This week's poll.
Barking Carnival Ballot - Week 4
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 3 | Oregon Ducks |
 1 |
| 4 | TCU Horned Frogs |
 -1 |
| 5 | Nebraska Cornhuskers |
5 |
| 6 | Texas Longhorns |
1 |
| 7 | Florida Gators |
1 |
| 8 | Boise St. Broncos |
1 |
| 9 | Arkansas Razorbacks |
2 |
| 10 | Oklahoma Sooners |
-4 |
| 11 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
1 |
| 12 | Stanford Cardinal |
4 |
| 13 | Utah Utes | -- |
| 14 | Arizona Wildcats |
10 |
| 15 | Auburn Tigers |
-1 |
| 16 | Iowa Hawkeyes |
-11 |
| 17 | Miami Hurricanes |
-2 |
| 18 | USC Trojans |
-1 |
| 19 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 20 | Michigan Wolverines |
-2 |
| 21 | Missouri Tigers | -- |
| 22 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 23 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 24 | Penn St. Nittany Lions |
-2 |
| 25 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
| Dropouts: Texas Tech Red Raiders, California Golden Bears | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
Alabama's defense has holes, but they've been masked by being able to play with a large lead. Their trip to Arkansas will be instructive.
Texas may have the best defense in the nation - at least it's the team you least want to play from behind against in college football, but an offense that will continue to lay eggs in big games means our days of fortune are numbered.
Nebraska's defense has taken a step back in the front 7, but the offense has an identity with Taylor Martinez and a style of play that suits their personnel beautifully. The beauty of zone read offense is how counters are naturally built into the offense. You don't need 11 five star recruits and a perfect symphony of offensive execution to move the football.
Watching Stanford's offense play after the Texas-Texas Tech contest was exquisite torture. The Cardinal feature aggressive OL with a motor, RBs with an attitude, and a big play play action game built around a strong armed QB. They put up 68 on the board against a well-coached team with defensive personnel not much different from Tech. The schemes were simple but well executed and each play built off of the next. Obviously, Stanford is a football factory teeming with elite talent and none of that is duplicable.
Wisconsin continues to get Top 10 votes while scraping by every week against bad football teams.
Iowa still hasn't won in a Western Time Zone since the Polk administration. I still like Iowa long term, but they really struggled outside of the Big 10 cocoon of mutually agreed upon style of play.
Michigan is a blast to watch on O, but their defense is a blast crater.
Clemson garnered more Top 25 credibility for me in its loss to Auburn than in any of its wins.