As always, this is not a power poll or predictor of future success.  Some thoughts after the jump:

One Foot Down Ballot - Week 9

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU Tigers	--
2	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
3	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	1
4	Clemson Tigers	2
5	Stanford Cardinal	3
6	Boise St. Broncos	-1
7	Kansas St. Wildcats	2
8	Oregon Ducks	2
9	Oklahoma Sooners	-6
10	South Carolina Gamecocks	5
11	Michigan St. Spartans	9
12	Arkansas Razorbacks	-1
13	Wisconsin Badgers	-6
14	Virginia Tech Hokies	-1
15	Texas A&M Aggies	-1
16	Arizona St. Sun Devils	--
17	USC Trojans	--
18	Nebraska Cornhuskers	--
19	Michigan Wolverines	2
20	Texas Tech Red Raiders	--
21	Georgia Bulldogs	3
22	Penn St. Nittany Lions	--
23	Houston Cougars	2
24	Southern Miss. Golden Eagles	--
25	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	-8
Dropouts: West Virginia Mountaineers, Illinois Fighting Illini, Washington Huskies, Auburn Tigers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "

Due to a full day of tailgating, my football watching this weekend was limited to the Friday night Big East games and the fourth quarter of Texas Tech/Oklahoma.  I also remember walking into a stadium early in the evening Saturday, but it's just a blur of Ozzy Osbourne and sadness.  Not sure what happened there.

It was a particularly tough night for some members of the Irish faithful, as not only did Notre Dame fall to USC, but hypothetical (and only hypothetical) savior Bob Stoops lost at home to Tommy Tuberville's Texas Tech squad.  Tuberville was kind not to say "And we could have done that in 2004, too," although he would have probably been right.  Barring an absolute domination of the rest of their schedule, including a needs-to-be undefeated Oklahoma State in Bedlam, I don't see the Sooners getting seriously back into the title game hunt.

If you asked me to bet what we'll be deciding before the bowl schedule is released, I think it's going to be whether we get an SEC West rematch in the title game or the winner of LSU/Alabama playing Boise State.  I think OK State and Clemson both drop a game (because they're OK State and Clemson), and while Stanford has been a war machine all season, their schedule is backloaded with challenges of varying difficulty (USC, Oregon, ND, probably Arizona State in the inaugural PAC12 title game).  Barring utter chaos, the Big Ten is removed from the BCS title picture.

Kansas State's next four games are Oklahoma, at Oklahoma State, A&M, at Texas.  Get it done, Wildcats. 

If Wisconsin had taken the time to play a non-conference foe of merit, we might not have had to wait so long to see them exposed.  In other Big Ten failings, Illinois lost to Purdue.  Maybe Notre Dame should join the Big Ten, just because they'd win the championship every year, going 11-1 with the now annual heartbreaking loss to Michigan.

There is really nobody appealing for the back end of the poll, which is how you end up with the two Conference USA division leaders there.  Notre Dame missed a chance to make huge strides this weekend, as they would easily have been in the teens at 5-2.  Alas.