I am NOT g@t, nor have I ever been g@y.....uh, no, that's not what I wanted to say....

You can't make me believe that, for e.g., Cinci, BC, or USF, beats FL or TN THIS week.  FL nearly beat LSU, they are just stiil a little young on D, but they can play with anybody.  OSU vs Purdue last week is also a good means of comparison.  Put Cinci and BC against OSU and they lose.  Great D's can blow up any spread/finesse O.
 I like those teams and anybody who's read any of my posts over the last few months knows that Brian Kelly is one of my fav coaches--a guy I think would be a perfect fit at NE(except he doesn't run smash mouth FB).  You have to consider strength of schedule.  The SEC is a clash of the titans about every week.  Who has Cinci beat?:  Rutgers, in a struggle, and Rut. is questionable(lost to MY).

I think USF could maybe be a top 5 team in the end, but they struggled vs FAU.  They have a great D, but as I've said, their O isn't great, as far as I can see.
 BC is like the MO of the ACC--i.e., they drop games they shouldn't--and I think they will be tested this week.  Ryan is a great QB.  Their D is only good.

TN looked like the best team in the country on Sat. vs GA.

USC is the big Q at this point, since Booty might be done with a broken middle finger.  Even with Sanchez, I think they take Cinci and BC four outta 5 times; maybe not USF.

The newbies in weaker conferences have to prove themselves vs top competition, which USF is doing, but not the others.

I try to look at who has the best lines on both sides, then skill players and coaching.

Tech has a great offense, Harrell, Amendola, Crabtree are friggin' outrageous.  They just have a crappy D.  Maybe that's changing.  Okie St. also has a great O, so I don't discount TTech's loss too much there--again, because of their D.  Also, Crabtree dropped a wide open game winning score in the final seconds.

TTech could shread Cinci, and probably BC, though USF would be a contest.

I've said it before, if and when TTech puts a world class D on the field, they will be a top 10 ten team on a regular basis.

I just don't understand Okie St., though, they really should have beaten aTm, but their D always screws up.  The whole team has consistency issues.  Of course, they'll play their A game vs BiG Red.