As always, this is a power ranking, not a predictor.

Additionally, it's based on one week of play and things will be pretty fluid until several weeks into the season.

1. Ohio State---Not the world's strongest No. 1 ever, but put together a masterful first quarter against NIU before cruising.  Troy Smith performed at a very high level for a first week of play.
2. USC---A nearly flawless opening performance on the road against a motivated opponent.  Forced five turnovers, ran the ball.  New quarterback John David Booty is eerily accurate.  Can stumble somewhere, but wow.
3. Auburn---Wazzou hung tight for a while but Auburn blew past them with a steady dosage of Kenny Irons.  Lots of new faces on defense deserve monitoring.  Great fake punt call.
4. Notre Dame---Survived a scare behind a gutty quarterback and good defensive play.  That offense won't stay bottled up forever.  Winning on a day they didn't have it shows moxie.
5. Texas---Colt McCoy did what was needed and played relaxed in a softball tune-up against North Texas in a tune-up for the Ohio State game this weekend.
6. Florida---The Gators were bogged down for a while but battled out of that and unleashed freshman phenom Percy Harvin into the world.
7. Louisville---Michael Bush is gone but they played like they didn't need him, running crazy well after his injury.  Gave up some huge plays to Kentucky, mostly to Keenan Burton who looks like a hell of a playmaker for the Wildcats.
8. Oklahoma---Red zone turnovers did in what was a fairly productive offense.  The defense missed a lot of tackles, which is troubling but given Oklahoma's propensity for defense I'll chalk that up to having an off night.  No other team has Adrian Peterson, and Oklahoma let UAB know about it by riding him to victory in the second half.
9. West Virginia---Had an easy time against in-state rival Marshall, with Steve Slaton rushing for over 200 yards.
10. Georgia---The offense was pathetic, the third similar performance in as many efforts under quarterback Joe Tereshinski.  Hard to tell much else given the nature of the opponent.
11. Michigan---The offense will have to win with the run because Chad Henne is one shaky dude at QB.  The defense looked excellent with its more aggressive approach.  LaMarr Woodley was a sack machine, teaming with Shawn Crable as a terrible TFL twosome.
12. Clemson---Will now play without star linebacker Anthony Waters.  Offense caught fire after a slow start and should be among the best in school history.  Hard to tell much else given that the opponent was Florida Atlantic.
13. Alabama---Showed off a new passing game against game Hawai'i.  Relaxed a bit after a lead to let the Warriors back into the game.  Not their best effort but there are many more games to the season.  Notable: star back Kenneth Darby was held in check, running for just 19 yards on 14 carries.
14. LSU---Cruised against a cupcake.  Highly touted frosh backs Charles Scott and Keiland Williams both logged a few carries, with Scott ripping off the Tigers' longest run of the day, a 19-yarder.
15. Oregon---Throttled Stanford.  Dennis Dixon is a great fit for that offense and they can sub in the erratic but accurate Brady Leaf when they need more of a pocket presence.  Johnathan Stewart is among the nation's top backs and had a huge game running and on returns.  Defense held a good offense to 10 points.

Lurking

Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Fresno State, UCLA, Arizona State, Nebraska, TCU, California, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, Miami, Florida State, Iowa