Most team have played 6 games now (a few have played 7), so it's fair to take a step back and look at how teams are faring against their preseason expectations. I am going to start with my preseason Top 12.

1. Oregon - F. Technically they are still in the playoff hunt, but two losses already and an offense that can't seem to do anything right is not close to their hopes for this season.
2. Notre Dame - B+. I can't give them an A because they still haven't played anyone. However, they appear to have answered their offseason questions. And one of the things I said in the offseason is that based upon their schedule, they need to be beating most of the teams they play by 3+ scores. They have been doing that.
3. Ohio State - B+. The loss to Texas prevents them from getting an A. The meat of the Buckeyes schedule is coming up, and like Notre Dame, they appear to have answered most of their offseason questions as well. But appearances can be deceiving against weaker competition.
4. Texas - C+. The win against Ohio State keeps this from being a C-. The defense has been outstanding. The offense has been meh. This does not look like a team capable of winning the national championship.
5. Indiana - B+. The Hoosiers are undefeated, but this doesn't look like the same team from last year. They aren't destroying their competition. However, they keep on winning. I can't go lower than a B+ to a team with a 21-game winning streak, and even that feels a little unfair.
6. Miami - A-. Like Notre Dame, they haven't faced any real competition. However, I can't go lower than an A- for a team that made the national title game last year and looks like they might be better this year.
7. Georgia - A+. Is there a grade higher than A+? The Dawgs look like a team that can win it all. If they have any weakness, I don't know that they have a "go to" guy. It's 3rd and 10 and the game is on the line. Who do you depend on to get that 1st down? UGA might not have that. That's their only weakness, if it even exists.
8. Texas Tech - B. I was tempted to drop this to a B-. Tech isn't really doing much on offense, but they still appear to be the top team in the Big 12.
9. LSU - D+. After their win against Clemson, they haven't come close to living up to preseason hype.
10. BYU - A-. This team appears to be a little better than expected.
11. USC - B-. USC is hard to grade. They are 6-1 and still have everything ahead of them. But the defense has looked terrible.
12. SMU - C-. The Mustangs had hoped to establish themselves as the clear 2nd best team in the ACC. They haven't come close to doing so.

Let's look at a few other teams:

• Ole Miss - B-. The win against LSU was huge, but this doesn't look like a playoff team.
• Oklahoma - C-. This is the same team as last year. And like Ole Miss, doesn't look like a playoff team.
• Michigan - F. There really isn't much good to say about year 1 of the Kyle Wittingham era.
• Alabama - A+. Despite their loss to Georgia, this might be the best team in the country.
• Utah - A+. I had limited expectations for the Utes this year. They have greatly exceeded them so far.
• Kentucky - A+. I picked them for under 4.5 wins. Oops. Will Stein has done wonderful things at UK so far.
• UCLA - A. This ia fun team. Their rivalry game against USC looks huge.
• Oregon State - A. The Beavers are a wonderful surprise, and may be the best team in Oregon.
• Wake Forest - A. They looked bad when barely beating Purdue, but have looked great since, and the Purdue win is amazingly starting to look better.
• North Dakota State - A-. The inexplicable loss to UNLV hurts them, but other than that, their first year in the FBS has gone as well as the Bison could have hoped.

Obviously, this is just a small sample. I am not going to attempt to do all 138 FBS teams.

North Dakota State lost their first game of the year to UNLV yesterday. I have not yet had a chance to watch the game. Thy play New Mexico in a couple of weeks, which should also be a very interesting matchup.

I continue to be impressed with the Bison in their first year in the FBS.

The computer drops some more team from its playoff simulations. New this week to the "better luck next year" list:

• #132 App State Mountaineers (3-2)
• #104 East Carolina Pirates (3-2)
• #105 Michigan State Spartans (2-4)
• #61 NC State Wolfpack (3-3)
• #72 Penn State Nittany Lions (3-3)
• #134 Temple Owls (2-4)
• #98 Tulsa Golden Hurricane (3-3)

The complete list:

• Akron Zips
• App State Mountaineers
• Arkansas Razorbacks
• Arkansas State Red Wolves
• Ball State Cardinals
• Boston College Eagles
• Bowling Green Falcons
• Buffalo Bulls
• California Golden Bears
• Charlotte 49ers
• Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
• Colorado State Rams
• Delaware Blue Hens
• East Carolina Pirates
• Eastern Michigan Eagles
• Florida International Panthers
• Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
• Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors
• Jacksonville State Gamecocks
• Kennesaw State Owls
• Kent State Golden Flashes
• Marshall Thundering Herd
• Miami (OH) RedHawks
• Michigan State Spartans
• Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
• Missouri State Bears
• Navy Midshipmen
• NC State Wolfpack
• Nevada Wolf Pack
• New Mexico State Aggies
• Northern Illinois Huskies
• Old Dominion Monarchs
• Penn State Nittany Lions
• Rice Owls
• Sacramento State Hornets
• Sam Houston State Bearkats
• San Diego State Aztecs
• San Jose State Spartans
• South Alabama Jaguars
• Southern Miss Golden Eagles
• Stanford Cardinal
• Syracuse Orange
• Temple Owls
• Troy Trojans
• Tulane Green Wave
• Tulsa Golden Hurricane
• UAB Blazers
• UConn Huskies
• UL Monroe Warhawks
• UNLV Rebels
• Utah State Aggies
• UTEP Miners
• Washington State Cougars
• Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
• Wyoming Cowboys

Nine teams remain:

• BYU Cougars
• Georgia Bulldogs
• Indiana Hoosiers
• James Madison Dukes
• Miami Hurricanes
• Notre Dame Fighting Irish
• Texas Tech Red Raiders
• UCLA Bruins
• Utah Utes

Several of these teams have big games this week. The list will continue to shrink.

This week's Solid Verbal Top 12

1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Notre Dame
4. Miami
5. Alabama
6. Indiana
7. Texas
8. Texas Tech
9. Utah
10. BYU
11. UCLA
12. Kentucky

A couple of notes about this week's ballot. First, I should have put Notre Dame 2nd and Ohio State 3rd. I would switch those if I could. Second, and even worse, I completely forgot about Ole Miss and accidentally left them off my ballot entirely. I would have them at 11, and UCLA at 12, with Kentucky falling off the ballot to 13.

Sticking with the existing ballot, here's the bottom half of my top 25:

13. Ole Miss
14. Missippi State
15. Northwestern
16. Boise State
17. Oklahome State
18. Missouri
19. LSU
20. Wake Forest
21. Iowa
22. Nebraska
23. Houston
24. Oregon
25. Oregon State

Men's College Basketball schedules are mostly loaded. Postseason projections are running. The computer likes the Duke Blue Devils to win it all, although there are 24 teams with at least a 1% of winning the tournament.

Regular season updates will begin as soon as there are games. And there are always a few early season kinks to work out on the site. Please be patient.

As always, good luck to your teams and enjoy the season.

CJB Ratings, AKA Sports Ratings III, is a data-driven analytics platform designed to evaluate teams, project future performance, and provide transparent, reproducible rating systems across multiple sports. We currently do three sports:

• NCAA FBS College Football
• NCAA Division I Men's College Basketball
• NFL football

Watch this space for more information about what's available and what's coming!