While other polls found reason to change their rankings after one week, the pollsters of the Southern Fans' College Football Rankings proclaimed Georgia is still the number one team in college football. The Dawgs, who beat Georgia Southern 45-21, retained the top spot but did lose one first place vote from the preseason poll. USC, victors at Virginia last weekend, picked up six first place votes and inched a little closer to the top spot. The Trojans had an easy time in Charlottesville, winning 52-7 after scoring three touchdowns in the first quarter.
Ohio State moved up to number three, receiving four first place votes, while Oklahoma slid to No. 4. Florida, receiving the final four first place votes, remained at number five. LSU, Missouri, West Virginia, Auburn and Texas complete the top 10.
Wisconsin moved up one spot to number 11, followed by Texas Tech. Kansas moved into the rankings for the first time this season, following a 40-10 victory over Florida International. Arizona State remained at No. 14 with a 30-13 win over Northern Arizona.
Alabama took Tennessee's place as the SEC's fifth team in the poll. The Crimson Tide are ranked for the first time since holding the number 16 spot in the third week of 2007. Alabama defeated No. 9 Clemson 34-10 while holding the Tigers to zero rushing yards. The dominating victory lead Tommy Bowden to phone Nick Saban to ask for help. Needless to say, Clemson dropped out of the polls.
Oregon, unranked last week, moved into the poll at No. 16. Tennessee and Virginia Tech also fell from the rankings.
I think UT is going through a bit of the same issues that Miami went through after Butch Davis left. They are just not considered the desirable program to recruits that they used to be. Middle Tennessee State has burst onto the scene (23,000 enrollment last I checked). As I mentioned previously, Vandy's recruiting has been better. Even Tennessee State University has been putting guys into the NFL Draft as of late. Miami has been going through a period like this too . . . where in-state rivals like USF, UCF, and of course Florida have been winning over recruits from what is typically a gold mine of talent in South Florida. Miami realized they needed some new recruiting blood, and Randy Shannon secured the top rated recruiting class in the country this past year. Tennessee is going to have to look long and hard at whether it is time to start fresh.
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