What Makes a College FB Team a "Power Team"?

Is it your conference?

If so, then all SEC, Pac-10, and Big 12 teams will top our list. ACC and Big East schools are right behind, with Conference USA a distant third.

Is it your quality wins?

If quality wins are the sole indicator, then at this point in the season we have to remove quite a few "power" teams, including Oklahoma, Boston College, and definitely Ohio State.

When you're No. 3 in the land and your laundry list of cupcake opponents includes Youngstown State, Akron, Northwestern, Minnesota, and Purdue, you can hardly call yourself a powerhouse.

As a writer, I've gotten quite a bit of flak for putting Oregon so high on my list.

Admittedly, I went there and love the school, but I'm not delusional. Three ESPN analysts have Oregon in the top five, and they're one of the top rushing schools in the nation.

If quality wins are the primary determinant, the rankings need to be shaken up.

Is it your margin of victory?

I don't buy it.

Take Florida, for example. They barely beat Ole Miss in Oxford, but destroyed Tennessee 59-20. Then they lost to Auburn on a field goal, yet nearly beat the consensus No. 1 team a week later.

So please don't give me the whole "but they barely beat so-and-so" argument.

Big deal—they got the victory. End of story.

With all this in mind, I've come up with the "real" POWER rankings as of today, October 10, 2007.

I'll most likely be criticized and ridiculed—but if my thinking is correct, this is the true order.

1. LSU

Quality wins over Florida, South Carolina, and Virgina Tech. There's no doubt about it—these guys are the best. When you're undefeated and have three wins over top-12 teams in the first half of the season, you deserve No. 1.

No argument there.

2. California

Beat Tennessee 45-31 and went into Autzen to win a very close game. Got lucky in the end because Nate Longshore was hurt—if that game goes to OT, Oregon wins.

Also went into Colorado State and won. Very little argument that Cal deserves  to be No. 2.

3. University of South Florida

If you don't think they're third-best in the nation, something's wrong with you.

We see West Virginia, whom USF beat, in the Top 10. Injuries and conditions be darned, USF won the game. End of story.

Auburn took down Florida, and USF took down Auburn. Oh, Auburn is a different team!

In three weeks? Gimme a break.

USF took the week off against FAU—

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