Hlas' AP Top 25 ballot for Week 3: Hello Stanford, howdy Notre Dame

I lifted Stanford all the way to No. 5 this week. No one else in the nation has beaten a team ranked as high as No. 2, have they?

Notre Dame silenced Michigan State in East Lansing. That's a nice win, a better win than any team I ranked below the Irish (at No. 9) can claim.

Let's proceed:

1. Alabama

2. LSU. Alabama is at LSU on Nov. 3. That could be an important game.

3. Oregon

4. Florida State

5. Stanford

6. Oklahoma

7. Florida. The Gators are already 2-0 in the SEC, and with both wins on the road (Texas A&M, Tennessee).

8. Georgia

9. Notre Dame

10. South Carolina

11. Clemson

12. West Virginia

13. Texas. The Horns' 66-31 win at Ole Miss could easily have been 73-31, but Mack Brown showed some tender mercy in the final minute.

14. Kansas State

15. USC. The AP poll had the Trojans No. 1 in the preseason. I didn't. My preseason No. 1 is still No. 1.

16. Ohio State. My highest Big Ten team. Got pushed hard at home by Cal, which lost at home to Nevada.

17. UCLA

18. TCU

19. Michigan State. Someone from the Big Ten is going to the Rose Bowl, somehow.

20. Mississippi State

21. Arizona

22. Baylor

23. Nebraska

24. Georgia Tech

25. Boise State