College Football's Top 10: Alabama, Oklahoma, and Arizona Avoid Upsets

In the weekly regional and national rankings the curse of the upset special is a part of the terrain.

This past week the Cincinnati Bearcats, a Sugar Bowl team last season, ventured into Norman, Oklahoma for a meeting with the Sooners.

Unless the Bearcats are preparing for another trip to New Orleans, one must comment on how unimpressive the Sooners appeared to be in escaping Cincinnati, 31-29.

In other Big 12 action, Nebraska was lethargic in defeating South Dakota State and Texas was humiliated by UCLA, 34-12.   

Must be going around the conference.

                                  The Top 10

This Week                                               Last Week

No.1: Nebraska  Cornhuskers                          (1)

No.2: Ohio State Buckeyes                             (2)

No.3: Boise State Broncos                              (3)

No.4: Alabama Crimson Tide                           (4)

No.5: Oklahoma Sooners                                (5)

No.6: TCU Horned Frogs                                 (6 )

No.7: Arizona Wildcats                                   (7)

No.8: Florida Gators                                       (8)

No.9: Oregon Ducks                                       (9)

No.10 (Tie) Wisconsin Badgers                       (10)

No.10: (Tie) Iowa Hawkeyes                            (10)

College Football's Week: Who Dares Defy Ohio State?

Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

COLUMBUS, OH - SEPTEMBER 25: Quarterback Terrelle Pryor #2 of the Ohio State Buckeyes scores on a 53-yard run against the Eastern Michigan Eagles in the first quarter at Ohio Stadium on September 25, 2010 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty I

In the desert, Arizona appeared to be on life-support for 59 minutes until they made a game-winning drive for the second consecutive week—this time to escape California by the score of 10-9.

The Wildcats left a lot on the field last week in exacting their revenge on the powerful Iowa Hawkeyes.

In another PAC 10 battle, Oregon surrendered 597 yards of total offense to Arizona State in a tightly contested game settled only by seven Sun Devil turnovers.

Oregon's much-talked about ground game was held to 235 yards under their average and left Duck Coach Chip Kelly muttering about "teachable moments" following the closer-than-it-looks 42-31 thriller.

Stanford wrecked Notre Dame in South Bend, 37-14 while Oregon State went down to highly ranked Boise State, 37-24.

Probation-saddled USC managed an impressive 50-16 win at Washington State.

In the SEC, Alabama fell behind underdog Arkansas 20-7 in the second half before coming back to win 24-20. The Crimson Tide was very unimpressive for 45 minutes and raised doubts concerning their ability to stop the more balanced opponents ahead on their schedule.

LSU defeated Big East favorite West Virginia, 20-14 and Auburn overpowered South Carolina, 35-27.

Florida crushed previously undefeated Kentucky, 48-14. Mississippi State put away fading Georgia, 24-12.

In ACC headlines, N.C. State remained undefeated by taking out defending conference champion Georgia Tech, 45-28 and Miami put down the Panthers of Pittsburgh by the tune of 31-3.

Virginia Tech shut out Boston College,19-0 and Florida State drilled Wake Forest, 31-0.

TCU hammered nearby rival SMU, 41-24 while Utah continued their unbeaten ways with a 56-3 victory over San Jose State. 

The Wolfpack of Nevada remained undefeated by cruising past BYU, 27-13.

Only in the Big 10 did results seem to follow the traditional pattern.

Mighty Ohio State, looking more and more as the most unstoppable and physical team in America, laid the law down to Eastern Michigan, 73-20.

Penn State came from behind to overhaul Temple, 22-13 while Wisconsin routed Austin Peay by the score of 70-3.

Michigan dominated Bowling Green, 65-21, and Northwestern moved to 4-0 on the season by handling the tough Chippewas of Central Michigan, 30-25.

Iowa recovered from their loss to Arizona to crush Ball State, 45-0. Michigan State, playing hard for sidelined coach Mark Dantonio devoured Northern Colorado, 45-7.

In the East, Army moved to 3-1 with a 35-21 win over Duke and Syracuse took it's third victory in four outings by defeating Colgate, 42-7.

Regional Rankings: Nebraska Remains The Team To Beat

Eric Francis/Getty Images

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA - SEPTEMBER 11: Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Taylor Martinez #3 looks down field toward Nebraska Cornhuskers wide receiver Niles Paul #24 during first half action of their game at Memorial Stadium on September 4, 2010 in Lincoln, Neb

The top three in each region of the nation:

The East:

No.1: West Virginia

No.2: Syracuse

No.3: Army

The West:

No.1: Arizona

No.2: Oregon

No.3: Stanford

The South:

No.1: Alabama

No.2: Florida

No.3: LSU

The Mountains:

No.1 Boise State

No.2 Utah

No.3 Nevada

The Midwest:

No.1: Nebraska

No.2: Ohio State

No.3: Wisconsin

The Southwest:

No.1: Oklahoma

No.2: TCU

No.3: Oklahoma State