Week 2 Top 25

We're a bit late this week due to the Monday night game, but here we are.  Not a lot has changed, but there has been some shuffling. As a general rule, I try not to put too much weight on what happens in week one.  That means Michigan doesn't get punished too badly for their loss to the Patriots, and those who barely escaped are granted some level of amnesty.  That said, a lot of warning shots were fired in the opening weekend, and a lot of teams will need to step it up in the coming weeks.

Week 2
1. SEC	I think it's safe to say that Nick Saban's defense has reloaded.  The Tide made a mockery of Michigan and Denard Robinson and physically beat the Wolverines into submission.  What may be even more frightening to opponents is the debut of freshman RB T.J. Yeldon who is already legitimizing Trent Richardson comparisons.
2. USC	USC looked dominant over Hawaii just as they should have.  The schedule gets just a little bit tougher with Syracuse up next but not much.  Stanford comes to L.A. next weekend for the first real pushback.  USC should cruise until they play Oregon late in the year.
3. Oregon	The starting RB and QB are gone, and Oregon may have gotten better.  DeAnthony Thomas has grown to full on freak status, and Marcus Mariota was nearly perfect in his debut at QB.  Yes it was Arkansas State, but the Ducks put up 50 points in the first 22 minutes of the game.  That's hard to do against air.
4. SEC	Breaking News: Tyrann Mathieu is boldly going somewhere no LSU football player has gone before…class.
5. West Virginia	Geno Smith and the WVU offense picked up right where the left off: In the end zone.  The defense is more or less in the same spot as well…les favorable.  Given the performances of the other teams around them, the Couchburners climb a couple spots on the merit that they can simply outscore most everyone they play.
6.   SEC	The dogs were uninspiring against Buffalo, a game they clearly weren't amped for.  Todd Gurley was inspiring and gives Richt hope at the RB spot.  Many more questions will be answered at Mizzou this week.
7. Oklahoma	My fears about OU came true on Saturday.  The massive injuries, suspensions, and departures on offense rendered the Sooners largely ineffective in an ugly win over UTEP.  If they don't get their act together, this could be a long hard fall.
8. SEC	The Dores are just good enough to scare teams, and that's what they did to the Chickens in Nashville.  Connor Shaw played through an injury, and Marcus Lattimore wasn't quite back to form yet but showed flashes.  This wasn't a surprising result, but the offense will need to get going to stay up here.
9. Florida State	The Noles performed as expected in their opener.  The bad news is that Brandon Jenkins is out for the season, which deprives FSU of their top pass rusher.  Of course, they have lots of athletes on the roster to fill in, so we will see what the drop off is.
10. Nebraska	Something strange happened against Southern Miss in week one.  Taylor Martinez threw five touchdown passes, completing 26 of 34 attempts.  Southern Miss isn't Wisconsin, but that's definitely a step in the right direction.
11. Michigan State	Michigan State didn't make it easy against Boise.  Le'Veon Bell lived up to the hype, but Andrew Maxwell almost blew it by turning the ball over.  The defense looks up to par.  Maxwell will have to improve quickly for the Spartans to challenge for a BCS game.
12. Wisconsin	Wisconsin barely escaped with their lives against Northern Iowa.  Montee Ball still put up his numbers, but the rest of the team struggled.  I won't dock them too much for now but they can't continue to struggle.
13. Oklahoma State	Yes, the Cowboys can still score points.  All other analysis on hold until they play someone not called Savannah State.
14. Arkansas	The Hogs didn't exactly blow Jacksonville State out of the water.  Tyler Wilson and the offense eventually got it going, but the defense gave up a lot.  Things could get ugly against Bama in a couple weeks if they don't improve in a hurry.
15. Michigan	Well, the good news is that Denard Robinson wan't seriously injured or killed.  That's really about it.  I will grant amnesty given how good Bama is, but this has a chance to snowball on the Wolverines.
16. Texas	You will notice a trend of solid but unspectacular wins.  The same applies for Texas.
17. TCU	TCU did not have a solid but unspectacular win.  They didn't play at all.
18. Clemson	Clemson's win was very solid, perhaps even approaching spectacular.  Andre Ellington more than made up for the loss of Sammy Watkins.  He was spectacular, which makes the offense even more scary to know that Clemson has the propensity to commit to the running game.  The defense also looked much improved, but Auburn may also be severely defficient on offense.
19. Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University	Here we have a less than solid and nowhere near spectacular win.  The Turkeys were fortunate to come away with a win.  Good news is that the defense looks great and may in fact live up to the hype.  Logan Thomas, however, is not living up to his hype.  Another 10 win season is very possible if not likely.
20. Notre Dame	There's some sort of joke here about Notre Dame dismantling Navy in Ireland, but it is eluding me.  Navy appears to have regressed significantly, but that was an impressive performance, especially by a team with supposed offensive issues.  The schedule gets much tougher quickly, so we will see how the Irish hold up.
21. Collin Klein	Collin Klein is always solid and always spectacular.
22. Utah	The Utes got off to a good start by beating the crap out of UNC (Northern Colorado).  Competition gets a little tougher this week against Utah State before a big matchup with BYU the following week.
23. Washington	Washington isn't exactly inspiring confidence going into Baton Rouge this week.  The high powered offense only managed 21 points against SDSU, which definitely won't cut it against the Tigers.  This is a big year for Sark, but it's not off to a roaring start.
24. BYU	BYU abused Mike Leach then shoved him in the closet in his Wazzu debut.  The defense was physically dominant, and Riley Nelson looked in mid-season form. Of course, this could all mean that Wazzu has gotten even worse.  For now, though, I give the Mormons the benefit of the doubt.
25. SEC	All that new SEC speed is already paying off in the Midwest with a dominating victory over Directional Louisiana.  They even managed to find a running game.  The third Tigers in the conference get thrown in the fire quickly as Aaron Murray and the dogs come to town on Saturday.  Signs indicate that they at least have a shot.