HTR's Top 25: Week 7

Another glorious week of college football has come and gone, leaving half of our regular season slate behind us. It's a depressing thought to be sure, but hopefully the distinct possibility of a 10-win season (knock on wood) will assuage some of the preemptive college football withdrawal symptoms that are already creeping up.

What happened this week? LSU's Australian punter trolled the once mighty Florida Gators, Florida State continues to make me look like an idiot for actually believing in them this year, Ohio State dispenses delicious tears once again, and Clemson somehow has not lost a game yet. With respect to Clemson, if this is all just a set-up for the derpiest 6-6 finish ever then you'd just have to stand up and applaud that kind of commitment to DERP on Dabo's part. Like Baxter eating an entire wheel of cheese, I wouldn't even be mad as a general fan of college football...that would just be amazing.

With the LSU punter's celebration penalty in mind, The Birmingham News asks: "What would Nick Saban do if a taunting penalty nullified an Alabama touchdown?" Death by firing squad? Being forced to watch his scene in The Blind Side over and over again in a dark room with him, but, only thing is, you have no idea where he actually is and OH MAN HE'S RIGHT THERE AND IS TERRIFYING DESPITE NOT BEING VERY TALL? Medical hardship? Because only somebody that's got something wrong with them up in the brain would do something stupid like that, son.

ANYWAY, activate meaningless rankings.

Rank	Team
1	LSU
2	Alabama
3	Oklahoma
4	Wisconsin
5	Oklahoma State
6	Clemson
7	Boise State
8	Oregon
9	Michigan
10	Arkansas
11	Georgia Tech
12	Illinois
13	West Virginia
14	South Carolina
15	Nebraska
16	Kansas State
17	Texas A&M
18	Virginia Tech
19	Texas
20	ASU
21	Baylor
22	Notre Dame
23	Michigan State
24	Penn State
25	Auburn

• Not too much change at all going on in the top 10 this week. LSU and Alabama continue to dismantle everyone they play, and Oklahoma was impressive in a blowout of epic proportions against Texas (who, let's be honest, was kind of overrated). At this point, everything is building up to that November 5th game in Tuscaloosa. Oklahoma, despite having four ranked teams left on their schedule, has somewhat of a manageable path to the title game. Kansas State, Baylor, and A&M are not real threats; the Bedlam game won't be quite on the same plane as the LSU-UA game but it will be up there. 
• It's tough to ding Florida for going out and facing the two best teams in the nations in back to back weeks with your starting quarterback only being available for two out of eight quarters, but their resume wasn't all that impressive otherwise. I probably could've booted Auburn and/or not included Notre Dame in favor of some non-AQ teams but whatever. Auburn has faced some tough competition and has could potentially win four of their next five heading into the Iron Bowl. If they lose to Florida in Jordan-Hare then things could get dicey, though. 
• Speaking of Notre Dame...yeah, I may be jumping the gun a week early here but they're going to be ranked so I might as well get the charade over with now instead of putting Houston in there or some other silliness. Seriously, look at ND's schedule. I'd be very surprised if they're not 9-2 going into the Stanford game, which would be a pretty nice turnaround after that disastrous start. 
• Nebraska somewhat salvaged their season and saved themselves an embarrassing loss to the Buckeyes by staging an epic comeback in Lincoln; however, after the Wisconsin game and this--as well as the Fighting Illini not really being all that impressive despite a spotless record--it's hard not to think of Michigan as the second best team in the Big Ten. Sadly, I think that says more about the conference than it does about Michigan. Hopefully a win against the Spartans this week will quiet the senseless "BUT WE'RE RANKED TOO HIGH!" folks. 
• This won't mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but Stephen Garcia was benched once again by the Head Ball Coach in favor of Connor Shaw. Has there ever been a more ridiculous quarterback-HC relationship re: Shaw and Spurrier? I don't think so. The guy is a senior, has seemingly had eleventy billion run-ins with the law, has been benched more times than I can remember, and has been openly criticized in hilarious fashion by his own head coach on numerous occasions, only to have Spurrier crawl back to him when the alternatives don't work out. To this, Garcia gives an apathetic "whatever brah" while tossing interceptions and somehow winning the SEC East in 2010. Shaw looked good, but Kentucky might be the Minnesota of the SEC. How long before the Ol' Ball Coach calls on Garcia again? Knowing Spurrier, it could be after Shaw's first incompletion against MSU next week, but we'll see. Not that it really matters, since whoever wins the East is going to get shot into the sun just like Texas did this past weekend.