Previewing this week's college football rankings. LSU, Oklahoma and Alabama are still the cream of the crop, and the rest is up in the air.
The tiers in the college football rankings continue to be apparent, with the top three or so separating themselves from the pack while continuing to play solid football. The Oklahoma Sooners, LSU Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide continue to be the best teams in the nation, rising to the top as the cream of the crop with sold play, week in and week out.
After that, it gets a bit trickier. Wisconsin looks strong, and may belong in that top tier, while Boise State is a bit confusing, thanks to the scheduling factor. And then there's Stanford and Oklahoma State, who keep cruising along and handling opponents. Good luck trying to figure it out at this point in the season.
Here's a look at the games that mattered.
No. 1 LSU 41, No. 17 Florida 11: Tyrann Mathieu has to be mentioned in the Heisman race, and LSU continues to show it's a force to be reckoned with.
No. 2 Alabama 34, Vanderbilt 0: Another easy win for Nick Saban's squad. The top-three are pretty much interchangeable at this point.
No. 3 Oklahoma 55, No. 11 Texas 17: The Longhorns may have been a wee bit overranked, but Oklahoma looked every bit a top-tier team while dismantling Texas.
No. 5 Boise State 57, Fresno State 7: Sure, it was a blowout, but it was also Fresno.
No. 6 Oklahoma State 70, Kansas 28: There was a moment where we all legitimately thought the Cowboys were going to put up 100. This offense is straight out of a video game.
No. 7 Stanford 48, Colorado 7: Andrew Luck continues to show why he's the consensus No. 1 pick in next year's NFL Draft, if he comes out, and a Heisman contender. Luck against the Buffaloes' secondary just wasn't a fair matchup, but he didn't have to throw a ton to win this one, either.
No. 8 Clemson 36, Boston College 14. The Tigers continued to roll, but if Tajh Boyd's injury is serious, watch out.
No. 9 Oregon 43, California 15: The Ducks came away with the win, but the Oregon fanbase held its breath while awaiting word on LaMichael James. He should be fine, but his injury was the stuff nightmares are made of.
No. 10 Arkansas 38, No. 15 Auburn 14: Tyler Wilson continues to wing the ball all over and the Razorbacks keep finding ways to win.
No. 12 Michigan 42, Northwestern 24. The score is a bit misleading here: Michigan was in a battle until the end. Still, Denard Robinson recovered from his early case of the interceptions and the Wolverines took care of business.
No. 13 Georgia Tech 21, Maryland 16: Guess this was the trap game or something. No matter: Tech escaped and is on track for a clash with Clemson on the 29th. Can't believe I just typed that.
No. 14 Nebraska 34, Ohio State 27: For about 45 minutes, this looked like it'd be the Cornhuskers second loss in a row.
No. 16 West Virginia 43, UConn 16: The Holgo Express keeps rolling after almost coming off the tracks in the first half.
No. 18 South Carolina 54, Kentucky 3: Just going to act like this never happened, like every other game Kentucky plays this year.
No. 19 Illinois 41, Indiana 20: Still trying to come to grips with the Fightin' Zooks in the rankings, but they're bowl eligible, and all is well in Illinois' world.
No. 20 Kansas State 24, Missouri 17: Probably time to acknowledge Kansas State and its defense. Missouri finally made some headway in the fourth, but the Wildcats showed off a strong defense for much of the game.
No. 21 Virginia Tech 38, Miami 35: Most fun game of the week ends with Enter Sandman, a bouncing stadium and a late stop. Awesome.
No. 22 Arizona State 35, Utah 14: The weekly welcome to the Pac-12 moment continued for Utah. Might be a long season for the Utes, but Arizona State looks ready to waltz to the Pac-12 South title.
Wake Forest 35, No. 23 Florida State 30: Au revoir, Seminoles.
No. 24 Texas A&M 45, Texas Tech 40: The Aggies managed to keep a halftime lead! Progress!
No. 25 Baylor 49, Iowa State 26: The Robert Griffin III show continued, but that touchdown to interception ratio doesn't look as amazing as it once did.
Last week's rankings
Not surprisingly, the AP Poll got it mostly right. Here's a look at last week's poll. The new rankings will be out sometime around noon EDT.
| RK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS |
| 1 | LSU (40) | 5-0 | 1473 |
| 2 | Alabama (12) | 5-0 | 1435 |
| 3 | Oklahoma (7) | 4-0 | 1397 |
| 4 | Wisconsin | 5-0 | 1266 |
| 5 | Boise State (1) | 4-0 | 1248 |
| 6 | Oklahoma State | 4-0 | 1191 |
| 7 | Stanford | 4-0 | 1185 |
| 8 | Clemson | 5-0 | 1093 |
| 9 | Oregon | 3-1 | 1028 |
| 10 | Arkansas | 4-1 | 860 |
| 11 | Texas | 4-0 | 833 |
| 12 | Michigan | 5-0 | 812 |
| 13 | Georgia Tech | 5-0 | 667 |
| 14 | Nebraska | 4-1 | 555 |
| 15 | Auburn | 4-1 | 550 |
| 16 | West Virginia | 4-1 | 544 |
| 17 | Florida | 4-1 | 498 |
| 18 | South Carolina | 4-1 | 487 |
| 19 | Illinois | 5-0 | 428 |
| 20 | Kansas State | 4-0 | 349 |
| 21 | Virginia Tech | 4-1 | 341 |
| 22 | Arizona State | 4-1 | 256 |
| 23 | Florida State | 2-2 | 237 |
| 24 | Texas A&M | 2-2 | 216 |
| 25 | Baylor | 3-1 | 186 |
And here's the USA Today Coaches Poll, which counts as part of the BCS despite being ... well, look at the rankings.
| RK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS |
| 1 | Oklahoma (27) | 4-0 | 1421 |
| 2 | LSU (21) | 5-0 | 1410 |
| 3 | Alabama (10) | 5-0 | 1408 |
| 4 | Stanford | 4-0 | 1237 |
| 5 | Wisconsin (1) | 5-0 | 1236 |
| 6 | Boise State | 4-0 | 1186 |
| 7 | Oklahoma State | 4-0 | 1162 |
| 8 | Clemson | 5-0 | 1028 |
| 9 | Oregon | 3-1 | 1017 |
| 10 | Texas | 4-0 | 879 |
| 11 | Michigan | 5-0 | 808 |
| 12 | Arkansas | 4-1 | 788 |
| 13 | Georgia Tech | 5-0 | 728 |
| 14 | South Carolina | 4-1 | 559 |
| 15 | Nebraska | 4-1 | 557 |
| 16 | Illinois | 5-0 | 541 |
| 17 | Virginia Tech | 4-1 | 470 |
| 18 | Florida | 4-1 | 456 |
| 19 | West Virginia | 4-1 | 436 |
| 20 | Michigan State | 4-1 | 366 |
| 21 | Kansas State | 4-0 | 264 |
| 22 | Florida State | 2-2 | 229 |
| 23 | Auburn | 4-1 | 217 |
| 24 | Arizona State | 4-1 | 177 |
| 25 | Texas A&M | 2-2 | 160 |
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