OnsideKick.com Week 5 Ballot Breakdown

Heavyweights solidified themselves, while pretenders fell by the wayside in droves on Week 5. The LSU-Oklahoma-Alabama debate is a difficult one, and things get even more convoluted when getting into the 4-10 range. Stanford, Boise State, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State and yes, Clemson, all jockey for position. Without further ado, here’s my Week 5 Top 25 vote. Visit OnsideKick.com to see the final vote.

1. LSU
The Tigers blasted Kentucky, 35-7 to stand pat as expected. Ho hum. The only drama in this one was whether or not Tyrann Mathieu would fortify his Heisman candidacy. SPOILER: he did.

2. Alabama

‘Bama didn’t just beat previously undefeated Florida on the road. The Tide rolled.

3. Oklahoma
OU took care of business and treated Ball State like the body bag foe it was. I had the Sooners No. 2 last week, and it’s difficult dropping a team when it won simply playing the game on its slate, but ‘Bama’s win was too impressive to not reward.

4. Wisconsin
The Badgers gave Nebraska a sound spanking in the Huskers’ Big Ten debut, in the process declaring loudly that UW is the class of the conference.

5. Boise State
BSU’s defeat of Nevada wasn’t pretty, and enough to drop BSU from 4 to 5 on my ballot.

6. Stanford
Sporting black uniforms, Stanford gave UCLA a thorough beating. Andrew Luck’s leaping pass catch is going to appear on highlight packages all season.

7. Oklahoma State
The Cowboys stand firm on a bye week.

8. Clemson
This one was tough. CU has beat three straight ranked opponents, two in conference and each of them, the pre-season favorites to win the ACC. That would seemingly put the Tigers in the driver’s seat. This is probably too low, I will admit, but I could not leapfrog CU past any of the top 7.

9. Oregon
UO was on a bye week, winner of three straight since falling to clear cut No. 1 LSU.

10. Texas
The Longhorns handed Iowa State its first loss, exacting some payback for the Cyclones’ defeat of UT last year in DKR.

11. Michigan
The annual Michigan hot start includes an absolute pummeling of Minnesota last week. Boy, are the Gophers bad. Nevertheless, one can scoff at Michigan all he wants, but the Wolverines are 5-0.

12. Arkansas
The Razorbacks’ overcame a big deficit to hand Texas A&M its second straight heartbreaking loss. It was a nice way for the Hogs to bounce back from a sound thrashing at Alabama.

13. Georgia Tech
The Yellow Jackets are off to their best start since the 1990 season, executing that option offense to perfection en route to a perfect 5-0 record.

14. Auburn
Am I over-valuing the Tigers’ defeat of South Carolina? Possibly, but there’s no denying that it was a biggie for a young team. The Tigers are 4-1, with that single blemish coming against a top eight opponent on the road.

15. Illinois
It hasn’t been pretty for the Fighting Zooks, but the Illini are 5-0 and can boast a defeat of a good Arizona State.

16. South Carolina

The Gamecocks suffered a gut-wrenching loss, their first of the season. The play of Stephen Garcia has to send up a warning flag.

17. West Virginia
The Mountaineers got back on a winning track after losing to No. 1 LSU.

18. Florida
Alabama came into the Swamp and demonstrated emphatically that UF isn’t quite all the way back. The Gators are close though, and should compete for the SEC East championship.

19. Nebraska
Nebraska’s loss at Wisconsin was very much akin to Florida’s vs. Alabama. The Cornhuskers are a good team, but not in that championship conversation.

20. Arizona State
The Sun Devils’ defeat of a bad Oregon State was much closer than it needed to be. A-State has a tendency to play to the level of competition, which should bit it in the rear (again, that was seemingly the case at Illinois). Regardless though, ASU is 4-1.

21. Virginia Tech
A young ACC was supposed to surprise this season. Unfortunately for VPI, it’s Clemson and not the Hokies.

22. Kansas State
The Wildcats won their second straight nailbiter, but after winning two body bag games has beaten BCS competition. Overcoming the Robert Griffin III locomotive was a tremendous step for the Wildcats.

23. USC
The Trojans make questionable decisions at times, aren’t great defensively as evidenced by two straight 40-plus allowances, but are still 4-1.

24. Florida State
The ‘Noles are just 2-2, but I suspect will win their next eight. While that’s no reason to rank them in the Top 25, FSU is one of the 25 best teams in the nation with close losses to a pair of top 8 teams.

25. Houston
Another high scoring classic against an equally offensive C-USA opponent elevates Kevin Sumlin’s squad to 5-0, and into the rankings.