BlogPoll ballot #9: My bologna has a second name, it's S-C-H-A-D-E-N-F-R-E-U-D-E . . .

As weekends go, this was probably the most satisfying one since the win over Alabama in overtime -- we got to see the two teams who've beaten us go down in high-profile flames, while two more teams we have yet to play also got whacked. Of course, this just makes all the more difficult the chore of sorting out where all these intricately connected SEC teams should be ranked, but . . . whatever.

As always, your comments, suggestions, and condemnations are welcome.

Games watched: UConn-Louisville, Alabama-Tennessee, the second half of Florida-Kentucky, LSU-Auburn, bits and pieces of Virginia-Maryland.

1. LSU (last week: 1)

2. Ohio State (2)

3. Oklahoma (4)

4. Florida (11)
I'm not sure Florida deserves to be in the top 5 with two losses, but their defeats at the hands of Auburn and LSU were very close and hard-fought, while their victories over Tennessee and Kentucky were pretty emphatic. I think they'd stand a better-than-50-50 chance of beating anyone below them.

5. Boston College (3)

6. Oregon (5)

7. West Virginia (12)

8. Missouri (14)
Missouri went up against a Texas Tech offense that was averaging exactly 50 points a game -- no, I'm not kidding, look it up -- and held them to only 10. If Mizzou has found a defense to go with their fast-paced offense, look out. They still have to face currently unbeaten Kansas, but if they get through the Jayhawks and end up in a rematch with Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game, they might beat the Sooners a second time around.

9. Arizona State (13)

10. Kentucky (7)
Tough loss to the Gators. Honestly, though, after the 3OT epic against LSU, I thought they'd come out a lot flatter than they did; they were in that thing right up until the very end.

11. South Florida (6)

12. Kansas (19)

13. Auburn (10)
This is still a good team, but neither the score nor the three-spot drop they incur this week really indicates just how completely they got dominated in the second half of the LSU game. From the second-half kickoff to the start of Auburn's final scoring drive, they were outgained 290 yards to 54, and nearly a quarter of their 296 total yards for the night came on that final drive. The offense seems to have kind of hit a wall since thrashing Vanderbilt a few weeks ago.

14. Rutgers (NR/29)

15. Southern California (18)

16. South Carolina (9)
I guess a lot of us kind of overestimated how far SC's offense had progressed since Spurrier put Chris Smelley in at quarterback. That was just an ugly, ugly loss, and while the Gamecocks still control their own destiny in the SEC East, it certainly doesn't bode well for their games against Tennessee or Florida.

17. Wake Forest (NR/27)

18. Michigan (16)

19. Texas (17)

20. Virginia Tech (23)

21. UCLA (NR)
They're 5-2 and just knocked off California, so I feel like they should be ranked somewhere, but I know they're only going to go up to Pullman and lose to Washington State next week so I almost wonder why I bothered. How does UCLA manage to play so well against so many good teams and then completely fuck it up against teams that are lousy?

22. California (8)

23. Alabama (NR)
Boy, was I ever living vicariously through the Tide on Saturday afternoon.

24. Penn State (25)

25. Wisconsin (NR)

The next five: Tennessee, Illinois, Michigan State, Georgia, Virginia.

Dropped out: Tennessee (15), Illinois (20), Texas Tech (21), Cincinnati (22), Kansas State (24).