Having won nine straight, Arkansas jumps to No. 3

Once upon a time, polls like this one were purely subjective pursuits meant to determine who supposed "experts" like myself felt were the best teams in the country at any given moment. They were meant mostly for fun and hype, and hey, whoever happened to end up No. 1 in the final poll got a trophy.

Well, the BCS has pretty much ruined that. These days, fans don't particularly care who I or anyone else thinks are the best teams in the country -- not when there's a berth in the national championship game at stake. All anyone wants to talk about is who's "most deserving." In fact a lot of the e-mails I receive make me wonder whether anyone out there is actually watching the games or whether they spend their Saturdays poring over schedules and crunching numbers. You know -- like a computer?

The reason I bring this up is Arkansas. To me, there's little question the Razorbacks are playing the best football of any team in the country right now outside of the Big Two, which is why I have them third in this week's rankings. Not only have the Hogs won nine straight games, but they also seem to getting better each week. Behind newfound shotgun quarterback Darren McFadden and a ferocious pass rush, Arkansas dominated a very good Tennessee team in every aspect of the game last Saturday. The Vols came in having allowed just three 100-yard rushers in their last 33 games; McFadden ran for 181 and threw for a touchdown.

Invariably, however, I will get a barrage of e-mails today asking me how in my right mind I could possibly have Arkansas ranked ahead of USC, the team it lost to 50-14 some two-and-a-half months ago. These people seem to think college football is played in a vacuum, where the teams are all exactly the same on Nov. 14 as they were on Sept. 2. Anyone who's watched Arkansas realizes it's not remotely the team that lost 50-14. Its quarterback, Casey Dick, did not even play in that game; the guy who did, Robert Johnson, no longer plays quarterback. And McFadden, the Razorbacks' heart and soul, was hurt and barely played.

USC, meanwhile, is just two weeks removed from a 33-31 loss at 6-4 Oregon State and a slew of sluggish performances before that. While the Trojans have certainly looked better since, if the two teams met today, I would take the Razorbacks in a heartbeat. Therefore, I have them ranked higher.

That said, if for some reason I was handed the responsibility of choosing the teams for the national championship game tomorrow, and it came down to one-loss Arkansas against one-loss USC for the second spot, of course I would give it to the Trojans. Why? Because USC would be ... say it with me now ... more deserving. Fortunately, I don't have that responsibility, so I'm free to fill out my ballot based on a more quaint set of criteria: Who I think is better.

NCAA Football Power Rankings Rank LW Team 1 1 Ohio State Buckeyes (11-0) Wow, do the Buckeyes capitalize on turnovers. Ohio State's offense barely touched the ball in the first quarter against Northwestern, yet they jumped to a 21-0 lead thanks largely to a James Laurinaitis strip, an Antonio Smith fumble recovery and a Brandon Mitchell interception for touchdown. Next game: Saturday vs. Michigan. 2 2 Michigan Wolverines (11-0) Lost in the shuffle amidst Michigan's bevy of defensive stars -- DE LaMarr Woodley, DT Alan Branch, CB Leon Hall -- is LB David Harris, whose 80 tackles are nearly double the next-closest Wolverine. "I don't think there's a better linebacker in the country," Lloyd Carr says of Harris. Next game: Saturday at Ohio State. 3 7 Arkansas Razorbacks (9-1) It's been a long time since Arkansas has had a game-breaking receiver like Marcus Monk. QB Casey Dick (and part-time QB Darren McFadden) just throw it up there and the 6-foot-6 junior comes down with it. Over the past three games, Monk has 21 catches for 380 yards and five TDs. Next game: Saturday at Mississippi State. 4 5 Florida Gators (9-1) After struggling for over a month, Florida's offense finally broke out against South Carolina, led by DeShawn Wynn's rushing 90 yards. The Gators' depleted defense, however, allowed a season-high 410 yards. Not only is Marcus Thomas gone, but LBs Brandon Siler and Earl Everett were also limited by injuries. Next game: Saturday vs. Western Carolina. 5 10 USC Trojans (8-1) Pete Carroll has never lost a game in November, and like clockwork, the Trojans have turned it up a notch since the calendar changed. But don't let a pair of lopsided wins fool you into thinking USC is all the way "back." The Trojans' defense is in for their biggest challenge of the season on Saturday against Cal. Next game: Saturday vs. Cal. 6 16 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-0) Is Rutgers as good as this ranking indicates? After watching the way their defense absolutely suffocated Louisville, yes. Unfortunately, though, the Scarlet Knights haven't played enough quality foes to gauge whether they should be even higher. Let's see if they beat West Virginia, then we'll talk. Next game: Saturday at Cincinnati. 7 3 Louisville Cardinals (8-1) I'm a little confused as to why the Cardinals fell behind West Virginia in the polls just 10 days after beating the Mountaineers 44-34. Apparently, some people still consider losing to Rutgers -- even on the road, on a last-second field goal to an undefeated team -- to be an atrocity. Next game: Saturday vs. USF. 8 8 West Virginia Mountaineers (8-1) I for one have not jumped off the Steve Slaton bandwagon (although if bandwagons were actual vehicles, my back foot would be clinging to the roof while the rest of me reached for Darren McFadden's). First six carries against Cincinnati: 11 yards. The seventh: A 65-yard touchdown. Next game: Saturday vs. Cincinnati. 9 11 LSU Tigers (8-2) Now that I've devoted so much ink to praising McFadden and Arkansas, watch LSU's defense shut them down on Nov. 24. The Tigers have suffered some injuries in their secondary and gave up yards through the air against Alabama, but it's still tough running on them: Foes are averaging 72.1 yards. Next game: Saturday vs. Ole Miss. 10 13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-1) I don't understand why Irish fans are so steamed about the latest rankings. Their team is all the way up to fifth in the BCS standings, and if the Irish beat USC, they're going to move even higher. Of course, all of this is completely moot, seeing as the Trojans are going to win that game by at least 17. Next game: Saturday vs. Army.