There are only 3 conferences, observations and NFL predictions

AP Top 25
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS	PVS
1	Alabama (53)	3-0	1492	1
2	Ohio State (5)	3-0	1435	2
3	Boise State (1)	2-0	1333	3
4	TCU	3-0	1280	4
5	Oregon	3-0	1238	5
6	Nebraska	3-0	1175	8
7	Texas (1)	3-0	1164	6
8	Oklahoma	3-0	1114	7
9	Florida	3-0	1044	10
10	Arkansas	3-0	903	12
11	Wisconsin	3-0	803	11
12	South Carolina	3-0	739	13
13	Utah	3-0	703	14
14	Arizona	3-0	663	24
15	LSU	3-0	654	15
16	Stanford	3-0	606	19
17	Auburn	3-0	600	16
18	Iowa	2-1	482	9
19	Miami (FL)	1-1	472	17
20	USC	3-0	414	18
21	Michigan	3-0	291	20
22	West Virginia	3-0	258	21
23	Penn State	2-1	198	22
24	Oregon State	1-1	75	25
25	Michigan State	3-0	45	NR

• Dropped from rankings: Houston 23

• Others receiving votes: Air Force 44, Nevada 41, Pittsburgh 40, Florida State 40, Fresno State 35, Missouri 30, Oklahoma State 22, Clemson 14, North Carolina State 14, Georgia Tech 14, James Madison 8, Kansas State 4, Arizona State 3, California 3, Northwestern 3, Notre Dame 1, Temple 1, Texas A&M 1, Houston 1
• *Poll from ESPN.com
• I said something to this effect last week, that the poll was dominated by 3 conferences, but an additional week of play has made it even more clear.  There are currently 6 SEC teams in the top 25, 5 in the top 15.  There are 5 Pac 10 teams in the top 25, and if Oregon State can beat Boise, they'll all be solidly in the rankings (meaning that conference wear and tear shouldn't be an issue as it often is in a conference that plays 9 conf games rather than 8).  Also, if you saw Arizona State play Wisconsin, or UCLA dominate a decent Houston team, you realize that the Pac 10's bottom is also very strong.  The Big 10 has 6 teams in the top 25 and had a wash of a week with Iowa's loss balanced by Michigan and Wisconsin avoiding defeat, MSU winning a good one against ND and OSU impressing.  Now, if we fast forward to next season, Nebraska and Utah would provide an additional team for the Big 10 and the Pac 10 in the rankings.  I'll probably be focusing on this a lot, so get used to it, but it is really amazing that in essence, 19 of our 25 ranked teams come from 3 conferences.
• Oklahoma, Texas, TCU, Boise are all very good teams and are contenders, but they're outliers.

Observations:

First, I should say that I know better than to pick Clemson in a big game or Iowa (or any other Big 10 team) in a big game out west, and yet I did, and even believe that Iowa would win big.  Iowa looked to me like a better team than Arizona - that is except in the 1st quarter when they imploded into a 21-7 deficit, or the 4th quarter when they couldn't protect Stanzi or move the football at all, despite their defense playing valiantly.

Boise played better than I expected, as did Stanford and Nebraska.  Florida (again) did not play very well.  I'm also not impressed with Arkansas' late score v Georgia because I know Georgia isn't as good as ESPN talking heads seem to think they are, claiming that they're the best 1-2 team in the country and assuming that means anything to me.

NFL

Tuning into Baltimore v Cincinnati right now and wondering when I missed Baltimore assembling an all-pro receiving core.  I should've payed more attention this offseason, I had no idea that Housh, Boldin and Mason were all on that team.

Minnesota is down 14-0 against Miami and Brett Favre has 2 INTs.  When you expect your QB to throw you out of some games, why do you continue to bring him back?  Minnesota just scored now, but off of their defense.  Imagine if they had a good QB to go with Peterson, that O-line, Harvin and a great defense.

What I'm watching tonight:

Houston over Washington

I don't foresee a letdown here, Houston continues their climb as a contender.  28-21

New England over New York

The Patriots are far too good for New York.  This should be an outclassing.  34-17

Indianapolis over New York

I'm not picking on NYC here, I just think Indianapolis will be focused on getting one back after that game last week.  Manning, impressive.  Running game, absent, so very close.  21-17


- Jabari