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This is world we live in now - for those who enjoyed the 20 years of Notre Dame football follies, we're 60 minutes away from Notre Dame playing in the BCS national title game. But as we've seen the past two weeks, the two combatants in the BCS title game is far from decided.
So Notre Dame is our new No. 1 team. Alabama is back in the picture at No. 2 and Oregon - using the Les Miles-pitched "haven't lost a game in regulation" defense - only drops two spots back to No. 3 hoping one of those two teams slips up. Nationally, Oregon's going to drop to 4 or 5, which is sort of unfortunate for those not wanting an all-SEC national title game matchup. But we are likely heading there if Notre Dame loses next week.
Hustle Belt Ballot - Week 12
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
 2 |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide |
2 |
| 3 | Oregon Ducks |
 -2 |
| 4 | Kansas St. Wildcats |
-2 |
| 5 | Georgia Bulldogs |
5 |
| 6 | Florida Gators |
-1 |
| 7 | LSU Tigers |
-1 |
| 8 | Florida St. Seminoles |
-1 |
| 9 | Clemson Tigers |
-1 |
| 10 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
-1 |
| 11 | Texas A&M Aggies | -- |
| 12 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 13 | Stanford Cardinal |
1 |
| 14 | Oklahoma Sooners |
-1 |
| 15 | Northern Illinois Huskies |
1 |
| 16 | Nebraska Cornhuskers |
2 |
| 17 | Kent St. Golden Flashes |
2 |
| 18 | UCLA Bruins |
3 |
| 19 | Louisville Cardinals |
3 |
| 20 | Oregon St. Beavers |
3 |
| 21 | Toledo Rockets |
3 |
| 22 | Texas Longhorns |
3 |
| 23 | Utah State Aggies | -- |
| 24 | Rutgers Scarlet Knights | -- |
| 25 | Louisiana Tech Bulldogs |
-5 |
| Dropouts: USC Trojans, Texas Tech Red Raiders | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
- We've still got three MAC teams in our BlogPoll Top 25 - and have no regrets about it. Both Northern Illinois (No. 15) and Kent State (No. 17) should be ranked in the overall BlogPoll Top 25 and both national polls when it's all said and done. They've been really awesome. Don't know if any blog will have NIU higher than No. 15 - that's to be determined. Toledo moves up three spots for us at No. 21.
Time to explain two of my more controversial picks - Georgia at No. 5 and Ohio State at No. 12.
- I've finally relented on Georgia. I kept them below South Carolina the entire season and had them at No. 10 last week. But after some careful consideration, and coming to terms with the fact that it beat Florida, which beat LSU and using that whole transitive property thing, that Georgia probably has to be No. 5.
- I don't care that Ohio State is undefeated. I do not think the Buckeyes would beat any of the teams ranked above them in my BlogPoll ballot. Pretty simple. It's best win is a blowout against Nebraska.
In other news:
- I really wanted to move Stanford up more than one spot, and the Cardinal deserve to. But it was tough to figure out how to move them ahead of the aforementioned Buckeyes and Texas A&M, which upset 'Bama just a week ago. So unfortunately, 13 is where Stanford lies.
- Welcome to our BlogPoll Top 25, Utah State and Rutgers! They come in at No. 23 and No. 24. Sayonara to USC and Texas Tech, two teams which I probably kept in my poll longer than I should have - especially Texas Tech.