So first, the good news: the morass in 12-18 that couldn't figure out how to do better than 1-5 most weeks went 4-2, which means we might have figured it out, just a bit. Then again, we lost two top 10 teams, so maybe it's not quite for the best. And yeah, we have no idea what we're doing all the time, but you can see where I gave up this time. It's science!

1. LSU

2. Oklahoma State

3. Alabama

4. Oregon

5. Oklahoma

6. Arkansas

7. Stanford

8. Boise State

9. Wisconsin

10. Houston

11. Clemson

12. Georgia

13. Michigan State

14. South Carolina

15. Nebraska

16. Virginia Tech

17. Kansas State

18. TCU

19. Florida State

20. Michigan

21. Notre Dame

22. Arkansas State

23. West Virginia

24. Southern Miss

25. Baylor

Can we just stop the poll after 18, please? Notes after the jump.

• Team Driver's Seat: LSU, Oklahoma State. Yeah, that's about it at this point.
• Team Passenger's Seat: Alabama, Oregon, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Stanford, Boise State. I still think this group is a cut above the 9-12 conglomeration (as we'll see in a minute). I struggle with what exactly to do with Boise State; this placement feels right. Alabama's over Oregon because I think their loss to LSU was slightly better than Oregon's loss (home vs. neutral, true, but in the game against blown out and thrown off-kilter). Oklahoma is quietly marking time and cursing losing to Texas Tech, and Arkansas is realistically the last BCS title game contender. At least, I think that's the case.
• Team Backseat Driver: Wisconsin, Houston, Clemson, Georgia. Georgia's putting together the kind of season that keeps Mark Richt as a dead man walking for another year BCS dreams are made of. I'm still high on Wisconsin (WOO GET IT?), but Clemson's hack job escape against Wake deserves some punishment, and we're at least in the range of teams winning consistently so I don't have to have the conversation of "well, they sucked, but they won, but the teams around them lost so I guess they have to move up or stay in the same spot". That's valuable. Houston keeps on winning, so sure.
• Team Trunk Bait: Michigan State, South Carolina, Nebraska, Virginia Tech, Kansas State, TCU. Yeah, sure, whatever. I'm glad we had TCU in last week (but no on the head-to-head police, thanks to the rest of the schedule and ...not to put too fine a point on it, but that entire game was flukiness. The B1G order seems right ...ish. At least as right as it can get, maybe. South Carolina's hanging out, and hey look, Virginia Tech is just slowly moving up the rankings again.
• Team Hanging On To The Hood Waiting To Get Thrown Into Traffic: Florida State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Arkansas State, West Virginia, Southern Miss, Baylor. Yeah, I got nothing. Baylor gets no credit for their win, Southern Miss doesn't get much, I think I left Michigan out on accident last week, Florida State at least won a rivalry game, and Arkansas State is 8-2 so why not?