2007 NCAA College Football Top 25 week 4 rankings

2007 NCAA Top 25 rankings - Week 4

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NCAA Top 25 (through games of 9/15)

Week 4 - Through games of 9/15/07

Rank Team Record

1 LSU 3-0

2 Florida 3-0

3 Oklahoma 3-0

4 West Virginia 3-0

5 Cal 3-0

6 USC 2-0

7 Penn State 3-0

8 Rutgers 3-0

9 Boston College 3-0

10 Wisconsin 3-0

11 Texas 3-0

12 Oregon 3-0

13 Clemson 3-0

14 Ohio State 3-0

15 Alabama 3-0

16 Hawaii 3-0

17 South Carolina 3-0

18 Kentucky 3-0

19 Texas A&M 3-0

20 Louisville 2-1

21 Cincinnati 3-0

22 Georgia Tech 2-1

23 Purdue 3-0

24 Air Force 3-0

25 Nebraska 2-1

Honorable Mention: Arizona State, Arkansas, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, Michigan St., UCLA, Utah, Virginia Tech, Washington

See Week 3 notes below

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Week 3 notes

The Haves and the Have Nots

There are two distinct groups in the Top 25 beginning to emerge. Those teams with defense (haves) and those without (have nots). Everybody has offense. What will differentiate in coming weeks is how well teams play defense.

Most notable among the haves are LSU, Oklahoma, USC, Penn State, Ohio State, and somewhat further down, Clemson, Cincinnati, Air Force and Georgia Tech. The have nots include Louisville, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Texas, Hawaii and Nebraska. We're still not sure about Cal, South Carolina (though they look pretty sound and we'll know more this weekend when they play at #1 LSU), Florida, West Virginia, Texas A & M, Boston College and Purdue.

There will be significant separation because there are enough teams with great offenses and solid defenses to compete down to the final two. Right now, LSU looks like the best defense in the country, with close competition from Rutgers, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Cincinnati and USC. Yes, Cincinnati. The Bearcats have allowed only 16 points in 3 games while scoring 140. Should they get past Marshall and San Diego State, they'll head into Big East play at Rutgers October 6, a perfect 5-0. Mark That one down.

USC's defense hasn't actually shown much of anything besides a slew of great athletes. Whether or not they can play well together is another question that we may not have an answer to until they face Oregon on October 27, though how well they handle the Huskies on the road on Sept. 29 will tell more. Their effort over Nebraska was fine, though the Cornhuskers didn't impress in any fashion and the real story was how awful Nebraska played defense.

The same holds for Florida, which romped over Tennessee, though the Gators have more than enough offensive capability to overwhelm just about any defense. Though they walloped the Vols, 59-20, they didn't apply much pressure up front and that could come back to haunt them. However, considering coach Meyers' overall football acumen, he may not have shown his defensive hand yet and may be saving some exotic blitz packages for later in the SEC schedule, especially on October 6 at LSU. That's another circle game.

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