1) Auburn (8-0) – Auburn just beat No. 6 AP LSU, 24-17. Auburn is the only team in the AP top 25 to have 3 wins over ranked teams (South Carolina, Arkansas and now LSU, all SEC). Auburn has also played the toughest schedule strength (24) among all undefeated teams. Oregon has beaten only one Top 25 team: Stanford.

2) Oregon (7-0) – Beat UCLA 60-13. He has beaten exactly one Top 25 team: Stanford. Visit Southern California (5-2) next and must win big or lose position.

3) Michigan State (8-0) – Still undefeated with a Top 25 win – Wisconsin. He got the win on the road over the high-powered Northwestern offense. He now ranks fifth in both the AP and Coaches polls. He must travel to Iowa this week and must win or lose third place.

4) Wisconsin (7-1) – Has only lost to Michigan State and claims something only another top-ranked team can claim: It has beaten two ranked teams: Ohio State and now Iowa in a road game. Can you believe NO other ranked team has more than one win against a currently ranked team? I think that makes the Badgers better than all the other undefeated teams, who have racked up wins against a lot of unranked teams. The next game is at Purdue.

5) Missouri (7-0) – I just delivered an impressive 36-27 victory over Oklahoma, number one in the BCS ranking. The Tigers have played the second toughest schedule force (30) among the 7 undefeated teams remaining in major college football. With no rest for Missouri, the Tigers take on the Cornhuskers in Nebraska this week.

6) Boise State (6-0) – Inactive this week. Only here because the Broncos are undefeated and have a win over a ranked team: Virginia Tech (6-2), which is no big deal. The next opponent is Louisiana Tech, which is ranked 81st.

7) TCU (8-0) – Beat a pretty good Air Force team 38-7. He remains undefeated, and the Horned Frogs can finally say they’ve beaten at least one ranked team, the Baylor Bears (6-2), who now rank 25th in the AP poll. Next, travel to UNLV, a truly remorseful team ranked 143rd out of 120 Division 1-A schools. No wonder TCU is 8-0.

8) Utah (8-0) – Just blew out a terrible Colorado State team 59-6. Only here because the Utes are undefeated; they haven’t beaten a ranked team yet, mainly because they aren’t playing any team worth talking about. Travel to the Air Force below. They better beat the Falcons up like TCU did or I’ll demote them in a heartbeat.

Disclaimer: Among the following 17 qualified teams, you should know that ONLY 7 of them have ever beaten a qualified team.

9) Alabama (7-1): Just beat Tennessee 41-10 in a road game. The mighty Crimson Tide have not beaten a currently ranked team. They get their chance this week when they travel to LSU (5-2). Alabama may be the best one-loss team in the country, but we don’t know that. We will inform you next week.

10) LSU (7-1) – Just lost to Auburn and may be ranked too high. The next host is Alabama and they simply have to win to stay that high up in the standings.

11) Oklahoma (6-1) – Couldn’t beat 18th-ranked Missouri on the road. Has a win over a ranked team, Florida State. Gets Colorado below.

12) Nebraska (6-1) – Handed Oklahoma State its first loss. The hosts from Missouri are up next and they had better be ready to fight to the death. Let’s settle this right now about who’s better: Oklahoma or Nebraska.

13) Stanford (7-1): Beat Washington State 38-28 in a weak performance on the road. Washington hosts this week, a good benchmark team as the Huskies have beaten Southern Cal and Oregon State. The Cardinal needs to level the Huskies to show they really are 7-1 and not a fraud as a Pac-10 contender. Stanford has also beaten USC, a ranked team.

14) Arizona (6-1) – Just upset Washington 44-14. He travels to UCLA this week. The Bruins, like the Washington Huskies, are an up-and-down team trying to achieve consistency. It’s hard to say how good the Wildcats are right now. Arizona has a win over Iowa, a ranked team.

15) South Carolina (5-2) – He barely beat Vanderbilt, who says nothing. He has beaten Alabama and played a much tougher schedule than Florida State. The next host will be Tennessee.

16) Florida State (6-1) – Inactive this week. They have beaten Miami-FL, a ranked team. Travel to North Carolina State (5-2) next, must win big.

17) Ohio State (7-1) – Eliminates Purdue 49-0. He seems very serious, but then he travels to Minnesota, a very weak sister, so who really knows? The Buckeyes’ schedule strength is 72, and it will be worse after beating Minnesota. Ohio State must finally face Iowa and Michigan before the season is over. Ohio State has a win over Miami-FL, a ranked team.

18) Iowa (5-2): I was only upset about Wisconsin 31-30. Yes, the Badgers are bigger, better, and badder. He hosts Michigan State next with a chance to upset the Spartans. We’ll see if the Hawkeyes have what it takes. They do not yet have a win over a ranked team.

19) Oklahoma State (6-1) – Lost to Nebraska 51-41 in a shootout and lost their perfect record. So how good are the Cowboys? I don’t know. They seem to have an offense and no defense. They do not yet have a win over a ranked team. He travels to Kansas State (5-2) next and he had better be ready or he will lose. The Wildcats have only lost to Nebraska (6-1) and Baylor (6-2), who jumped into the AP poll this week in 25th place.

20) Southern California (5-2) – Inactive this week. He lost to Washington and Stanford by a combined 3 points. They do not yet have a win over a ranked team. He’s had two weeks to prepare for the Oregon Ducks’ visit this week. This game will tell us a lot about Southern Cal, and even more about Oregon, which has only beaten one ranked team this year (Stanford).

21) Baylor (6-2) – Must be better than the 5-2 Kansas State Wildcats, the Bears just beat them 47-42. Travel to Texas next. That should be interesting since Texas has lost at home for the third time this year and is 4-3. Texas is not in my poll this week, they have too many losses. It’s like coming to our place and beating us.

22) Mississippi State (6-2) – Lost to Auburn and LSU, but beat Georgia and Florida. Squeaked by the UAB this week 29-24. Six wins is a lot for the Bulldogs, who haven’t won that many since 2007. Maybe the Bulldogs have more gas in the tank. They host Kentucky this week and need to win to stay here.

23) Hawaii (6-2) – Just got a nice road win over Utah State 45-7. It’s not that the state of Utah is a big deal, it’s that the Warriors’ only losses are to USC and Colorado. They’ve beaten Nevada and now host Idaho in a must-win situation.

24) Nevada (6-1) – Was undefeated until the Wolf Pack took on Hawaii. The biggest victory was over California. They host Utah State next and need to win big.

25) Northwest (5-2): Any team that can just about beat Michigan State has something to do, and frankly, I’m tired of other 5-2 teams, including Arkansas, Kansas State, West Virginia, Michigan, Syracuse, East Carolina , Marina and Miami-FL.

Six of the 7 undefeated teams have away games this week, and there is a good chance that one or more will suffer their first loss. After all, the team ranked No. 1 in the last three weeks has lost the following week away from home.

Copyright © 2010 Ed Bagley