The National, 10/7/12: Snow Globe.

The AP top 25 is going to look a lot different when it hits shortly. Three of the top five lost; four or five teams are departing the poll entirely. I have no overarching theme today, just a quick and dirty rundown with some thoughts.

#1 Alabama Crimson Tide: The Tide proved absolutely nothing this weekend, playing a very tired and beaten-up Bye to a 0-0 tie.

#2 Oregon Ducks: No, they did not prove themselves worthy of unseating the idle Tide. Get a grip, That One Other Guy (Besides Matt Millen) Thinking It. (Probably has a vote in the poll.)

#3 Florida State Seminoles: Are not back. After getting punked in the final seconds by North Carolina State, should have a "1" after the pound sign in a couple of hours.

#4 Louisiana State Tigers: Isn't anymore. Lost an ugly slog to #10 Florida.

#5 Georgia Bulldogs: Got the snot stomped out of them by...

#6 South Carolina Gamecocks: Obvious lessons are obvious. South Carolina is now officially scary.

#7 Kansas State Wildcats: The Cats looked pretty dumb in the first quarter, but in the end it was really just one good opening drive and one drive where The Charles shot his wad on creativity. After that, K-State outscored Kansas 42-2.

#8 West Virginia Mountaineers: A solid win over Texas, but Texas can't tackle anyone. That's different from not being able to cover anyone; if you can tackle, those 15-yard outs are only 15-yard gains.

#9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Clubbed Miami like a pack of baby harp seals. No flaws today.

#10 Florida Gators: Weren't all that impressive, beating a lackluster and clearly overrated LSU squad 14-6. They'll move up, but should still be behind at least two of the KSU/WVU/ND group.

#11 Texas Longhorns: Exposed. Their defense can't stop creativity, nor can they tackle. The offense... well, let's see them against a defense before we pass judgement, eh?

#12 Ohio State Buckeyes: Not that it matters, but they'll be tagging right along behind Florida after saving a billion hectares of corn from being husked.

#13 USC Trojans: Handily defeated Utah, but the Utes aren't exactly world-beaters.

#14 Oregon State Beavers: Remained unbeaten and slammed the door down on Mike Leach's dysfunctional Washington State offense, but weren't very impressive offensively.

#15t Clemson Tigers: Gave up 31 points to a pretty awful team. You know, one that only scored 28 on Middle Tennessee State last week. In fact, MTSU beat Georgia Tech worse on the road than Clemson did at home, and that's my entire commentary on the matter.

#15t Texas Christian Horned Frogs: It's all Casey Pachall's fault, and I don't mean to detract from Iowa State's charming scrappiness in the slightest when I say that. May fall all the way out of the poll, though I expect they'll be in the 20s.

#17 Oklahoma Sooners: It would be easy to say they rebounded from their loss to Kansas State, but, um, I've watched them for two years and it's just a matter of time. They're going to lose at least two more games before December 2. No, all they really did was expose Texas Tech's flaws to Bill Snyder.

#18 Stanford Cardinal: Barely escaped Arizona in overtime after falling behind 14 points midway through the fourth quarter.

#19 Louisville Cardinals: Tragically, won't move up much because all the upsets were too far above them.

#20 Mississippi State Bulldogs: Didn't have any real problems with Kentucky, but didn't blitz the Wildcats either. Jury still very much out.

#21 Nebraska Cornhuskers: LOL.

#22 Rutgers Scarlet Knights: Not horribly impressive on offense, but they ground out a solid win over UConn.

#23 Washington Huskies: That didn't last long. Even their win over Stanford doesn't look all that whippy now after today's Arizona debacle. Relegated to a spoiler role now.

#24 Northwestern Wildcats: Complete collapse in the fourth quarter against a Penn State team that's... you know, not so bad.

#25 UCLA Bruins: It was so nice having you here, but you really need to go home now. We don't mean any offense. And you, apparently, no longer have any.

Of the leading pack teams receiving votes in last week's poll, only Michigan State failed to do anything to justify their entry (or, as the case may be, return). So look for Cincinnati, Boise State, Texas A&M, and Michigan to step in to the lower reaches. If TCU tumbles out the back door, they will likely be replaced by Iowa State, Louisiana Tech, or Ohio. Maybe Michigan State cons enough voters, but their win yesterday was nothing to write home about.