Each week during the college football season, About.com college football writer Tim Hyland will rank the Top 25 teams in the country. His updated rankings—and his comments about each of the ranked teams—will be posted each Monday.
Weekly Recap: OK, Iowa, you pushed me too far. For weeks now, I’ve been defending the Hawkeyes. While other writers blasted the Hawks for their boring style of football and too-close-for-comfort wins over Arkansas State and Northern Iowa, I gave Kirk Ferentz’s guys credit for marquee wins over Arizona and Penn State. While others called this team “lucky,” I called them “good.” That’s why I had Iowa ranked No. 2 for the past three weeks. Well, no more. After watching the Hawkeyes bumble their way through three quarters of bad football against Indiana (yes, they eventually won), I cannot in good conscience rank this team ahead of any of the other unbeatens. That’s why Iowa falls all the way to No. 7 in this week’s About.com 25. Meanwhile, the USC Trojans drop down to No. 18 after their putrid performance at Eugene. That's where they deserve to be, folks.
1. Alabama: Can’t punish them for a bye week.
2. Texas: Coming alive just in time.
3. Florida: Tim Tebow finally looked like Tim Tebow in blowout win over Georgia.
4. TCU: Absolutely dominant. Could compete with anyone in the country.
5. Cincinnati: No Tony Pike? No problem.
6. Boise State: Won’t even be tested down the stretch.
7. Iowa: Don’t let that Indiana score fool you. Yeah, Iowa won. But they looked terrible.
8. Oregon: More than 600 yards of total offense against USC. Wow.
9. Georgia Tech: Offense is unstoppable right now.
10. Penn State: Preparing for Ohio State.
11. LSU: Preparing for ‘Bama.
12. Pittsburgh: Tough stretch run coming up for Panthers.
13. Utah: Late rally needed to beat Wyoming.
14. Miami: Gutsy comeback at Wake Forest.
15. Ohio State: Headed to Happy Valley.
16. Houston: Held off Southern Miss.
17. Arizona: Early season loss at Iowa doesn’t look so bad.
18. USC: Um, defense?
19. Wisconsin: Blew out, and blanked, the Boilers.
20. Notre Dame: Believe it or not, that BCS bid is still there for the taking.
21. Oklahoma State: Another failure against Texas.
22. Cal: Recovering well after that USC debacle.
23. Virginia Tech: Can’t figure these guys out.
24. Clemson: Can’t figure these guys out, either.
25. Temple: Yes, Temple! The Owls are 6-2 after a big win at Navy.
Knocking on the Door: Rutgers, BYU.
