Hlas' AP Top 25 ballot for Week 8

This is supposed to get easier as the season gets longer. Uh uh. After staring and studying at the possibilities late Saturday night ... I decided to order a meatball sandwich instead of a salad.

Sometimes I make poor choices.

I'm not comfortable with my AP ballot choices. I know Auburn has beaten the most good teams, but I'd take Utah, Boise State or TCU straight-up against the Tigers at a neutral site. Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma, too. Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska, for that matter.

Auburn has beaten Mississippi State, South Carolina, Clemson, Arkansas and LSU. Nobody else can touch that. Yet, are any of those five teams all that great? But I was a sheep and jumped Auburn over Boise State because Boise State stopped playing good teams before October began.

Let's do this:

1. Oregon (8-0). Brutalized UCLA last Thursday to let everyone know it's serious about this No. 1 thing.

2. TCU (8-0). Romped over Air Force Saturday. Air Force pushed Oklahoma to the last minute in Norman. Ripped Baylor a few weeks ago. Baylor is the Big 12 South leader. Has been suffocating on defense.

3. Auburn (8-0). I told you who it's beaten. Four of those teams are still ranked.

4. Boise State (6-0). Louisiana Tech plays at Boise on Tuesday. They're in the same conference. Kooky.

5. Michigan State (8-0). Came from a 17-point hole to win at Northwestern. Its win over Wisconsin grew even more in stature Saturday.

6. Utah (7-0). I've seen Wisconsin, Arizona, Iowa and Utah in person this season. Utah is the best of the bunch.

7. Alabama (7-1). Alabama at Auburn is on Nov. 26.

8. Wisconsin (7-1). Beat Ohio State and Iowa on consecutive weeks. Wow.

9. Missouri (7-0). I've underrated this team before now, it would seem. But let's see how the Tigers do at Nebraska Saturday.

10. Ohio State (7-1). The best team the Buckeyes have beaten is Miami. The second-best is Illinois.

11. Oklahoma (6-1). Thanks for participating in the BCS sweepstakes, Sooners. Now off you go.

12. Stanford (6-1). When your only loss was on the road against Oregon, you're probably not bad.

13. LSU (7-1). What took this team so long to lose a game?

14. Nebraska (6-1). Would take control of the Big 12 North by beating Missouri. That's the Big 12 North that beat Texas in Austin Saturday courtesy of the Iowa State Fighting Cyclones.

15. Florida State (6-1). The Orange Bowl wouldn't be troubled if FSU rips off six more wins to bring a 12-1 record to the Miami game.

16. Arizona (6-1). Still has to play at Stanford and Oregon.

17. South Carolina (5-2). My highest-ranked 2-loss teams because ... it beat Alabama, that's why.

18. Oklahoma State (6-1). Why I put this team ahead of Iowa, I don't know. I should write this blog entry before I e-mail my ballot. I'm just a softie for a team that averages 48 points a game, I guess.

19. Iowa (5-2). This is a good team. But the best team it has defeated is Michigan. Or Iowa State. One of the two.

20. Miami (5-2). Rolled over a decent North Carolina team Saturday.

21. Arkansas (5-2). Why did AP ever go from a Top 20 to a Top 25?

22. Virginia Tech (6-2). Six straight wins. Would never have lost to James Madison had that game not been five days after a hard-fought loss to Boise State.

23. Mississippi State (6-2). Should be 7-2 when it goes to Alabama and gets mauled on Nov. 13.

24. USC (5-2). This is my reward to the Trojans for not playing this week.

25. Northern Illinois (6-2). A tip of the hat to the Huskies for five straight double-digit wins.