In week 1 of the season the Oregon Ducks traveled to the land of the smurf turf and got their asses handed to them. Boise St. handled Oregon's rushing attack throughout the entire night and held the mighty Ducks offense to just one touchdown. On that night it was clear that Boise St. was up to the challenge and that perhaps we hyped up Oregon a bit too much in the offseason. The evening was than stamped with extra embarrasment when star running back LeGarrette Blount threw a straight right at Byron Hout. Since that moment that fateful moment that Blount lost his cool, it could be argued that Oregon has been the best team in the country. The Ducks ended the Utah Utes 16 game winning streak just two weeks after the Boise defeat. The Utes have since improved to 7-1. The Ducks followed up that huge win with a 42-3 romp of Cal, who is currently 6-2. The exclamation point on the Duck's season came this weekend when they hosted the Trojans of Southern Cal and blitzed them 47-20.
The Broncos on the other hand have ventured into the relm the WAC and OOC cupcake land. In their 7 games since beating Oregon they have played exactly 1 team with a winning record (Fresno St., 5-3). The rest of their schedule is a continouous barage of WAC opponents, opponents who in all likelihood will not beat Boise. So if they remain undefeated where shall they be ranked...
Do I think Boise St. would be Cal, Utah and USC? Honestly no. Do I think the Ducks would beat the Broncos if they played now in Autzen stadium? Yes. But they are still undefeated and beat Oregon when they were on the field, how can I justify ranking them behind Oregon? For right now, I don't think I can.
And now to the preliminary poll...
 | ||
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | |
| 2 | Florida | |
| 3 | Texas |  1 |
| 4 | Iowa |  1 |
| 5 | Boise State | 1 |
| 6 | Oregon | 1 |
| 7 | TCU | 1 |
| 8 | LSU | 1 |
| 9 | Cincinnati | 1 |
| 10 | Georgia Tech | 2 |
| 11 | Houston | |
| 12 | Southern Cal | 7 |
| 13 | Penn State | 1 |
| 14 | Pittsburgh | 1 |
| 15 | Miami (Florida) | 4 |
| 16 | Ohio State | 5 |
| 17 | Arizona | 3 |
| 18 | Brigham Young | 4 |
| 19 | Oklahoma | 5 |
| 20 | Virginia Tech | 7 |
| 21 | California | |
| 22 | Notre Dame | 3 |
| 23 | South Florida | |
| 24 | North Carolina | |
| 25 | Auburn | |
| Last week's ballot | ||
Dropped Out: West Virginia (#16), Oklahoma State (#17), South Carolina (#18), Georgia (#23).
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