The Upset Top 20 -- Week 5

This week we debut The Upset Top 20 Poll. Gathering votes from a diverse group of fans from around the country, our poll debuts after five weeks of games. A full list of pollsters follows the poll with rooting interests disclosed. Names are linked to Twitter accounts, so feel free to give each of our pollsters a follow. A few pollsters have also provided some commentary and voting philosophies at the end as well.

WK 5	After 10/1
RANK	TEAM	RECORD	POINTS
1	LSU (9)	5-0	274
2	Alabama (4)	5-0	268
3	Oklahoma	4-0	246
4	Wisconsin (1)	5-0	233
5	Boise State	4-0	222
6	Stanford	4-0	203
7	Oklahoma State	4-0	196
8	Clemson	5-0	195
9	Oregon	3-1	154
10	Michigan	5-0	135
11	Texas	4-0	120
12	Georgia Tech	5-0	115
13	Arkansas	4-1	114
14	West Virginia	4-1	82
15	Nebraska	4-1	67
16	Illinois	5-0	65
17	Florida	4-1	60
18	Kansas State	4-0	50
19	Auburn	4-1	43
20	Arizona State	4-1	15
Also Receiving Votes: Florida State (13), South Carolina (12), Texas A&M (11), Notre Dame (9), Virginia Tech (7), Michigan State (6), Washington (5), Georgia (4), Houston (4), Baylor (3), Texas Tech (1)

THE UPSET BLOG STAFF
ZACH BLOXHAM
BRETT HEIN
D.J. BECKETT
BRADFORD CHRISTENSEN


ADDITIONAL POLLSTERS
ANDREW BOLTE | New Mexico | Professional Scofflaw
JONATHAN BUNTON | Michigan | English Teacher
JOHN CARY | Florida State | Attorney
JAROD DAILY | TCU | Copy Editor, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
CHRIS ENGER | Utah
WILL HUNTER | Boise State
JEREMY KIDD | BYU | Teacher
DAVID KREUTZ | Washington | Software Tester
BRENDAN LOY | USC & Notre Dame | Attorney
TYLER McADAMS | Alabama | Restaurant Trainer



Jonathan Bunton:
Hard to rank beyond the top ten right now. Eleven through twenty could easily be drawn from a hat. I may have Notre Dame higher than many, but they should have won the two games they lost, and I get the sense that they are about to get rolling. Clemson this week made a  believer out of me. I don't think Michigan is that much better than Michigan State, but it's hard to rank Sparty well after they were beaten down by the Irish.


John Cary:
About my ranking philosophy:  Once the first game is played, rankings should be based nearly solely on each team's on-the-field resume.  This method necessarily makes strength of schedule the primary factor in the rankings.  Of course, how good a team looks from week to week can't be ignored, but teams should be rewarded for playing a touch schedule and for beating, or even losing to, good teams.  Essentially, I use the same method as Doug Lesmerises.  Rankings are new each week.  The most absurd method of ranking teams involves setting a preseason top 20 and then keeping the same ranking every week, while moving teams that lose down a requisite number of places and moving teams that remain undefeated up accordingly.  If I move a team down even though they win, I'm not "punishing" the team I move down.  Rather, I'm reconsidering the entire season to date and determining that somebody else now has a more impressive overall resume.