Jackson Free Press

Notre Dame, the No. 1 team in the JFP College Football Top 25, prevented a huge mess in the BCS by beating No. 23 USC. Now the Fighting Irish advance to the BCS title game. There they will meet the winner between No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia in Saturday’s SEC Championship. Just when the college football “experts” (especially at ESPN) had counted the SEC out of the national title picture, upsets put the nation’s top conference right back in it.

Rank /Team /Record /Previous Rank

1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 12-0 1

2 Alabama Crimson Tide 11-1 2

3 Georgia Bulldogs 11-1 2

4 Florida Gators 11-1 4

5 Oregon Ducks 11-1 5

6 Kansas State Wildcats 10-1 6

7 LSU Tigers 10-2 7

8 Stanford Cardinal 10-2 8

9 Texas A&M Aggies 10-2 9

10 South Carolina Gamecocks 10-2 12

11 Oklahoma Sooners 9-2 13

12 Nebraska Cornhuskers 9-2 14

13 Florida State Seminoles 10-2 10

14 Clemson Tigers 10-2 11

15 Kent State Golden Flashes 11-1 23

16 Northern Illinois Huskies 11-1 NR

17 Texas Longhorns 8-3 15

18 UCLA Bruins 9-3 16

19 Oregon State Beavers 8-3 17

20 Louisville Cardinals 9-2 19

21 Michigan Wolverines 8-4 20

23 Rutgers Scarlet Knights 9-2 21

24 Utah State Aggies 10-2 NF

25 Ohio State Buckeyes* 12-0 NF

*Not eligible for postseason play because of NCAA sanctions, but going undefeated should get a Big Ten team into this poll at least for a week.

Dropped out: Oklahoma State Cowboys, USC Trojans, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, Mississippi State Bulldogs