Top 25 for first full week

Being a redshirt freshman playing in your first game is tough.

It becomes more difficult when your first game is in Baton Rouge against the defending national co-champions.

Add to that sloppy field conditions and adrenaline, and who knows what can happen?

I do know that it was a long flight back to Corvallis, Ore. for Alexis Serna.

Coaches and other players make fun of kickers. People like John Madden have joked about how they don't need kickers.

The thinking for a lot of football fans is that they don't want to have the game come down to whether or not this skinny little guy (except for Sebastian Janikowski) can put one through the uprights. To have the game come down to a guy wearing a soccer shoe on one foot is ludicrous.

The funny thing in all of this is that Serna made his only field goal attempt from a distance of 40 yards, which kind of makes the fact that he missed three extra points somewhat puzzling in its own right.

But, that is why we play the games.

This week's top 25 features some movement. Only one of the teams in my top 25 from preseason lost. How Hawaii was beaten by Florida Atlantic University, I don't know. Perhaps I was wrong about them this year.

The biggest move of the week? Utah, who absolutely destroyed Texas A&M. It is sad for me to say this, considering how good A&M was about five or six years ago, but it appears that Baylor may not be the worst team in the Big XII anymore. It's a shame, because College Station is a great town. But Urban Meyer is building something great in Salt Lake City. It will be fun to watch.

On to the list:

1. Southern California 2. Oklahoma 3. LSU 4. Florida State 5. Georgia 6. Miami 7. Texas 8. Michigan 9. Purdue 10. Kansas State 11. Ohio State 12. Auburn 13. Iowa 14. Florida 15. Missouri 16. Utah 17. Tennessee 18. Minnesota 19. California 20. West Virginia 21. NC State 22. Wisconsin 23. Fresno State 24. Clemson 25. Texas Tech

Dropped out: Hawaii

Moved in: Fresno State