Hlas' AP Top 25 ballot for Week 5

I've never quoted a Billy Joel song lyric to you good people. Until now.

In the middle of the night

I go walking in my sleep

From the mountains of faith

To the river so deep

I must be lookin' for something

Something sacred i lost

But the river is wide

And it's too hard to cross

It's the middle of the night, and I'm doing something in my sleep. Oh yeah, my Associated Press Top 25 ballot for this week. They want these babies in the morning, and after covering a night game and then processing scores from across the U.S. of A. ... the river is wide. And it's too hard to cross.

Why does that feel like a bad Chris Berman bit? Anyway ...

1. Alabama (5-0): Not debatable after its demoliton of Florida.

2. Oregon (5-0): Nothing like spotting Stanford a 21-3 lead before winning, 52-31. The Ducks won by 35 at Tennessee, which lost by 2 points at LSU Saturday. The Ducks have allowed seven second-half points all season. The Ducks have as good a chance of going unbeaten as any team in the nation, including Boise State.

3. Ohio State (5-0): Fighting hard to win at Illinois isn't being penalized on my ballot. I just think Oregon's home win over Stanford is more impressive than OSU's home win over Miami.

4. Boise State (4-0): Began its defense of its WAC title with a 59-0 win at New Mexico State. The attendance was 19,661, and most of those people left before the third quarter was over. That win over Virginia Tech started looking better again after the Hokies knocked off ranked North Carolina State.

5. TCU (5-0): Began defense of its Mountain West title with a 27-0 win at Colorado State. The attendance was 22,553.

6. Oklahoma (5-0): Something may screw it up, but Oklahoma and Nebraska could both be unbeaten in the Big 12 title game.

7. Nebraska (4-0).

8. Auburn (5-0): Auburn had its longest play from scrimmage in school history Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe, a 94-yard pass. How could Auburn not have had a longer play than that in its history?

9. LSU (5-0). We're told to vote on performance, not reputation. LSU has five wins over teams from BCS conferences, including West Virginia. LSU isn't the ninth-best team in the country. I know this. You should, too. It plays at Florida and Auburn this month, and hosts Alabama the first Saturday in November. And that will be that.

10. Miami (3-1). Back-to-back road wins over Pittsburgh and Clemson.

11. Arizona (4-0). The home win over Iowa grew in stature Saturday after the Hawkeyes beat Penn State.

12. Michigan State (5-0). I swapped out Wisconsin for MSU after the Spartans downed the Badgers in East Lansing. If you'll check, I was the one and only AP voter who had Michigan State on my ballot a few weeks ago.

13. Stanford (4-1). Losing at Oregon is no shame. Stanford's 35-0 win at UCLA a few weeks ago resonates louder now that UCLA has ripped off three straight wins, including its rout of Texas.

14. Michigan (5-0). How can you have Michigan ahead of Iowa, I was asked last week. Well ... it's that performance deal, not the eyeball test. Michigan has beaten better teams than Iowa has. I maintain the Wolverines' win at Indiana Saturday was as impressive if not moreso than Iowa's home win over (formerly) overrated Penn State. I didn't have Penn State ranked since Week 2, by the way. And I may injure myself patting myself on the back.

15. Iowa (4-1). Hawkeyes will move up a couple spots next Sunday just by having a bye week. Then they play Michigan, Wisconsin and Michigan State in succession. They win those three, and they're going to be perched where they were before the Arizona game, if not higher.

16. Arkansas (3-1).

17. Utah (4-0). Both Arkansas and Utah were idle Saturday. Well, we don't know if they were idle, but they didn't play. Utah comes to Iowa State Saturday. As Texas Tech found out Saturday, that's where a visitor's dreams go to die.

18. Wisconsin (4-1). Didn't have what it took at Michigan State. Hosting Minnesota next should be a good tonic.

19. South Carolina (3-1). It was idle Saturday. Well, we don't know if it was idle, but ...

20. Florida (4-1). Made a statement at Alabama. Namely, it's not the Florida we've gotten used to seeing.

21. Florida State (4-1). After getting walloped at Oklahoma in Week 2, Seminoles have three straight one-sided wins. They go to Miami Saturday. The love won't be flowing.

22. Nevada (5-0). Won something called the Fremont Cannon for beating state-rival UNLV. Beat Colorado State more convincingly than TCU did, beat California much more convincingly than Arizona did. Maybe the Wolfpack should be ranked higher than this.

23. Oklahoma State (4-0). Why did AP ever go from a Top 20 to a Top 25? After the top 22, I started trying to figure out if I should include Delaware and Appalachian State.

24. West Virginia (3-1). I'm too tired to even offer a comment here.

25. Baylor (4-1). If I'm the only person to vote for Baylor this week, go back to my Michigan State comment.