Is TCU the best team in the country? No, but they're closer than you'd think.

Rank	Team
1	Alabama
2	TCU
3	Florida
4	Texas
5	Cincinnati
6	Boise State
7	Georgia Tech
8	Oregon
9	Pittsburgh
10	Ohio State
11	Iowa
12	Penn State
13	Virginia Tech
14	Stanford
15	Clemson
16	Miami (Florida)
17	Mississippi
18	North Carolina
19	Utah
20	Oregon State
21	Oklahoma State
22	LSU
23	California
24	Brigham Young
25	Temple

Say what you will about this week’s lineup of marquee rivalry games: Alabama-Auburn, Florida-Florida State, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State and Pitt-West Virginia are just a handful of the bad-blood matchups slated to be renewed on Saturday–but the fact is, I really couldn’t care less.

You see, Penn State just completed its Big Ten schedule, and I’m more than willing to put football on hold until late December, when we get to see some good Bowl matchups.  This week, I’m celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, and when I fly home Saturday, I won’t mind the fact that I’m missing college football, not one bit.  After twelve weeks of screaming and cheering, whether I was at the games or not, I guess I’m just all footballed out.  Penn State’s season is over–it’s bowl placement out of its hands–and I’ve got no other team worth wasting three hours over and rooting for.

Yeah, I can say that all I want, but that doesn’t make it true.  I’m as excited as anyone to see how the conference races in the ACC, Pac-10, and Big East shake out, and Alabama-Florida in a couple weeks promises to be the game of the year.  And as I’ve started to study the BCS selection procedure, I’ve come to understand the implications of even seemingly meaningless games, like Texas-Texas A&M, because as we’ve come to learn all season, no game is a given win for any team.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at my Week 13 Blogpoll ballot.

You’ll see that TCU has made the jump up to #2, and that’s not a protest vote or anything.  I’ve just recently had the chance to watch them play on a couple different occasions, and I strongly considered putting the Horned Frogs at number one.  They are a complete football team that can hang with anyone, and when they inevitable get snubbed in the BCS Champinship Game, will lay a 2008-Utah level (and for that matter, 2004 Utah, too) level beating on whatever poor soul is unlikely enough to meet them in the Fiesta or Orange or Sugar Bowl.  I really hope it’s not us.  Our offensive line wouldn’t stand a chance against Jerry Hughes, and even the Penn State defense would have trouble slowing down the balanced TCU attack.  I honestly believe that this TCU team is the finest team to ever come from a non-BCS conference, and would go down in history among the all-time great teams if they were in the Big XII, who frankly, could use a team other than Texas that’s any good.

The ACC mess is too complicated for me to even try figuring out.  Virginia Tech, Miami, UNC, and Clemson all stand at 8-3, and though UNC beat the Vols and Canes, they’re probably not as good a football team.  Though I strive for consistency (you’ll note that Iowa is ranked above Penn State), I had to suspend my own rules in this case.  Sorry, UNC, but I’ve seen you play too much to put you in the top 15.  Plus, you lost 16-3 to Virginia.  Scoring 3 points on a Virginia defense that allowed 26 to William and Mary (and lost)?  That’s a dealbreaker, ladies.

Similarly, the Pac-10 race is all sorts of crazy.  Oregon controls their own destiny, and sits in my top 10.  However, there are 5 other teams I strongly considered ranking, though only three ended up making my blogpoll ballot.  I feel a little dirty about ranking Stanford so highly: at 7-4 the Cardinal have a won-loss ranking worse than Oregon State and Cal, who are ranked lower, and USC, who I leave off my ballot completely.  I’ll chalk it up to human error: I overvalue Stanford after watching them take apart Oregon and USC, and didn’t get a chance to see them lose to California.  And also my unexplained penchant for teams with white running backs.  But Stanford is a really fun team to watch, and that gives them points in a completely meaningless poll.

Memo to the Big XII and SEC: You suck.  Last year, those two conferences were the darlings of media pundits everywhere, and, in all fairness, provided 3 of the top 4 teams in college football last year (I still maintain that Texas got screwed).  This year, it’s the same, with Alabama, Florida, and Texas all considered, by many, to be the best team in the NCAA.  However, the depth in those conference is scary in that they have none.  After Texas, the Big XII’s best team is Oklahoma State, who has never really hit their stride all season.  An offense that should’ve been among the nation’s best has been merely mediocre, and losing Dez Bryant really hurt the Cowboys.  As for the SEC? Ole Miss has proven themselves to be overrated frauds (and I’ll buy in here, ranking the Rebels way too high at 17) and LSU couldn’t move the ball on a high school defense.  If Penn State isn’t selected to play in the Orange Bowl, I’d love to see the Lions dismantle one of those overrated teams.

Lastly: Temple is perennially my #25 team, overtaking Central Michigan following the Chippewas loss to Boston College, but this is more than just a placeholder vote.  Al Golden deserves coach of the year awards for what he accomplished with the Owls this year, winners of 9 straight, who will play Ohio this Saturday for a chance to reach the MAC Championship.  Gradulations, Al.