Fantasy College Blitz again represents Oklahoma State in the SB Nation Blogpoll Top 25, “a transparent, authentic weekly college football poll. More than 100 of the most knowledgeable college football bloggers representing fans from virtually every rooting interest align weekly to rank the Top 25 college football teams. Every ballot is available for review.”

I put little weight on preseason polls since there is so much complexity involved not only week to week but then trying to prognosticate said complexity over the course of an entire season. That has nothing to do with the fun and discussion that results from the exercise.

After the Crimson Tide swamped the Gators and Texas squeaked by the Huskers, many of the final pins of the BCS lock fell into place to setup the long awaited battle of the best college football teams in the BCS National Championship Game on January 7th at 8pm.

At least the best teams not in the SEC. No nice way to say this, but the Gators got their gluteus handed to them by Alabama, in every phase of the game. And who was that QB dressed up like Greg McElroy? He looked very good, almost looked like Colt McCoy with that one-foot tightrope move.

So I wrote last week that McCoy should be a lock for the Heisman Trophy, but after Ndamukong Suh spent the evening bumping into him I am inclined to edge Mark Ingram up to #1 in my expected Heisman result.

Gentlemen, please return those signs to the walls of the field. The Tide celebrates the beatdown of the Gators in the SEC Championship Game Saturday. (Icon SMI)

Finally, I was thisclose to putting TCU at #2 for my final regular season poll after Texas came one second from losing the Big 12 Championship game. I also noticed that Cincinnati got the edge at #2 on the BCS Computer polls. Longhorns need to count their blessings that they have a shot at the title after the last two games. Put that coffee down, coffee is for closers only.

Rank	Team
1	Alabama
2	Texas
3	TCU
4	Cincinnati
5	Florida
6	Boise State
7	Oregon
8	Georgia Tech
9	Ohio State
10	Iowa
11	Virginia Tech
12	LSU
13	Miami (Florida)
14	Penn State
15	Brigham Young
16	Oregon State
17	West Virginia
18	Pittsburgh
19	Nebraska
20	Oklahoma State
21	Arizona
22	Stanford
23	Utah
24	Wisconsin
25	Central Michigan

As I was working through my Index cards to identify the 25 best teams in college football, I couldn’t help but notice that there are four teams that start with O (Oregon, Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Oregon State), and the best one of the decade isn’t here (Oklahoma). Who knows, if things go well with the chick in logistics and Ohio beats Temple…

I am shaking up the Top 3 a little bit as I just couldn’t take seeing Chattanooga and North Texas on the Crimson Tide docket, yielding the edge to Texas who took on ULM and a decent Wyoming squad at altitude outside the conference. Yep, that and Colt McCoy becoming the games most victorious QB was enough for me to give the #2 spot to the Longhorns. As a former journalist, it is not without irony that I am failing the agenda-setting advantage that I have with this pulpit – most sports journalists would keep Alabama at #2 just to set the stage for the SEC Championship Game. But notice I said former…that means that (a) I am a poor storyteller hence the new line of work, or (b) I have matured enough to stand up for what is right and just and fair with no regard for the lack of popularity that could ensue.

Enough eloquence, on to the Top 25, only further enhanced by a Big Ten Team heading out and another Pac 10 team in…oh, and Stanford, it was so nice to see you, stay around longer next time…

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No changes to the Top Eight. Lots of changes after that. This is what a bunch of solid two and three loss teams on the heels of major upsets will do to what can usually be a rational exercise of ranking the top teams in college football.

But what is rational? If you use recent month as your only guideline then you might wonder where is Rutgers and Houston? If you are like most fans and pundits, it took you a while to get used to the absence of Oklahoma and Georgia. And if you are looking for Notre Dame then quite profound is your denial of reality.

With the help of my trusted advisor, fan of the site and Miami (FL) Hurricane apologist Jeremy Jones, I give you this week’s Top 25. A couple of quick essays after the jump…

A dark shadow falls over the Trojan Empire. (Icon SMI)

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida
2	Alabama
3	Texas
4	TCU
5	Cincinnati
6	Boise State
7	Pittsburgh	1
8	Georgia Tech	1
9	Oregon	3
10	LSU	1
11	Oklahoma State	4
12	Ohio State	2
13	Virginia Tech
14	Stanford	11
15	Clemson
16	Wisconsin	6
17	Oregon State	7
18	Iowa	1
19	Utah	9
20	Southern Cal	4
21	Miami (Florida)	10
22	Penn State	3
23	Brigham Young	3
24	Nebraska
25	Central Michigan
Last week’s ballot

Dropped Out: Houston (#13), Arizona (#18), South Florida (#21), West Virginia (#23).

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Show of hands…

One loss GT QB Josh Nesbitt scores in OT (Icon SMI)

Who thought Iowa would go unblemished for the entire season? Who was shocked when Georgia Tech went for 4th and 1 in OT, down 3 points and on the Wake 6? Who was ready to kick Houston out of their top 25 when they trailed Tulsa late in the Fourth quarter?

As in life, events stay quiet for a while then explode one way or the other – and college football mimics that weekly. Also as predicted, the one week aberration of voter fancy favoring the Longhorns is over in the BCS rankings – Alabama outpunched their opponent on national TV while Texas retreated from the spotlight to blow out UCF.

My poll next (Iowa and Penn State fans put on your seatbelts), and insight after the jump.
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