Best in Texas Isn't Tough Call

I try to weigh road performance pretty heavily when comparing college football teams' resumes. To me, the ability to go into enemy territory and pull out a win is a far greater achievement than getting it done at home.

TCU's road wins this year are pretty stellar: Virginia, Clemson, Air Force and BYU.

OK, so none of those teams will be claiming a national championship anytime soon. You'd still have a difficult time convincing me that any of the other leading contenders for the national championship aside from Iowa have a better set of wins away from home.

On the other hand, the Horned Frogs' neighbors to the south, the Texas Longhorns, got their best "true" road win of the season last weekend when they pummeled Missouri. (The neutral field win against Oklahoma being UT's victory overall this year.)

Anyway, even though I think Texas would beat TCU if the two teams played tomorrow, the point of this power poll is to gauge strength based on a team's body of work. Hence, TCU comes in ahead of the 'Horns, who continue to sit relatively low in this week's rankings. Obviously, a win at Oklahoma State on Saturday night would boost their standing significantly.

(Our boys over at Tilting at Windmills actually have TCU at number one in their blogpoll this week.)

Blatant Homerism Power Poll: Week Eight

1. Alabama
2. Iowa
3. Florida
4. Cincinnati
5. TCU
6. Texas
7. Boise State
8. USC
9. Oregon
10. Georgia Tech