Editor's Note: Each week, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter Tom Murphy votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. Here is his poll for Sept. 18 and his thoughts on the teams.
FAYETTEVILLE - I thought long and hard about moving Louisville to the top of my ballot after the Cardinals steamrolled No. 2 Florida State 63-20 on Saturday.
Instead, I kept Alabama at No. 1 based on the Crimson Tide's heady comeback from a three-touchdown deficit to outlast Ole Miss 48-43 in Oxford, Miss. Ohio State's 45-24 win at Oklahoma was impressive, so the Buckeyes remained No. 2 on my ballot.
Bobby Petrino's Louisville club jumped six spots on my ballot to No. 3. The next huge test for Louisville will come in two weeks at Clemson, which stayed at No. 4 for me.
Big movers for me included Michigan State, up five spots to No. 7 after its 36-28 win at Notre Dame, and Texas A&M, from 17 to 8, after beating Auburn on the road.
The Arkansas Razorbacks, who smacked around the potent Texas State offense in a 42-3 breather after two nail-biters, leaped four spots to No. 16 on my ballot.
I picked Florida to win the SEC East at SEC media days, so I've consistently kept the Gators higher on my ballot that many other voters. I've got Florida at No. 12 after its 32-0 pasting of North Texas.
There are key battles of 3-0 teams in both divisions of the SEC this weekend, with Arkansas facing Texas A&M in Arlington, and Florida traveling to Tennessee.
The biggest drop comes from Florida State - No. 3 to No. 15 on my ballot. Iowa fell out of my poll from No. 14 after losing at home to North Dakota State, and Oklahoma is out of the poll from No. 21. I dropped Texas from No. 10 to No. 17 after the Longhorns fell at Cal.
I left Ole Miss (1-2) in my rankings, at No. 22, because the Rebels have shown they can compete with some of the nation's best.
New teams in my poll: No. 20 Utah, No. 21 Nebraska, No. 24 South Florida and No. 25 Toledo. Obviously there was a wide array of teams to consider for the last four of five spots. The four who fell out were Iowa, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Oregon.
Tom Murphy's Top 25
1 Alabama
2 Ohio State
3 Louisville
4 Clemson
5 Stanford
6 Houston
7 Michigan State
8 Texas A&M
9 Michigan
10 Washington
11 Wisconsin
12 Florida
13 Miami
14 Baylor
15 Florida State
16 Arkansas
17 Texas
18 Georgia
19 Tennessee
20 Utah
21 Nebraska
22 Ole Miss
23 LSU
24 South Florida
25 Toledo