Written by Mike Furlan

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With three weeks of college football in the books, many of the contenders have been validated, and many of the pretenders (cough ... Notre Dame) have been exposed. We now have a pretty good idea of who the teams are that will be vying for the national championship come early 2007. In his latest, Furls ranks the contenders in his own power rankings ... which are absent of many of the politics of the national polls.

I think that we should all get together and sign a petition barring Notre Dame from being in the top 25 until they actually beat someone who is in it (preferably a team that will remain there for the duration of the season unlike Michigan or Tennessee last year). 

Now that I have created my master list I can move people around on it every week.  Should you continue to follow this list do not expect teams to drop simply because they lost.  In the NCAA, I believe there are in fact such things as good losses.  Say for instance, MSU takes Ohio State to triple overtime before losing the game.  Does that mean that they are not worthy of being 12 places below them in the standings?  These are the ridiculous movements of the AP and Coaches poll that will not be present here. 

By the way, my list only has fifteen teams on it because I am smarter than all the idiots who need a “Power Sixteen.”  I bet Mark May has a “Power Seventeen.” 

1. Ohio State:  The offense can be as dominant as it is explosive and the defense is underrated.  The linebacking corps made some real strides this week and Malcolm Jenkins continues to prove that he is the next great DB out of OSU (in 2007).
   
2. Michigan:  I have said it since the beginning of the year, Michigan will beat Notre Dame by a couple of TDs in a game that isn’t even that close and what did they do?  Exactly as I had predicted.  Michigan has a very good defense and there are very few teams in the nation with the offensive skill players that the University of Michigan puts on the field.  Michigan has been my number two all season, now they are beginning to command national respect.
   
3. USC:  A quarterback named Booty?  He better be good, and he is.  USC is not as bad as everyone thinks, but they are not invulnerable.  The defense is actually better this year than in years past, but the offense is no where near as explosive and will run into some trouble this year when they play teams with a corner capable of containing Jarrett.  The Trojans were pretty impressive against a revitalized Nebraska team, I guess the ‘Huskers are a couple years off.
   
4. Auburn:  It is going to be tough to make a run out of the SEC, but Auburn is about as good a choice as anyone.  The defense looked exceptionally stout against LSU and Kenny Irons is for real.  While they will have trouble maintaining their unblemished record with a tough SEC schedule, I don’t think anyone in the SEC is going to be consistently better.
   
5. Florida:  Veteran quarterback and a head coach that knows how to use one, and oh my god, did I see Florida actually play defense last week against Tennessee?
   
6. Oklahoma:  In spite of being absolutely screwed in their game in Eugene, OR, they still rate a top ten spot in my list.  They won that game, about 2,500 miles away from home against a good Oregon squad, regardless of what the officials say.  I personally think one of them had to have had an Oregon/Over parlay riding there.  Adrian Peterson is still the best player coming out of the NCAA this year; he is really the only thing that OU has going for it on the offensive side of the ball.  Everyone knows this, but no one can stop him.
   
7. West Virginia:  Steve Slaton is good, this much we know, as for the rest of WVU?  Well until they play someone relevant, we won’t know much.  I suspect that they will be the benefactors of a ridiculously weak conference (think Miami in the old Big East or FSU in the old ACC) for some time to come.  They don’t have a test until they play Louisville.
   
8. Tennessee:  The Volunteers are back after a one year hiatus.  The SEC is ridiculous this year and each of these teams will be slashing each others throats.  Tennessee is the first victim, but I doubt highly if they will not get some retribution at someone else’s expense.  They looked very good in losing a close game to a very good Florida team.  This is the beautiful thing about the “Furls Power 15” when a good team loses to a better team they do not necessarily have to drop 4 or 5 spots.
   
9. Oregon:  This team is actually pretty good.  They are the biggest surprise to me this season.  Every year we hear the Ducks will challenge for the PAC 10 title and every year they are exposed as a team that should be ranked about 20-30 (just like Cal).  They looked good winning a game that they actually lost to Oklahoma.  Ill give you a few minutes to sort that out in your head, it was confusing for me when I typed it.
   
10. Arizona State:  This team is pretty darn dangerous.  I think they just may be dangerous enough to ruin the hopes of USC or Oregon, but I don’t think either team will look past them.  They looked a bit clumsy beating a rather hapless Colorado team this week, yep, the same one that lost to a IAA team.  I am not sure what was going on there, but we will know a lot more about these guys in the coming week.  They face perennially over-ranked Cal on the road next, then they get Oregon and USC.
    
11. Boston College:  I am not sure if there is a team that plays harder in college football.  They have no superstars and no discernable talent, but they are tough.  The ACC could be in the Eagles talons if they can continue to play with this grit.  Teams like this have a tendency to burn out, but they could be in prime position as long as they do not burn out before they face VaTech on 10/12.
    
12. Clemson:  This team absolutely dismantled FSU and further exposed FSU and Miami for the frauds they are this season.  Following the FSU vs. Miami game most were wondering if the offenses were that bad or the defenses were that good, I think Clemson and Louisville answered that this weekend (it turns out that FSU was just the least crappy of two crappy teams).  I think Clemson will be very successful this season as long as Bowden continues to not allow his kicker on the field.
    
13. Michigan State:  It hurts me very badly to have two teams from up north on this list at the same time, hell, I hope I am wrong about both of them, but this MSU team is very dangerous and very underrated.  They could make a very loud statement this week, when they beat Notre Dame in East Lansing.  They looked very good against a decent Pitt team in Pittsburgh and I think that they will continue to shine (until mid October when they crumble, like they do every year).
    
14. Georgia:  They are good, but they underperform (every year).  They looked impressive beating an improved South Carolina team, but I do not think they are anywhere near the cream of the SEC this year.
    
15. Texas: Although this team was exposed by Ohio State, they are still very talented and will definetly make some noise in the Big 12 this season.  That shouldn’t be too hard because there are really only two good teams in that conference, so as long as they don’t drop a stupid game, they should be in good shape.  Their running game should help carry their young quarterback against the inferior competition of the Big 12 until Colt McCoy gets his legs under him.  After that, only Mack Brown can stop them (and he probably will against OU as usual).

Teams that are conspicuously absent: 

Louisville, VaTech, Notre Dame, Iowa, TCU.  Each are missing from this list for their own reason, but in general they are all grossly overrated and now that Brohm is injured in Louisville….