Chris Dufresne’s college football top 25: Alabama still No. 1; Iowa moving up

The end of the season (and Rankman) is approaching fast but there should be no shortage of action in the final two weeks. We would have bet you Indiana in August that Iowa would not be ranked so high in late November. Few people on the West Coast have actually seen the Hawkeyes play, although Western Union telegrams from Iowa City have described players “tall as cornstalks wreaking havoc on wind-swept fields of artificial rubber pellets.”

1; Alabama 10-1; Returns to Auburn for first time since Nick Saban briefly lost all his coaching marbles. (1)

2; Clemson 11-0; Word from inside: glad to be playing South Carolina this week instead of The Citadel. (2)

3; Iowa 11-0; Practicing on wider field after recalling what recently happened to Michigan State at Nebraska. (6)

4; Notre Dame 10-1; Last 19-16 at Fenway Park was a World Series starring pitcher Babe Ruth. (4)

5; Michigan State 10-1; Cook (shoulder) says there’s still a chance he will start last Saturday’s game. (8)

6; Oklahoma 10-1; Thanks, TCU, going for two at the end allowed us to keep going for No. 1. (7)

7; Baylor 10-1; Former receiver now playing quarterback hopes to throw a touchdown pass to himself. (12)

8; Stanford 9-2; Working title for documentary on surviving division: “Nanooks of the Pac-12 North.” (11)

9; Ohio State 10-1; Coach Meyer’s leadership book addendum: When “Above the Line” gets thrown under a bus. (3)

10; Oklahoma State 10-1; Everything was going fine until good teams starting showing up on the schedule. (5)

11; Florida 10-1; First SEC East champion to lead Vanderbilt and Florida Atlantic by two total points after regulation. (9)

12; North Carolina 10-1; Shaky playoff credentials include two FCS opponents and loss to a team that lost to The Citadel. (10)

13; Navy 9-1; Big game at Houston and then it’s time to give Army the annual boot-camp kicking. (15)

14; Oregon 8-3; Vernon Adams Jr. is the best scrambling quarterback who actually ran only once against USC. (20)

15; Michigan 9-2; Week in review from 1986: Michigan quarterback Jim Harbaugh guarantees victory over Ohio State. (16)

16; Northwestern 9-2; Program still has never won 11 games in a season or successfully formed a union. (19)

17; Florida State 9-2; Defense prepares for Florida by watching a documentary on banana slugs. (18)

18; Texas Christian 9-2; Worst coaching excuse for opting for two-point try instead of overtime: “My Ferrari was double-parked.” (13)

19; UCLA 8-3; Utah: Please return the L.A. City title you won last season after sweeping USC and UCLA. (25)

20; Utah 8-3; UCLA: Sorry, we lost track after lending it to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (14)

21; Washington State 8-3; Andrews Sisters re-release: “Don’t sit under the Apple Cup with anyone else but me.” (24)

22; Houston 10-1; Channeling Jim Murray: Houston walked into Connecticut the way Goliath did into David. (17)

23; Temple 9-2; Matt Rhule now considered top candidate for all 89 coaching jobs currently open. (NR)

24; Mississippi 8-3; Key to scrambling Mississippi State in Egg Bowl: low flame and separating whites from yolks. (NR)

25; Toledo 9-1; First team in Rankman history to make top 25 based on 1-1 record in Tuesday games. (NR)

Dropped out: Louisiana State (21), USC (22), Wisconsin (23).

Moved in: Temple, Mississippi, Toledo.