Mack Brown's head hurts (AP photo)

I had to throw Texas off my Top 25 ballot. Had to.

Losing at home to West Virginia was forgivable, but lo and behold, the Mountaineers proved to be mortal and less on Saturday at Texas Tech.

However, the putrid performance Mack Brown’s Longhorns gave against Oklahoma Saturday in Dallas was not the stuff of ranked teams. The score was 63-21. In reality, the game wasn’t that close.

The contract of Texas Coach Mack Brown extends to 2020. Nice work if you can get it.

Now, on with the ballot, 1 through 25:

1. Alabama. Hoping to make it to the SEC championship game this year.

2. Oregon

3. Florida

4. Kansas State

5. Notre Dame.

6. Oregon State. Not the sixth-best team in the country, but we’re supposed to vote on performance, and the Beavers have beaten Wisconsin at home, UCLA, Arizona and BYU on the road. Ohio State has one good road win. LSU has, well, none, considering Auburn’s plight.

7. Ohio State

8. LSU

9. South Carolina. I hope losing at LSU Saturday didn’t put Steve Spurrier in a foul-enough mood to try to get more South Carolina sportswriters fired.

10. Oklahoma

11. USC

12. Florida State

13. Clemson

There was defense in Texas A&M's 59-57 win over Louisiana Tech. And this was it. (AP photo)

14. Georgia

15. Mississippi State

16. Texas Tech. Last week, I didn’t have the Red Raiders ranked. They got smoked at home by Oklahoma. But they trounced West Virginia, 49-14, and did have a good road win against Iowa State two weeks earlier.

17. West Virginia. This is a big drop. But that was a bad loss. And the Mountaineers have given up 157 points in three Big 12 games.

18. Texas A&M

19. Stanford

20. Michigan

21. Rutgers

22. Louisville. Rutgers and Louisville are both bowl-eligible at 6-0. How nice for those bowls.

23. TCU

24. Arizona State

25. Louisiana Tech. What? This team lost 59-57 at home to Texas A&M and I still have it on my ballot? One, the Aggies are good. Two, who would you put 25th? Texas?

And now, the AP poll:

• Dropped from rankings: Texas 15, Louisiana Tech 23

• Others receiving votes: Arizona State 92, TCU 88, Louisiana Tech 38, Texas 25, North Carolina State 11, Northwestern 6, Washington 6, Wisconsin 6, Nebraska 4, North Carolina 2, Tulsa 2, Penn State 1, Arizona 1