1. Texas: UT gets nod over USC only because of USC’s would-be loss to Notre Dame
2. USC: Basically neck and neck with the Longhorns
3. Notre Dame: Two bad calls on final two plays cost them victory over USC
4. Georgia: SEC champ
5. LSU: SEC runner-up
6. Florida: Lost three games, but beat both SEC champ and ACC champ
7. Penn State: Only one loss, but docked for not having to play a championship game
8. Ohio State: Only losses to Texas and Penn State
9. Florida State: Yeah, four losses, but still champ of tough ACC conference
10. Virginia Tech: ACC runner-up
11. Georgia Tech: Four losses, but beat both Auburn and Miami
12. Auburn: Stumbled out of the gate and lost to SEC runner-up LSU, but beat SEC champ Georgia
13. Miami: Throttled ACC runner-up Virginia Tech
14. Alabama: Only losses to SEC runner-up LSU and number 12 Auburn
15. Oregon: Only one loss, but docked for relatively weak conference
16. West Virginia: Received a BCS berth while never cracking the top ten
17. Michigan: Beat Big 10 champ Penn State, but lost four games
18. UCLA
19. Clemson: Beat ACC champ FSU, but who didn’t?
20. South Carolina: Wins over Florida and Tennessee not as impressive in hindsight
21. TCU
22. Northwestern
23. Iowa
24. Iowa State
25. Louisville

Pete Fiutak of College Football News says the Tennessee Volunteers’ schedule is as brutal as it gets:

Well, there is some excuse for Tennessee. I don’t care what any formula says, playing at Florida, at LSU, Georgia, at Alabama, and at Notre Dame is as brutal as it gets. Based on winning percentage, the teams with the toughest schedules played so far are: 1) Arkansas, 2) Oklahoma, 3) Tennessee, and tied for fourth are South Florida and Michigan. Going into this weekend, if you want to go by the teams with the toughest schedules yet to be played, they are 1) Cal, 2) Stanford, 3) Iowa, 4) USC, 5) Kansas.

The Tennessee Volunteers arguably didn’t get the bump they deserved for beating the LSU Tigers last Monday night (because the win was after last week’s Coaches’ Poll), but they survived a potential let-down game against the Ole Miss Rebels.

Here are the horses after Week Five:

The Gators fall out of the top ten to number 15 after getting thumped by the Alabama Crimson Tide, who enter the race at number 10. The Gators’ loss makes the Vols’ loss to the Gators look worse, but it’s a necessary evil because the Vols have virtually no chance at the Rose Bowl without winning the SEC Championship, and they can’t do that unless the Gators lose two SEC games. The Gators losing to Bama is a good start, and they play both Georgia and LSU in the next several weeks, so it’s not out of the question. Plus, the Vols can redeem themselves by beating the Crimson Tide if Bama is still in the top ten at that time.

Again, look at UT’s schedule:

• Play Florida when the Gators are ranked, what was it, number 5?
• Play LSU when the Tigers are ranked number 4.
• Play Georgia this week when the Bulldogs are ranked number 4.
• Play Alabama and Notre Dame later, who are now numbers 10 and 12, respectively.

Potentially 5 top ten teams. Maybe another in the SEC Championship. If the Vols can come out of that schedule with only one loss, should they be ranked above even some no-loss teams with lesser schedules?

• Week Four
• Week Three
• Week Two
• Week One
• Preseason

Okay, the Tennessee Volunteers didn’t play, but there sure were some good football games this weekend. The Big Ten got spanked, with Ohio State getting torched by Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns, Michigan fumbling its way to a loss to Notre Dame, and Iowa on the other end of a route, losing big to Iowa State.
Here’s the top ten of the Coaches’ Poll:So Southern Cal and Texas stay ahead of the pack, and LSU overtakes the Volunteers and Michigan, who, having dropped the football at the goal line, drops out of the top ten. Iowa also drops out of the top ten. Georgia and Florida move ahead together, while Ohio State drops to the back after losing a close one to the Longhorns. Newcomers FSU and Louisville enter the race at numbers 8 and 10, respectively.

Just look at the Vols’ schedule: they play number 7 Florida next week and number 3 the following week. A few short weeks later, they play number 6, but at least that one’s at Neyland Stadium. Oh, and by the way, UT plays Notre Dame, which is now ranked number 10 in the AP poll, a bit later on as well, at South Bend. And even Vanderbilt (VANDERBILT!) is 2-0.

The Rocky Road is shaping up to be even bumpier than anticipated.

• Preseason
• Week One

Well, the Week One Coaches’ poll is out, and here’s how the top ten shakes out:So, the Wolverines edge past Tennessee to take up the number 3 spot behind USC and Texas, but the Vols only fall to number 4. Not bad, considering their less than impressive performance. Oklahoma and Miami fall out of the race after losses and are replaced by newcomers Florida and Georgia, who are at numbers 10 and 9 respectively.

This does not bode well for the Volunteers, who barely squeaked out a victory over Alabama-Birmingham, as three of their future opponents are now in the top ten. The Big Questions about Florida were whether the team would catch on to Urban Meyer’s offense soon enough and whether it would work in the SEC. A 32-14 win over Wyoming tends to confirm that the answers are in the affirmative. The Big Question for Georgia going into the year was whether quarterback D.J. Shockley could replace David Greene. Consider the answer to this question a resounding YES!, as Shockley threw five touchdown passes and ran for another in a 48-13 thumping of Boise State.

Tennessee’s questions were whether it could survive games at Florida and at LSU on consecutive weekends. Those questions remain, but now there are more. Can it beat Georgia at home?

And if that were not enough, the game later in the season at Notre Dame looks tougher now after the Fighting Irish clobbered Pitt 42-21.

My preseason Race to the Rose Bowl post is here.

And they’re off! The Race to the Rose Bowl is on. Of course, the Bowl Championship Series rankings will determine which two teams will actually play for the national championship this year, but those rankings don’t start coming out until the end of September. Until then, I’m using the USA Today/Coaches poll.Because this race is more like NASCAR than the Derby, the participants don’t start out even. Here are the ten leaders, before the first kickoff: