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The Top 15 has never seen such changes in its short existence, and I doubt it will see changes this drastic again any time soon. Seven teams in the Top 15 — including five in the top nine — found themselves on the bad end of the term “upset.”

When the Top 15 began this season, I promised that I would base my rankings entirely off of this season’s performance. You throw that in with all the shuffling this week and you have a crazy, crazy time in the rankings.

How crazy you ask? How does this do for ya: This week’s Top 15 is brought to you by the number 1, as in we have a new No. 1 in the Top 15.

No. 1 – California Golden Bears (5-0, def. Oregon 31-24) Last Week: 6
With a quality home win against Tennessee earlier in the year and a road win at Autzen Stadium — one of the toughest to play at in college football — Cal has simply shown more than anybody else this season. They get USC at home Nov. 10. I can’t wait.

No. 2 – LSU Tigers (5-0, def. Tulane 34-9) Last Week: 1
They beat Tulane because they had more talent, not because they played harder or schemed better. They’ve looked dominant all year, but Virginia Tech isn’t that good of a team, and that’s their best win.

No. 3 – USC Trojans (4-0, def. Washington 27-24) Last Week: 2
They needed a late onside kick recovery to hold off the Huskies. While Washington’s program is certainly on the upswing, USC should be dominating them, not escaping. John David Booty hasn’t shown the moxie his predecessors did.

No. 4 – USF Bulls (4-0, def. West Virginia 21-13) Last Week: 12
Defense wins championships, and the Bulls are a contender. That West Virginia roster is stacked with Heisman talent, and the Bulls held them to 13 points. Wow.

No. 5 – Ohio State Buckeyes (5-0, def. Minnesota 30-7) Last Week: 8
After crushing Northwestern and Minnesota, can James Laurinaitis and co. stop the high powered Boilermaker offense? They might not have to. The Purdue D doesn’t look to great after allowing 19 points to the anemic Notre Dame attack.

No. 6 – Kentucky Wildcats (5-0, def. Florida Atlantic 45-17) Last Week: 13
Andre Woodson finally threw an interception, but made up for it with five touchdowns as the ‘Cats rolled. The going gets tougher for Kentucky from here on out. They play at South Carolina, followed by home games against LSU and Florida.

No. 7 – Boston College Eagles (5-0, def. Massachusetts 24-14) Last Week: 10
Not an impressive win by the Eagles, which is why Kentucky passed them by. Still, they’re 5-0, and Matt Ryan is the real deal. Andre Callender (5.1 yards per carry) isn’t hurting the Eagles either.

No. 8 – Wisconsin Badgers (5-0, def. Michigan State 37-34) Last Week: NR
I’m still just not impressed by the Badgers. Their record has them here more than their performance. They haven’t dominated a team since week 1. I’m not even sure they’re the second best team in the Big Ten.

No. 9 – Oregon Ducks (4-1, lost to Cal 31-24) Last Week: 11
The other losers fall past Oregon, and by default, Oregon gains a few spots. Why? Oregon lost to a higher ranked team, but they showed a lot of fight. The others lost to nobodies. Dennis Dixon isn’t quite at the Troy Smith-Vince Young level, but he’s still a very good quarterback in that mold.

No. 10 – Oklahoma Sooners (4-1, lost to Colorado 27-24) Last Week: 3
The Sooners lost, and it wasn’t pretty. Phenom Sam Bradford finally looked his age, and everything that could go wrong for Oklahoma did. But that’s how it goes sometimes. This is Division 1 football, right Dan Hawkins?

No. 11 – Purdue Boilermakers (5-0, def. Notre Dame 33-19) Last Week: NR
Purdue looks great on offense so far. Giving up 19 points to college football’s worst offense is another story, but at least they look very good on one side of the ball. That’s a start. We’ll see what they’re made of when they meet Ohio State for the first time since 2004.

No. 12 – West Virginia Moutaineers (4-1, lost to USF 21-13) Last Week: 4
Why does West Virginia fall so much farther than Florida and Oklahoma? Because they got dominated start to finish, and their “unstoppable” offense looked awful against the Bulls. Syracuse should give them plenty of opportunity to rebound.

No. 13 – Florida Gators (4-1, lost to Auburn 20-17) Last Week: 7
At some point, the champs are going to have to find somebody who can run the football and isn’t named “Tebow.” Urban Meyer might want to find a way to beat Auburn sometime too.

No. 14 – Georgia Bulldogs (4-1, def. Ole Miss 45-17) Last Week: 14
It’s Ole Miss. Who cares?

No. 15 – Arizona State Sun Devils (5-0, def. Stanford 41-3) Last Week: NR
The road win against the Cardinal was Arizona State’s first in the state of California since 1999. That Dennis Erickson knows how to work fast, doesn’t he.

Dropped from the top:

No. 5 Texas Longhorns, No. 9 Rutgers Scarlet Knights, No. 15 Clemson Tigers

On the Fringe:
Alabama Crimson Tide (4-1), Cincinnati Bearcats (5-0), Hawaii Warriors (5-0), Missouri Tigers (5-0), South Carolina Gamecocks (4-1), Texas Longhorns (4-1)

There’s a common theme so far this season, and that’s that no underdog is too low, and no favorite is too big. David has made a habit out of beating Goliath. This makes the big time teams (LSU, USC, Ohio State) that haven’t faltered look even better. These are the types of school that always see another team’s best game, and unlike many other schools, they’re holding serve.

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Heisman Spotlight

This is an interesting season for the Heisman race. Normally there is a knock down, drag out fight to the finish, but this year is different. The problem is the best teams (Cal, LSU, USC, Ohio State) don’t have a single legitimate Heisman contender between them. When you get to the second tier teams, the worse the team is, the better the individual player seems to be.

Since the Heisman trophy generally goes to the best player on the best team, that messes things up greatly. Do you give it to the best overall player in college football (Darren McFadden) in spite of his teams lack of success, or do you give it to the player whose team and talent strike the best balance (Andre Woodson). This race bears watching to the bitter end.

1. Andre Woodson, Kentucky
Sure, he finally threw an interception. He’s still been the best player in college this season, and it’s not really debatable.

2. Darren McFadden, Arkansas
His team is struggling mightily, but it’s not his fault. McFadden’s the best back in the nation, and Houston Nutt’s team is wasting his efforts.

3. Mike Hart, Michigan
He dropped out of the race early, but now that the Wolverines are resurgent, so are Hart’s Heisman chances. He’s got over 750 yards and seven touchdowns so far this season. More impressive? Hart has never fumbled in his college career.

4. Colt Brennan, Hawaii
This may be the first time a player has ever seen their stock increase after a five-interception game. As long as Hawaii keeps winning, people will look at his overall season numbers rather than his bad game against Idaho.

5. Matt Ryan, Boston College
BC’s charismatic quarterback has a knack for making plays, but more importantly, he avoid mistakes. That’s good enough to get him in the Heisman discussion in this candidate-weak season.

Conference Power Rankings

Intra-conference games can still have a great effect on the rankings here. For example, the SEC is hurt by Florida’s home loss to Auburn. Auburn, at 3-2, has no business beating one of the SEC’s best teams on the road, and in this case, I think that speaks to the overall weakness of the conference rather than its overall strength. Cal beating Oregon though, is the opposite, because we all thought Cal was better, but Oregon put up a big fight at home. It’s a difficult line to walk, but here it goes.

No. 1 – Pac 10 (0-0 last week, 20-6 overall)
USC should have blown the Huskies off the field, but I liked Oregon’s performance against a more talented Cal team, and UCLA seems to have rebounded from the Utah debacle. With Arizona State’s reemergence, the Pac 10 holds on to the top spot for another week at least.

Up next: There will be few non-conference games for the rest of the season in the Pac 10. UCLA should roll over Notre Dame. This might be the least interesting conference this week.

No. 2 – SEC (4-1, 24-4)
LSU and Kentucky look legit, but other than that, nobody in the SEC seems any better than any other BCS conference school. With as weak as Florida State has looked, Alabama losing to the ‘Noles is somewhat embarrassing.

Up next: I’m starting to see why the SEC’s non-conference record is always so good. They schedule the likes of Alabama-Birmingham (Mississippi State), Louisiana Tech (Mississippi), Houston (Alabama) and the beast of beasts, Tennessee-Chattanooga (Arkansas). LSU and Florida will duke it out in a possible conference title preview, which should show us what the Tigers are made of.

No. 3 – Big Ten (1-0, 28-7)
This is a lot less about the Big Ten being the third best conference than it is about it being the fourth worst. Illinois, Michigan State, Indiana and Purdue might all be better than we’d originally thought. For now though, Ohio State is the only legitimate school in the Midwest.

Up next: Michigan takes on Eastern Michigan in a battle for, um, eastern Michigan? Ohio State-Purdue and Wisconsin-Illinois should both be good games.

No. 4 – ACC (4-1, 21-10)
Good week for the ACC out of conference. Boston College struggled against Massachusetts, but Florida State, Virginia and Maryland all knocked off other big conference foes. The reason the ACC is behind the Big Ten is because there isn’t a single elite school around.

Up next: Nothing in the non-conference worth mentioning, but Virginia Tech and Clemson square off in a battle of overrated, mediocre teams.

No. 5 – Big East (3-3, 25-8)
Ugh. USF, with their stout defense and big time quarterback, is a legit school. As for the other seven teams… Fugly I believe is the term. Syracuse is even losing to MAC schools now.

Up next: Nothing outside the conference that’s remotely intriguing, but Cincinnati and Rutgers will meet in Jersey to determine who the third best team in the conference is.

No. 6 – Big XII (0-0, 34-9)
At the bottom lies the Big XII. Why do they drop all the way to the bottom? Because there isn’t a single title contender in the bunch. Oklahoma and Texas showed they can’t take care of business, and we know, right now, that the National Championship won’t find itself in the south at the end of January.

Up next: Surprisingly undefeated Kansas takes on in-state rival K-State, and unbeaten Missouri hosts the ‘Huskers. Oh yeah, the Red River Shootout takes place too, just without the luster that usually accompanies this game.

Tags: ncaa football, ohio state football