early on; let's see if he's figured it out.

3: Michigan

The Weasels are the trendy pick, but I have enough questions about their running backs, receivers, and secondary this season. And that's even assuming that Jake Ryan returns at 100% in October...which I really doubt.

4: Northwestern

The Wildcats are a team you want to rank higher, but I can't get over how Nebraska dominated them last year - outside of the special teams debacle.  Look at that stat sheet again if you can't look past the final score.

5: Wisconsin

Despite a new Bert-free coaching staff, I don't see the Badgers dropping significantly.

6: Penn State

I don't know when the Sandusky-scandal sanctions will finally take hold, but Bill O'Brien is a heck of a coach.  Underestimate Penn State at your own risk.

7: Michigan State

That defense is amazingly good.  But that offense is amazingly putrid.  Last season, LeVeon Bell salvaged the offense, and he's off to the NFL.  If anybody thinks that Andrew Maxwell is going to be any better in 2013, just remember that the quarterback competition went from a two-man race to a three-man competition to a four-man "Can anybody throw a decent pass" debacle.  They say when you have two quarterbacks, you don't have one.  What does it mean when you have four?  Simple.  It's a mess.  I reserve the right to upgrade Sparty if they decide to burn Damion Terry's redshirt and play him, but with no quarterback, a converted linebacker at running back, and receivers who can't catch the ball, I just don't see how the Spartans can be seriously be considered a contender.

8: Minnesota

Jerry Kill has a reputation for putting together solid teams.  I almost could rank the Gophers ahead of Sparty.  I think they'll surprise in 2013.

9: Indiana

The offense should be pretty good and they may also pull of an upset or two.

10: Purdue

A few too many questions with a new coaching staff.

11: Iowa

Other than linebacker and the offensive line, I have a hard time finding much to be optimistic about in Iowa City.

12: Illinois

Will Tim Beckman even survive the season?

Week 3 Power Poll

Not much of a change in this week's Power Poll, since Ohio State wasn't even there to begin with.

1. USC
2. Oklahoma (Sooners and Trojans separating themselves from the rest of the pack)
3. Florida
4. LSU
5. Missouri
6. Alabama
7. Georgia
8. Wisconsin
9. Texas
10. Oregon (Dropped for almost losing to Purdue)

Big XII standings
1. Oklahoma
2. Missouri
3. Texas
4. Kansas
5. Oklahoma State
6. Texas Tech
7. Nebraska
8. Kansas State (Yeah, they were passed by Tech and the Huskers. It's still early.)
9. Baylor (Must give them credit for blasting Washington State)
10. Colorado
11. Iowa State
12. Texas A&M

Power Poll - Week 5

Wow... 6 of last week's Top 10 lost...meaning this week's lineup is quite a bit different... The top 3 is easy, but then everybody else has huge faults, some of which I think are bigger than some of the 1-loss teams.
1. LSU
2. USC
3. Cal
4. Ohio State (First thought was that this is too high, but I can't put anybody else higher)
5. South Florida (Oh, what the heck...)
6. Boston College
7. Kentucky (South Florida and Kentucky in the top 10? WTF?)
8. Wisconsin
9. Oklahoma (Their "W" against Miami is better than five of the teams above them... I almost thought about rating them 5th...)
10. Oregon (Another case where the difference between #3 and #10 really isn't that big...)

Big XII Power Poll
Last week, I thought the Sooners had lapped the rest of the conference, then they go and lay an egg in Boulder. Leaving me with egg on my face as well...
1. Oklahoma (Yes, they are 0-1 in the conference, but I still think they are the best in the conference...)
2. Kansas State (Go into Austin and thrash the Bovines gets you major props in my book...)
3. Missouri (Win over Illinois looks better now than it did a few weeks ago...)
4. Colorado (OU win is the best of the contenders, but losses to Arizona State and Florida State hurt...)
5. Kansas (OK, the win over Central Michigan doesn't look nearly as good as it did a few weeks ago, especially after CMU lost to Craig Bohl's North Dakota State 44-14...)
6. Texas (OK, recruitniks, explain this. K-State Rivals Ratings: 60 (2003), 18 (2004) , 36 (2005) , 41 (2006), 38 (2007) ;Texas: 15 (2003), 10 (2004), 20 (2005), 5 (2006), 5(2007); Kansas State 41, Texas 21)
7. Nebraska
8. Oklahoma State
9. Texas A&M (I might consider hiking their rating if I could get a copy of Coach Fran's secret newsletter...)
10. Texas Tech
11. Iowa State
12. Baylor

Week 13 Power Poll

I started to do this week's Power Poll...then stopped. How the heck do I rank Missouri #1? That simply can't be. Is Missouri really the best team in the country? Then I stopped to look at it another way. Who is better than Missouri? Until last week, I thought LSU was. Then they somehow found a way to lose to Houston Nutt at home. And right now? Well, I can't come up with anybody better than Missouri, so #1 they are.

1. Missouri (Sagarin says they are 1-1 against the Top 10 and played the toughest schedule of any of the 1 loss teams. Loss against Oklahoma is the best loss out there.)
2. West Virginia (Seriously stomped UConn...)
3. LSU
4. Oklahoma (When Sam Bradford healthy, they can make their case for best in the country...)
5. Kansas
6. Georgia
7. Ohio State (Please keep these pretenders out of the BCS title game!)
8. Virginia Tech
9. Southern Cal
10. Florida

Big XII Standings
1. Missouri
2. Oklahoma
3. Kansas
4. Texas Tech (huge gap between Kansas and Tech)
5. Oklahoma State
6. Texas A&M
7. Texas
8. Iowa State
9. Colorado
10. Nebraska
11. Kansas State
12. Baylor

Big Ten Power Poll, Week 4

The big news is that Michigan finally fell from their perch atop my Power Poll ballot, as submitted to CornNation.com.  Their season opening victory over Central Michigan now looks like an abberation after close calls against Akron and winless UConn.  And their win over Notre Dame doesn't look all that great after watching the Irish struggle with Purdue and then Michigan State.  So now my new #1 team in the Big Ten is Wisconsin.

1. Wisconsin

They got hozed by the refs at Arizona State. They've been the most consistent team in the Big Ten, in my opinion.

2. Ohio State

Why not Ohio State on top?  Buffalo scored 20, Cal scored 34.  We'll learn more this Saturday.

3. Northwestern

They are winning. Maybe not the toughest competition, but they've been winning.

4. Nebraska

Tough call between Michigan and the Huskers. Both teams have their issues, but Wyoming is way better than Akron, while South Dakota State is probably comparable to UConn.  And Michigan hasn't played anybody like UCLA to this point.

5.  Michigan

I suspect that Oklahoma is going to go Boomer Sooner all over South Bend this weekend, and that week two victory by the Weasels over Notre Dame isn't going to look nearly as good.

6. Penn State

Their loss against Central Florida might not be as bad as it looked.

 7. Michigan State

I wish Nebraska could play the Spartans next...the Blackshirts need a boost of confidence, and the Spartans offense is so anemic, it could be that spark the Big Red needs.

8. Minnesota

Gophers are 4-0.

9. Iowa

Nice win against Central Michigan.

10. Illinois

The loss against Washington wasn't that bad, really.

11. Indiana

Slapped around by Mizzou.  Really?

12. Purdue

102nd in passing offense, 106th in rushing offense, 117th in points scored, 94th in points allowed.  That's bad football. And this team nearly upset Notre Dame?

Week 5 Power Poll

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Last week I said that USC was on cruise control to Miami. Problem is, the cruise apparently was recalled like the cruise on my old Ford Explorer. So long, USC. With the remaining games against the woeful Pac-10, it's going to be tough to get back into the mix.

1. Alabama (The whole point of the Power Poll is to evaluate every team based on what they've done...and nobody's done more on the field this season than boys of Saban. Say what you will about Saban's sliminess, but the man can coach...)
2. Oklahoma (It was tough to leave them #2 after demolishing TCU last week...)
3. LSU
4. Missouri
5. Texas
6. BYU (Heck of a rise without playing a game...)
7. Penn State
8. South Florida
9. Georgia
10. Utah

Big XII Standings
Colorado and Nebraska had disappointing losses, but they don't drop because nobody below them did anything to move ahead. So it's the same as last week:
1. Oklahoma
2. Missouri
3. Texas
4. Kansas
5. Oklahoma State
6. Texas Tech
7. Nebraska
8. Colorado
9. Baylor
10. Iowa State
11. Kansas State (Yeah you won...but giving up 37 points and 509 yards to the Ragin' Cajuns doesn't impress anybody...)
12. Texas A&M (Neither does a victory over Army...)

Power Poll - Week 2

Here's my week 2 "Power Poll"...again, based solely on performance on the field as opposed to expectations.

1. LSU (Can you name anybody else playing better? Thought not...)
2. Oklahoma (Demolished a decent Miami squad)
3. USC (Idle last week...)
4. Penn State
5. Florida
6. Oregon
7. Wisconsin
8. Cal
9. Kansas (Week 1 victim throttled their Week 3 opponent... look for another blowout in Lawrence this week)
10. West Virginia


In the Big XII:
1. Oklahoma
2. Kansas
3. Texas (Huge boost due to second half blowout of TCU)
4. Nebraska
5. Missouri
6. Texas Tech
7. Texas A&M
8. Kansas State
9. Oklahoma State
10. Colorado
11. Baylor
12. Iowa State


Not sure how long Kansas will stay on the list, but much of the top 25 already has an ugly game under their belt that prevents them from leaping Kansas at this point.

Week 15 Power Poll: Three Teams/Two Spots

I really don't know how controversial things will be once the BCS standings come out; I think it depends just on how close things are. I don't accept that Florida is a lock for the BCS title game, as while the Harris Poll will likely have the Gators #1 this afternoon, the computers had Florida 6th last week. Now, the computers will move the Gators up at least one spot with Alabama's loss, but will that be enough to jump them over Texas Tech and Utah? Remember, Florida's home loss to Ole Miss is still the worst loss of all the team.

There are three viable candidates for the BCS title game in my opinion, with only two spots. Personally, I'd be happier with an Oklahoma-Texas rematch personally, but that's not necessarily the best matchup.

1. Florida (Tim Tebow did it nearly single-handedly...)
2. (really 1a; it's hard to choose between Florida and the Sooners) Oklahoma (Sam Bradford essentially did it single handedly, due to his hand injury, not to mention DeMarco Murray's injury.)
3. Texas (Odd man out in my poll.)
4. Alabama
5. USC
6. Utah
7. Texas Tech
8. Penn State
9. Boise State
10. TCU

Big XII Standings

1. Oklahoma (I know you needed to make the case with the BCS, but you didn't need to leave Sam Bradford in the game to RUTS, Bob...)
2. Texas
3. Texas Tech
4. Oklahoma State
5. Missouri
6. Nebraska
7. Kansas
8. Baylor
9. Colorado
10. Texas A&M
11. Kansas State
12. Iowa State

Week 1 Power Poll

Last year, I decided to post my own version of college football rankings based on two things that I think are fundamentally wrong with the existing poll system. First, the rankings are based on what each team has actually done, not based on preseason hype. Secondly, each week is a distinct and separate entity from the previous. If you are playing like crap, you'll fall if someone else plays better. None of this "#1 until you lose" garbage here.

Here's the Top Ten after week one:

1. Southern Cal (Went on the road and took Virginia behind their own woodshed.)
2. Oklahoma (I'll forgive them the second half due to the weather and the ridiculous halftime score.)
3. Florida
4. LSU
5. Missouri
6. Georgia
7. Auburn
8. Oregon
9. Alabama
10. Wisconsin


Big XII Power Standings
1. Oklahoma
2. Missouri
3. Oklahoma State (Taking Washington State to the woodshed in Seattle counts)
4. Texas
5. Colorado
6. Kansas
7. Nebraska
8. Texas Tech (Too many penalties and points given up to 1-AA Eastern Washington)
9. Kansas State
10. Iowa State
11. Baylor
12. Texas A&M (Where else could you rank a team that lost to Arkansas State?)

B1G Power Poll, Week 8 Ballot

If anything, Nebraska looked better this week for not playing.  Wisconsin gave up quite a few points to Illinois, and Michigan State's offense reverted to ineptitude at home against Purdue.  That's just one week after the Huskers used a backup quarterback to slice, dice, julienne, and smash the Boilermakers on the road.

So here's my ballot for this week's poll at CornNation.

1. Ohio State
2. Wisconsin
3. Nebraska
4. Michigan State
5. Michigan
6. Penn State
7. Iowa
8. Northwestern
9. Minnesota
10. Indiana
11. Illinois
12. Purdue

Most of the changes were in the second half; Michigan State's offense and Michigan's defense both had horrible weeks.  Iowa moves up mostly due to Northwestern's tailspin.  That, and Indiana getting into a boat race with Michigan.  Keeping it competitive with Ohio State counts as well.

I can come up with any number of reasons to shuffle numbers 6 through 11 around, so I'm going with gut feel here.  I'm not impressed with Indiana or Illinois at this point, and I have to figure that eventually Northwestern is going to turn it around.

I just hope it's not until after November 2nd.