Kellis Robinett’s Top 25 AP Ballot (Oct. 26)

An exciting weekend of college football led to some changes in my latest top 25 ballot.

Let’s break them down:

Movement up top: The biggest question of the weekend: Where should Mississippi be ranked? Ole Miss rocketed near the top of the college football polls with seven straight victories, but suffered its first loss Saturday at LSU. Ole Miss has to drop, but how far? I moved it down three spots, behind Mississippi State, Florida State, TCU and Auburn. Mississippi State and Florida State are both undefeated, so that debate was easy. TCU is piling up the style points (beating TCU 82-27 and Oklahoma State 42-9 the last two weeks). Auburn’s lone loss, to Mississippi State, is better than Mississippi’s only defeat. Ole Miss stays ahead of Alabama, because of its head-to-head victory over the Tide.

Biggest jump: As mentioned above, TCU made a big jump from seventh to third. It’s difficult to compare the Horned Frogs to other one-loss teams, but they get an edge after back-to-back dominant victories. Style points matter in college football, and few teams have produced more of them. Their only loss came by three at Baylor. TCU can strengthen its playoff chances the next two weeks with games against West Virginia and Kansas State. Of course, those Big 12 games will also give the Mountaineers and Wildcats chances to boost their profiles.

Biggest drop: There weren’t many big drops this week. Ole Miss fell three spots to No. 5 and East Carolina dropped two spots to No. 20, despite beating Connecticut. Utah and Nebraska passed the Pirates with more impressive wins.

See you later: I feel badly for ever ranking Oklahoma State. The Cowboys look nothing like a top 25 at the moment. They dropped off my ballot with a 24-point loss at home to West Virginia. Southern California also falls out of the top 25 following a loss to Utah.

New arrivals: LSU and Clemson both return to the top 25 after stretches of strong play.

My top 25 (last week in parentheses):

1. Mississippi State (1)

2. Florida State (3)

3. TCU (7)

4. Auburn (4)

5. Mississippi (2)

6. Alabama (5)

7. Notre Dame (6)

8. Kansas State (8)

9. Oregon (9)

10. Georgia (10)

11. Michigan State (11)

12. Ohio State (12)

13. Baylor (13)

14. Arizona State (14)

15. Oklahoma (15)

16. West Virginia (16)

17. Arizona (17)

18. Utah (19)

19. Nebraska (20)

20. East Carolina (18)

21. UCLA (21)

22. Colorado State (23)

23. Marshall (24)

24. LSU (NR)

25. Clemson (NR)

This story was originally published October 26, 2014 at 9:19 AM with the headline "Kellis Robinett’s Top 25 AP Ballot (Oct. 26)."