| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern Cal | -- |
| 2 | Oklahoma | -- |
| 3 | Florida | -- |
| 4 | Georgia | -- |
| 5 | Alabama |
 1 |
| 6 | Penn State |
6 |
| 7 | LSU | -- |
| 8 | Missouri | -- |
| 9 | Texas |
1 |
| 10 | Wisconsin |
6 |
| 11 | South Florida |
4 |
| 12 | East Carolina |
 7 |
| 13 | Oregon |
5 |
| 14 | Auburn |
3 |
| 15 | Wake Forest |
4 |
| 16 | Connecticut |
10 |
| 17 | Brigham Young |
9 |
| 18 | Ohio State |
5 |
| 19 | North Carolina |
7 |
| 20 | Utah |
5 |
| 21 | Kansas |
1 |
| 22 | West Virginia |
2 |
| 23 | Fresno State |
6 |
| 24 | TCU |
2 |
| 25 | Virginia Tech |
1 |
At least memories of RU's Thursday night debacle are fading after this topsy-turvy weekend. Cal/Maryland could not have looked any more like a mismatch during the first two weeks of the season, and yet the Terps scored an unlikely upset. Perhaps as surprising was Arizona State laying an egg against UNLV, less so Arizona falling to New Mexico. East Carolina barely escaped against Tulane, Auburn and Mississippi State set a new standard for offensive futility, and BYU embarrassed a UCLA team that looked like it belonged in week one.
I understand the general skepticism towards the ACC and Big East in recent memory. What didn't really make sense was the hostility towards the Pac-10, which has been very solid from top to bottom during the past few seasons. USC and Oregon represented that conference well, but everyone else did not, and the Pac-10 appears to be down this season. Of course, the major difference between that conference and the Big East is that they have a USC at the top to anchor the conference and ultimately deflect any potential criticism.
I watched part of Kansas/USF on Friday, and was generally surprised by how well Kansas played, even though a lot of that goes on USF trying to replace two very good quarters. On Saturday I started off with Cal/Maryland, and then caught the Big Ten on the giving (Penn State) and receiving (Ohio State) of two blowouts, even though the game I watched the most of was the competitive Oregon/Purdue contest. Perhaps I'm overreacting with Penn State, but I always believed that they'd be very good if they had anything resembling average QB play.
It's hard to avoid the Big Ten, as I also caught part of Michigan's "pillow fight" with Notre Dame, and Wisconsin's road victory at Fresno State.