The new AP TOP 25 college football poll is out and it's pretty much as expected. Ohio State remains number one. Texas is number two. These two teams go to war this week in Texas. One will be left standing with championship hopes. Last season it was a great game. Texas managed to take home the win and it propelled them to the national championship. USC makes a move from 6th in the preseason to 3rd. They looked very impressive in their win this week.



Auburn and Notre Dame are tied for fourth. Notre Dame was #2 in the preseason poll, so they slip a few notches here. Their game against Georgia Tech was not impressive. I thought they might slip down a few more places because of their "just get by" game play. I don't even know how they received 8 first place votes. That's 8 people who evidently don't watch the actual games.

West Virginia moves into the 6 slot after their lights out victory over hapless Marshall. Florida is 7 and LSU 8. Coming in at number 9 is Florida State who is fresh off their grueling battle against Miami. Neither offense looked impressive in that game. It was all about defense. I'm kind of surprised that Florida State is ranked lower than teams like West Virginia who simply ran up the score against a non-existent opponent.

The big surprise is California. They are ranked 22nd and shouldn't be in the top 25 at all. They got destroyed this week by Tennessee. Speaking of Tennessee, they moved all the way up to 11th. Here's the entire AP Top 25 for this week.

1. Ohio State

2. 2. Texas

3. USC

4. Auburn

5. Notre Dame

6. West Virginia

7. Florida

8. LSU

9. Florida State

10. Michigan

11. Tennessee

12. Georgia

13. Louisville

14. Iowa

15. Oklahoma

16. Virginia Tech

17. Miami (FL)

18. Clemson

19. Penn State

20. Oregon

21. Nebraska

22. California

23. TCU

24. Texas Tech

25. Arizona State

The best matchups this week for the Top 25 are:

- #1 Ohio State at #2 Texas

- #21 Nebraska at #3 USC

- #19 Penn State at #4 Notre Dame

- #24 Texas Tech at UTEP (UTEP received a couple Top 25 votes)

Worth Noting:

Alabama just missed the cut. They received 96 votes. #25 Arizona State received 134 votes and nudged them out. Georgia Tech received 27 votes for their staunch performance against #4 Notre Dame.