For now I rank teams based on the "what have you really done for me?" system. A loss at this stage of the season is very costly in my rankings whereas wins even over poor teams are rewarded. As the season goes on you will find that I am apt to shoot a team up or down without reservations.

In the past I have made picks, but let's be serious. In college football for 90% of the games you pretty much know what is going to happen. These prognosticators getting 60% correct and pumping their chests are idiots. In the future I might throw some picks in here or there, time permitting. #1 (1) USC (3-0): The sputtering start is not what people will remember about a 45-13 win at unbeaten Oregon.

#2 (2) Texas (3-0): A week off to prepare for a trip to Missouri followed by three mediocre Big XII teams at home.

#3 (3) Florida State (3-0): Syracuse and Wake don't figure to challenge them so next test is at Virginia.

#4 (4) Virginia Tech (4-0): Domination in all aspects of the game over Georgia Tech. Looking like Coastal's best.

#5 (5) Florida (4-0): Routing Kentucky doesn't do anything for me so I'm anticipating a tough road trip to Alabama.

#6 (6) California (4-0): Even with linemen and their best rusher hurt they still roll off unreal ground totals.

#7 (9) UCLA (3-0): With Washington on deck it is looking like next week's Rose Bowl meeting with Cal is huge.

#8 (10) Georgia (4-0): A road conference win is never easy and this wasn't. Now it is a bye before going to Tennessee.

#9 (11) Michigan State (4-0): Trashing Illinois on the road was good, now they get Michigan at home so we'll see.

#10 (14) Virginia (3-0): Pouncing on Duke buys them another week and likely win at Maryland will keep it going.

#11 (23) Alabama (4-0): People wondering how good USC is should compare the Arkansas scores (24-13 vs. 70-17).

#12 (17) Ohio State (3-1): Iowa sucks so I'm not impressed with their rout, but they probably are Big 10's best team.

#13 (NR) Tennessee (2-1): That was some one quarterback system. I think they will have only one next week though.

#14 (12) LSU (1-1): Tough loss doesn't begin to describe it, but they have split with apparently two good teams.

#15 (19) Arizona State (3-1): They wasted Oregon State on the road and Keller is a legit Heisman candidate.

#16 (18) Miami, FL (2-1): Stuffing Colorado is pretty much what they are expected to do.

#17 (15) Texas Tech (3-0): Do they have high school teams on their schedule? Seriously people these teams are bad.

#18 (22) Iowa State (3-0): Struggling to beat Army with a late rally is indicative of how poor the Big XII is.

#19 (25) West Virginia (4-0): Ugly win over East Carolina, and unlikely to challenge Virginia Tech this week.

#20 (27) Minnesota (4-0): I had them ranked so I'm not surprised they beat Purdue. Tough games ahead though.

#21 (28) Washington State (3-0): A week off to rise as others stumble and if they win in Oregon State they do it again.

#22 (NR) Wisconsin (4-0): They have faded after hot starts before, but it sure looks like 6-0 going to Minnesota.

#23 (29) Vanderbilt (4-0): Their long suffering alumni deserve this and they will be pumped in two weeks for LSU.

#24 (20) Notre Dame (3-1): Somewhat scrappy win in Washington for a team whose big win looks worse every week.

#25 (NR) Penn State (4-0): Joe Pa deserves this after all the crap he has taken. Two wins from a bowl appearance.

#26 (NR) Kansas State (3-0): Another Big XII team with a soft schedule. We'll see what they do at OU this week.

#27 (NR) Indiana (3-0): They are drawing a mention from me because they are unbeaten heading into Wisconsin.

#28 (NR) UTEP (3-0): With a win over New Mexico it looks like they are Conference USA team to beat.

#29 (NR) Oklahoma State (3-0): If they can drop Colorado and Missouri at home they will be a confident bunch.

#30 (NR) Nebraska (3-0): At least they are winning. In the next two weeks (Iowa State, Texas Tech) we see how good they are.

Teams on the Watch List:

South Florida (3-1): Hard to ignore a resounding win over Louisville, but I haven't forgotten loss at Penn State.

Fresno State (2-1): Back on the radar after punishing Toledo and gets a late brush with big time later on in USC.

Kansas (3-0): Another team that draws mention for being unbeaten into a visit to a ranked opponent in Texas Tech.

Baylor (3-0): Where do they find these teams to play? Going to A&M and Iowa State will probably expose them.

Out of rankings and needing to play their way back in (in order of where I would rank them)

NR (13) Oregon (3-1): Coaching wins the second half where Carroll's USC bunch won 35-0, but they are still good.

NR (7) Louisville (2-1): Disastrous loss for a team that was pretty much given the BCS bid by all the writers.

NR (8) Georgia Tech (3-1): I ranked them high in case they challenged Virginia Tech, so they plummet after that.

NR (16) Purdue (2-1): It was on the road against a conference foe, but with their soft schedule they really blew it.

NR (21) Michigan (2-2): That air you hear is the balloon being popped from the AP ranking them #3. What a joke.

NR (26) Colorado (2-1): Didn't show much in their trip to Miami, but in the Big Terrible North they could make a run.

NR (24) New Mexico (3-1): It's official, no Mountain West team will bust the BCS. That didn't take long.

NR (30) Toledo (3-1): Count the MAC out of the BCS chase as well after their 44-14 drubbing at Fresno State.