1. WILDCATS: Kansas State reminded everyone that a large gap still exists between them and Kansas during the Sunflower Showdown.

2. OHIO STATE: Despite losing to Oregon and not having an impressive win to their name, the committee had them ranked fifth a week ago. Not only that, in what was setting up to be a tremendous Big Ten East race, everyone around them is falling. Michigan State fell for the first time this season on Saturday. Penn State is a shell of themselves and Michigan lost two weeks ago.

3. ALABAMA: They could beat Kansas every week by a point and they wouldn't be penalized. They are immune to any negative reaction when it comes to being ranked. They are at the same spot in the poll as they would have been if they defeated Texas A&M. Thus, for some reason, that game didn't matter and may as well not have been played.

4. KIRBY SMART: He has the only remotely consistent team in the country this year. That is typically a reflection of coaching.

5. MESSINGHAM: His offense in Manhattan now is third-best in the Big 12 in points per drive. Nobody is going to always agree with someone's play calls, but Courtney Messingham has orchestrated an offense that is plenty good enough when he receives even at least average quarterback play.

1. PLAYOFF COMMITTEE: Everyone knows their first poll was weak. But some of their strategies fell flat on Saturday. Fresno State was ranked ahead of Houston and SMU to uplift Oregon and to whack Cincinnati. But Fresno State was destroyed by a four-loss Boise State. Minnesota was inexplicably ranked to boost Ohio State. But they fell at home to Illinois. Mississippi State was given a high ranking to help Alabama, but they fell to Arkansas. But the Buckeyes slipped past Nebraska by a narrow margin, as did Cincinnati with Tulsa and Alabama with LSU. And that's the same justification they used to depress Oklahoma's ranking a week ago.

2. HUSKER FANS: Not only did they lose another game. Not only did they lose another game by single digits. Not only are they not going to a bowl once again. But they're probably trapped into having to keep Scott Frost another season according to the chatter. That is because it would cost Nebraska $20 million to fire him.

3. GAVIN POTTER: He tried to agitate K-State players all day, got into it with them frequently, took a sincerely cheap shot at Skylar Thompson and then Gavin Potter flopped like a soccer player overseas. Get out of here, dude.

4. TEXAS: It is Horns Down in Austin. Steve Sarkisian and company have lost four in a row and will have to go 2-1 versus Kansas, Kansas State and West Virginia just to be bowl eligible. They have to win all three to finish with a winning record.

5. TCU SEARCH: If it is true that Sonny Dykes is nearly a done deal for the Horned Frogs, I think that would be disappointing for TCU, personally. For the salary they were paying Gary Patterson, and in that kind of a recruiting hotbed, it would just seem to me that they could do much better. It makes me wonder if their biggest loss as an athletic department was losing athletics director Chris Del Conte to Texas.