Happy Thanksgiving!

Is there a better weekend for football than Thanksgiving weekend? Well, maybe. But four days of pro and college ball with turkey and all the fixin’s…it doesn’t get any more American and better than that.

That being said, there wasn’t a whole lot of change in Al’s Top 25 over the previous week. Mississippi moved up from #17 to #8 after their victory over LSU. As a result, the Tigers plummeted out of the Top 25 from #14.

Central Michigan shoots up to #14 after defeating lowly (but highly predicted) Ball State while North Carolina rates at #15 after defeating Boston College.

Here’s the rankings:

1. Florida (1)
2. Texas (2)
3. Alabama (3)
4. Georgia Tech (4)
5. Miami (5)
6. TCU (6)
7. Iowa (7)
8. Mississippi (17)
9. Cincinnati (8)
10. Oklahoma State (9)
11. Pittsburgh (10)
12. Nebraska (11)
13. Stanford (12)
14. Central Michigan (NR)
15. North Carolina (NR)
16. Boise State (13)
17. Minnesota (15)
18. Temple (16)
19. Auburn (18)
20. Clemson (19)
21. Notre Dame (20)
22. Oregon (22)
23. California (23)
24. Houston (24)
25. Arkansas (25)

Fell Out:

LSU (14)
Rutgers (21)

Here’s a look at this week’s key games, and there’s a lot of them:

· #1 Florida at Florida State. Never count out the Seminoles.
· Texas A&M at #2 Texas. Another dangerous rivalry game.
· #3 Alabama at #19 Auburn. ‘Nuff said.
· Once mighty Georgia at #4 Georgia Tech. A Yellow Jacket victory could propel them to #1.
· #5 Miami at favored South Florida. Could be the best game of the weekend.
· #8 Mississippi at Mississippi State.
· #9 Cincinnati hosts dangerous Illinois.
· #10 Oklahoma State hosts favored Oklahoma.
· #11 Pitt visits Big East spoiler WVU.
· #21 Notre Dame tried to salvage respect at #13 Stanford.
· #15 North Carolina visits local rival NC State.
· #16 Boise State hosts surprise team Nevada
· #18 Temple could finish a dream 10-win season at Ohio.
· #20 Clemson represents the ACC at South Carolina.
· #25 Arkansas visits a fallen LSU.

There are only a handful of games next week, so enjoy this final full weekend of college football. It’s been a great year and I suspect it’ll be a great bowl season!