Here's my ballot, followed by some comments and explanations:

1. LSU (4-0)                               
2. Alabama (4-0)                           
3. Oklahoma (4-0)                           
4. Boise State    (4-0)                           
5. Oklahoma State (4-0)                   
6. Wisconsin    (4-0)                       
7. Stanford (3-0)                                   
8. Oregon (3-1)                           
9. Arkansas (3-1)                           
10. South Carolina (4-0)               
11. Nebraska (4-0)                   
12. Texas A&M (3-1)                       
13. Virginia Tech (4-0)                   
14. Florida (4-0)                   
15. Clemson (4-0)           
16. Florida State (2-2)           
17. South Florida (4-0)                   
18. Texas (3-0)           
19. Baylor (4-0)                           
20. TCU (3-1)               
21. Michigan (4-0)                       
22. West Virginia (3-1)       
23. Illinois (4-0)           
24. Arizona State (3-1)           
25. Washington (3-1)                           
       

- LSU vaults from third to first in my poll, based on the first month of action. It’s not that Alabama and Oklahoma haven’t been impressive too: It’s just that you have to give LSU credit for the schedule its played and how impressive it has looked. It has now won at Mississippi State and West Virginia, and beat Oregon on a semi-neutral home field. And the Bayou Bengals were impressive in all three games.

- Arkansas didn’t drop far despite losing. That’s partly because the loss came at Alabama. But it’s also because some of those other teams, namely South Carolina, Nebraska and Virginia Tech, haven’t done enough to wow me yet. … I did penalize Texas A&M a bit more, but it lost at home.

- Florida State was a tough team to rank. The Seminoles have now lost two in a row, so how can they still be ahead of unbeatens like South Florida, Texas, Baylor, etc.? Because FSU’s two losses have come to the No. 3 team in the country and at another team I’m putting in my top 15.

- Arizona State (3-1) and Washington (3-1) re-join my top 25. Arizona State drubbed Southern California, and the Sun Devils’ lone loss this year was by three points at Illinois. Washington was my flyer, at No. 25, on my preseason ballot, and I took them out when they had an unimpressive opening win over Eastern Washington. But the Huskies’ just beat California, which had been No. 25 on last week’s ballot, and their only loss was at Nebraska.

- Why not Georgia Tech? I’m just not there yet. While North Carolina had been unbeaten too, the Tar Heels hadn’t rolled over Rutgers or Virginia. So I still need to be convinced on the Yellow Jackets. 

- I dropped out USC (lost at Arizona State), California (lost at Washington). I nearly dropped out Illinois, which barely beat Western Michigan, 23-20. But as unimpressive as the Illini were, they still are unbeaten and have a win over Arizona State. So at this point I’d have a hard time putting Arizona State ahead of Illinois.

- Because some will ask: How close is Georgia to being in my rankings? The short answer: Not very close, but a lot can happen in a week. A win over Mississippi State, and a lot of movement at the bottom of the poll, could vault the Bulldogs back in. The longer Georgia can keep winning, and the longer Boise State and South Carolina stay unbeaten, the more voters will look at the Bulldogs.