THE TIMES’ TOP 25

*--* Rk. Team (Rec.) Comment (last week’s rank) 1 TEXAS (8-0) Longhorns are surprised to learn that, after Texas Tech, they have to play the New York Giants. (1) 2 PENN STATE (9-0) Paterno uses week off to hire youthful graduate assistant named Ponce de Leon. (2) 3 OKLAHOMA (7-1) Scored 55 points against Kansas State and then they played the second half. (4) 4 ALABAMA (8-0) Rankman calls rankings police after learning ‘Bama jumped 11 spots after beating Clemson. (3) 5 FLORIDA (6-1) Coach says this is the last time he will ever sit this close to Georgia in the rankings. (5) 6 GEORGIA (7-1) Plan this year vs. Florida is to storm the end zone after playing of the national anthem. (8) 7 TEXAS TECH (8-0) Rankman predicts a low-scoring game against Texas, maybe a 13-6 final, something like that. (11) 8 USC (6-1) Carroll is 23-0 in November, but that better not be the final score against Washington on Saturday. (6) 9 OKLAHOMA STATE (7-1) Plays Iowa State a week after getting beat by the Texas Cyclones. (7) 10 UTAH (8-0) One of eight unbeaten teams left, but Utes are the only one with a giant Mormon Tabernacle in city square. (12) 11 OHIO STATE (7-2) Rematch against USC in the Rose Bowl would be greeted by the sound of one hand clapping. (9) 12 BOISE STATE (7-0) Left Silicon Valley after San Jose State win with a big chip on its shoulder. (13) 13 TEXAS CHRISTIAN (8-1) Hopes to become the first one-loss non-BCS school anyone has ever cared about. (14) 14 MISSOURI (6-2) Colorado’s Hawkins declares after the 58-0 loss to Mizzou, “maybe this isn’t Division I football.” (16) 15 LOUISIANA STATE (5-2) Good luck becoming the second two-loss BCS team ever to make the title game. (14) 16 BALL STATE (8-0) Success this year could nudge school toward to adding real opponents to 2009 schedule. (17) 17 BRIGHAM YOUNG (7-1) Mountain West Conference team that shut out UCLA has given up 67 points in last two MWC games. (18) 18 TULSA (8-0) The nation’s top offense takes on Arkansas team ranked No. 79 in third-down conversion percentage. (20) 19 OREGON (6-2) Team has settled in with Masoli under center and Phil Knight behind the checkbook. (23) 20 FLORIDA STATE (6-1) Bowden says he can’t let dadgum Paterno get all the rankings attention this year. (24) 21 MINNESOTA (7-1) Rankman’s advice against Northwestern is to just have fun and Gopher it. (NR) 22 MICHIGAN STATE (7-2) Spartans’ big win at Ann Arbor tempered by fact that three other teams have won there this year. (NR) 23 NORTH CAROLINA (6-2) God forbid the basketball team ever drops this low in the rankings. (NR) 24 NOTRE DAME (5-2) Apologizes for leaving top-25 door open last time they went out. (NR) 25 VIRGINIA (5-3) Team that was shredded by USC now leading division in something called the ACC. (NR) *--*