Clark's Top 25

I've been saying for weeks that I think Alabama is the best team in the country and I still believe that. That said, the Top 3 should be up for grabs every week and Bama wasn't the most impressive of the group in Rivalry Week. Here are the new rankings.

1. Florida (3) - I'm not at all surprised that the Gators dusted Florida State in Tebow's last game in 'The Swamp,' but it was an impressive win. Florida deserves to be in the top team in the land heading into Atlanta.
2. Alabama (1) - Auburn is still a pretty good football team, it was a rivalry game and the Tide overcame a lot of good bounces for the Tigers early on. For those reasons Alabama deserves one of the top two spots.
3. Texas (2) - Some would hate to drop a team after a 10-point win in a rivalry game that featured one of the best single game performances by a player this season. I'm not one of those people. The Longhorn defense got beat up on.
4. TCU (4) - The Horned Frogs struggled early with only a safety in the game's opening quarter. Cause for concern? Not really, TCU rolled 51-10 as Andy Dalton threw for 228 yards and 4 TDs.
5. Cincy (5) - Tony Pike looked crisp in his first game back under center for the Bearcats with 6 TDs but the defense gave up a bit too much to Juice Williams and the Illini. Its going to take a better game against Pitt for Cincy to beat Pitt.
6. Boise State (6) - The Broncos picked up a big win against Nevada this week and can breathe a sigh of relief after OU took care of Oklahoma State. The BCS is a lock for Boise now.
7. Ohio State (9) - By virtue of a few losses in the Top 10 the Buckeyes are sliding up the polls with their season over. This has become a sad tradition.
8. Oregon (11) - The Ducks took last week off to brush up for the Civil War against the Beavers. I wonder who would win in a fight between a duck and a beaver. I know what Emilio Estevez would say.
9. Iowa (12) - I've been pretty hard on the Hawkeyes this year but they took care of business and went 10-2. That's more than most teams can say.
10. Georgia Tech (7) - Not a solid performance for a GT team that many pundits thought was the hottest in the nation. I'll give them some credit for a season well done but allowing two 100-yard rushers is a bit much.
11. Virginia Tech (13) - The Hokies took care of hapless Virginia to move to 9-3 for the year. Ryan Williams may not be getting as much love as C.J. Spiller but his 183 yards and 4 TDs against the Cavs may get him first-team All-ACC honors.
12. Penn State (14) - The Nittany Lions' season is over. You know what they means. Free sleigh rides courtesy of Papa Paterno!
13. Miami (15) - The Hurricanes took out the beating stick on the South Florida Bulls as the Miami D held USF to 10. So, unfortunately, the wagons were not circled in Tampa.
14. Pittsburgh (8) - Not a bad loss for Pitt to West Virginia but the Panthers should have seen it coming. Pitt played spoilers to WVU a few years back and fell in the revenge trap this year. Not can the Panthers play spoiler to Cincy?
15. BYU (17) - I'm giving the Cougs some love for being the only ranked team to beat a ranked team last week. Good job on beating your Mormon brethren, the Utes.
16. LSU (16) - The Tigers won but this is the second straight poor performance for LSU. Overtime with Arkansas is going to cut it. And don't give me that rivalry game crap. Arkansas' only rival is teeth.
17. West Virginia (19) - Solid win for the Mountaineers against Pitt. Bill Stewart lost his voice before his postgame interview so there may be a God.
18. Oregon State (20) - The Beavers still have a shot at the Pac 10 title if they can beat their intrastate rival Oregon. That's great motivation aside from wanting to beat the ugliest uniforms in sports.
19. California (21) - The Golden Bears took last week off. Cheeky bastards.
20. Stanford (22) - I wanted to boost the Cardinal up more for ending Charlie Weis' career with a loss but the head-to-lead loss to Cal wouldn't allow it. How about Toby Gerhart. The last time I saw Irish guys go down like that was when the Guinness truck jacknifed.
21. North Carolina (23) - The Tarheels edged out intrastate rival N.C. State 17-14 as T.J. Yates went 5-6 for 136 yards and a TD.
22. USC (25) - Solid win for the Trojans against UCLA. The Bruins aren't an offensive juggernaut by any stretch of imagination but the Trojans much maligned defense dominated. Watching this game was kind of like when you hate an overplayed song and then it goes away and you hear it again and kind of like it.
23. Oklahoma State (10) - I know Oklahoma is a different team at home than on the road. I know the OU defense is good. I know the OSU defense is rotten. There's still no excuse for losing this game this bad.
24. Nebraska (NR) - I decided a few weeks back that if Nebraska won out going into the Big 12 Championship that I would put the Huskers back in the Top 25. So welcome back Huskers. I may be the only one who thinks they stand a chance against Texas but that's okay.
25. TIE - Clemson (18), Mississippi (24) & Houston (NR) - This was a toughy. Clemson is most likely the best team but the Tigers got blown out against South Carolina. True, that's a rivalry game but getting doubled up by the Ol' Ball Coach aint good. Ole Miss won its rivalry game, 6-3 against terrible Miss St. and Houston destroyed the poor Rice Owls 73-14.