Separation Saturday gave us plenty of surprises. Deciding which team was least impressive between Georgia's pathetic effort at South Carolina, LSU's anemic offensive display at the Swamp, or Florida St's meltdown in Raleigh proved to be challenging. With the debut BCS standings only one week away, we leaned on our friends at Don Best for the official power poll as recognized by Las Vegas bookmakers.
The knee jerk reaction from the AP was to immediately penalize the Seminoles for their pathetic second half in Raleigh, dropping the Seminoles from 2 to 12. Linemakers didn't feel the same as the Seminoles only slipped down a single spot despite their loss as 16 point road favorites. LSU and Georgia were other casualties in the top 10, falling 3 and 4 spots respectively in the Linemaker poll after sub par conference efforts. Fans assume the sky is falling after one bad game yet for those of us in the industry, we realize a team is never as good or as bad as they look over the course of a 60 minute sample size. Georgia supporters should take solace in this thought process but with Mark Richt running the program, I understand your skepticism. Conversely, let's not go crowning South Carolina national champions in October, especially with landmine road dates at LSU and at Florida looming in the next two weeks.
| Rank | Team | Rating | AP Rank | Previous Week |
| 1 | Alabama | 125.1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Oregon | 121.9 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | Florida State | 120 | 12 | 2 |
| 4 | USC | 119.4 | 11 | T-5 |
| 5 | South Carolina | 119 | 3 | T-8 |
| 6 | Oklahoma | 118.9 | 13 | 7 |
| 7 | LSU | 118.5 | 9 | 4 |
| 8 | Florida | 117.9 | 4 | 10 |
| 9 | Notre Dame | 117.5 | 7 | 11 |
| 10 | Texas | 117.4 | 15 | T-5 |
| 11 | West Virginia | 116.7 | 5 | 12 |
| 12 | Georgia | 116.5 | 14 | T-8 |
| 13 | Ohio State | 115.9 | 8 | T-15 |
| 14 | Texas A&M | 115.3 | 22 | 13 |
| 15 | Kansas State | 115.1 | 6 | T-15 |
| 16 | Clemson | 114.4 | 16 | 17 |
| 17 | Michigan | 113.9 | 25 | 21 |
| 18 | Oklahoma State | 113.2 | NR | 19 |
| 19 | Nebraska | 113 | 34 | 14 |
| 20 | Stanford | 112.5 | 17 | 20 |
| 21 | North Carolina | 112.2 | NR | 24 |
| 22 | Arizona State | 111.9 | 31 | 23 |
| 23 | Mississippi State | 111.5 | 19 | 25 |
| 24 | Michigan State | 111.4 | 30 | 22 |
| 25 | Boise State | 111 | 24 | 31 |
| T-26 | Tennessee | 110.9 | 37 | 27 |
| T-26 | TCU | 110.9 | 29 | 18 |
| 28 | Louisville | 110.8 | 18 | 28 |
| 29 | Wisconsin | 110.1 | NR | T-32 |
| 30 | Rutgers | 110 | 20 | T-37 |
Note: TCU's place at 26 is contingent on Casey Pachall returning from suspension
Dropped out of Don Best Linemakers Poll Top 30: BYU (26), UCLA (29), Virginia Tech (30).
Teams in AP Top 25 not in Don Best Top 30: Oregon State (AP-10), Cincinnati (AP-21), Louisiana Tech (AP-23)
Games Vegas will be Watching: Texas (+3) vs Oklahoma, North Carolina (-7) @ Miami Fl, Florida (-8.5) @ Vanderbilt, Kansas St (-6.5) @ Iowa St, Stanford (+8) @ Notre Dame, Tennessee (+4) @ Mississippi St, West Virginia (-3.5) @ Texas Tech, South Carolina (+2) @ LSU
