My Top 25 Poll: November 1st

Some teams are 2/3 of the way through their seasons already, so we're starting to get some clarity to the season...albeit slowly. There are a lot of question marks abound, but we're getting a better feel for who's elite within their conferences. That helps a lot when trying to rank teams not only against conference foes, but against the rest of the country as well. Here's what I've cooked up for this week...subject to change in 7 days, of course.

1.) Florida
2.) Texas
3.) Alabama
4.) TCU
5.) Cincinnati
6.) Iowa
7.) Boise State
8.) Oregon
9.) Georgia Tech
10.) USC
11.) LSU
12.) Penn State
13.) Houston
14.) Ohio State
15.) Virginia Tech
16.) Oklahoma State
17.) Pittsburgh
18.) Miami (FL)
19.) California
20.) Notre Dame
21.) Wisconsin
22.) Arizona
23.) Oklahoma
24.) Utah
25.) Duke

I know the inclusion of Duke will probably cause some bewilderment amongst some readers, but the fact remains that they're 3-1 in the ACC, one of only two teams with one loss in the conference. Are they going to remain that way? With North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Miami, and Wake Forest on the slate, probably not. However, for the time being, there aren't a lot of good resumes out there, and the fact that they've overcome an early bad loss to Richmond to win four of their last five games merits a Top 25 vote in my book. I looked far and wide for teams to fill the 21-25 spots, and there just wasn't much to choose from. Kansas is choking their season away; West Virginia got outclassed by South Florida; South Carolina embarrassed themselves in Knoxville; I mean, there just aren't very many good teams out there right now. So, congratulations, Duke; keep up the good work and I'll keep you in my poll. Please try to contain your excitement, Blue Devils fans.

~~ Lank