Chris Dufresne’s final regular season college football rankings

This is it — the final regular season poll. Half the teams from the preseason top 10 survived: Oregon (9), Texas Christian (5), Boise State (1), Ohio State (2) and Virginia Tech (7). Auburn was 18 to open the season, Stanford was 19, Wisconsin was 13 and Arkansas was 17. Nevada, like a pistol shot, rose all the way from unranked. Alabama (4) disappointed slightly and Texas (8) disappointed greatly, while Florida (6) flopped. Every team in the poll has a bowl game left to impress this one-man judge and jury. The judge really hates: jerking the kickoff out of bounds and punting over the goal posts from your opponent’s 39 just to gain 19 yards of field position. In three words: Go for it.

1. Oregon 12-0; Kept its head in Corvallis while everyone else searched for Lee Corso’s. (1)

2. Auburn 13-0; Don’t worry, you’re back on top in all the polls that really matter. (2)

3. Texas Christian 12-0; What’s green, rolls, jumps and croaks? TCU float in Rose Parade. (3)

4. Stanford 11-1; Orange Bowl vs. Va. Tech billed as “Culture vs. Agriculture.� (4)

5. Wisconsin 11-1; Ben Cartwright says “Ponderosa� may not have enough cows for Beef Bowl. (5)

6. Arkansas 10-2; Sugar Bowl seat filler for SEC champ Auburn a formidable test for Ohio State. (6)

7. Boise State 11-1; Playing Utah in Vegas raises question: What’s the sound of one band clapping? (7)

8. Nevada 12-1; Any S.F. bowl involving team’s skinny QB should be played at “The Stick.� (8)

9. Ohio State 11-1; Tressel tells Sugar Bowl no amount of beads will get him to remove sweater. (9)

10. Virginia Tech 11-2; Voted “worst 0-2 team� before Sept.18 and “best 11-0 team� since. (11)

11. Michigan State 11-1; Best BCS could get you is game against ’09 national champs. (10)

12. Oklahoma 11-2; You can’t win: Four years ago it was Boise in Fiesta. This year it’s “Blue� Conn. (15)

13. Louisiana State 10-2; Getting passed by Boise in revised BCS standings has to stick in your craw. (12)

14. Missouri 10-2; Wish to join Big Ten comes true for a day: Dec. 28 vs. Iowa. (14)

15. Oklahoma State 10-2; Crazy-acting guy across the field in bowl will be Arizona’s head coach. (16)

16. Texas A&M 9-3; Stocking stuffers for all Aggies players this year: Texas M&Ms. (17)

17. Nebraska 10-3; Sixteen people can’t wait for you to play Washington in Holiday Bowl. (18)

18. Alabama 9-3; Biggest bowl game fear has to be blowing a 24-day lead before Jan.1. (19)

19. Mississippi State 8-4; Cecil Newton once counted down the shopping days (for son) before Christmas. (21)

20. Utah 10-2; Playing Boise with backup QB probably not a good backup plan. (23)

21. South Carolina 9-4; Congrats if the goal was to hold Cam Newton to fewer than seven TDs. (13)

22. Hawaii 10-3; Forecast for Tulsa game: sunny with a slight chance teams will combine for 140 points. (25)

23. Connecticut 8-4; Enjoy Fiesta, but Temple finished 8-4 and got shipped to Squat Bowl. (NR)

24. Central Florida 10-3; Playing in bowl (Liberty) where Bear Bryant won his final game. (NR)

25. West Virginia 9-3; Last team in final regular-season poll receives pocket possum detector. (NR)

Moved in: West Virginia, Central Florida, Connecticut.

Dropped out: Northern Illinois (24), Florida State (22), Arizona (20).

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