CBSSports.com BlogPoll Ballot: Week 4

Conventional poll wisdom dictates that, following even a heartbreaking loss in a game you controlled for long stretches of time, a team that loses has to drop and that's what happened with Nebraska yesterday. Personally, my opinion of Nebraska rose after Saturday. I think they're better now than I did before the VT game on Saturday morning so I can't drop them but I won't elevate them either for fear of setting off the homer alarms more than I already may have by just leaving them where I had them at #19.

Beyond that, there were no departures or new arrivals in my top 25, just a great reshuffling following losses by BYU, USC and GT. What we have is three clear cut top teams, though Florida and Texas weren't quite as dominant this week as many thought they'd be, and then "the pack." I won't claim to have it sorted out myself. There are a couple of teams that I just don't like where they're at but can't really find a reason to move them down either so, after the preliminary poll, I'll tackle some of those squads individually--as well as a few I quite like--rather than taking the in/out/methodology approach I've used the past three weeks.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida
2	Texas
3	Alabama
4	Penn State	1
5	California	1
6	Boise State	1
7	Mississippi	2
8	Oklahoma	2
9	Southern Cal	5
10	Virginia Tech	2
11	Miami (Florida)	11
12	Ohio State	2
13	TCU
14	Oklahoma State	3
15	LSU	1
16	Kansas	2
17	Cincinnati	4
18	Georgia	1
19	Nebraska
20	Brigham Young	12
21	Georgia Tech	6
22	Missouri	1
23	Pittsburgh	3
24	North Carolina
25	Michigan
Last week's ballot

#4 Penn State
Here's what we know about the Nittany Lions this year: Penn State is going to score four touchdowns a game and give up no more than a touchdown to the opposition. Sometimes, just to spice things up a bit on days where Paterno feels frisky, they'll tack on a field goal. It's been effective but not overly impressive. Still, I'm totally convinced that PSU is the class of the Big 10 right now and also convinced that they're not the fourth best team in the country.

#6 Boise State
The Broncos had a little mid-game lull against Fresno on Friday night but I'm pretty rock solid on Boise State here. They've looked like a BCS team to me but the problem is they won't get the chance to prove it unless they actually make it. Ahhh, the existential quandary of being a WAC team.

#11 Miami
I have a feeling that I'm not giving the 'Canes enough credit. Herbstreit said he felt they were a top five team right now--for what that's worth--and I was higher than most on Miami, placing them in my preseason Top 25. They've got two good ACC wins and I guess any doubt could be eliminated as they face the Hokies and Sooners the next two weeks. (Speaking of Virginia Tech, a friend of mine pointed out some fun trivia: In their first four weeks, VT will have played programs with 21 total national titles between them in Alabama, Nebraska and Miami. Impressive.)

#14 Oklahoma State
Darren expressed his opinion that I had the Cowboys too high last week and he was right. OSU beat Rice this week but it was the closest margin of defeat of the season for the Owls who played UAB and Texas Tech on the road in weeks one and two. In fact, the box score for this game looks like a win for Rice. They out gained the Cowboys, racked up 23 first downs and held nearly a ten minute advantage in time of possession. Texas Tech looked a lot closer to the third best team in the South than Oklahoma State did this week.

Beyond the top 15 it's a lot like throwing darts. Cincinnati got a real nice road win at Oregon State so they jumped four spots. I didn't punish Georgia enough for losing to an Oklahoma State team I overvalued so the Bulldogs are still hanging around in the top 20 and that seems high. And, finally, I actually liked the way Pitt looked early in the season but the Panthers are coming back to earth quickly. Maybe Florida State deserves their spot right now, but what fun is it to reward the Seminoles?