IT WILL SORT ITSELF OUT AT THE END OF THE SEASON. If VaTech and Oregon both end up with 4-5 losses, both OSU and MSU will slide down the polls. Challenge is I don't see any SEC or PAC team staying undefeated. UCLA looked great last week but they looked terrible against BYU and will likely get thumped by USC. Ole MIss will drop a game or 2 as will likely LSU. Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State all have to play each other so only 1 can emerge from that group.
At the end of the day the BIG teams played a decent Out of Conference schedule but the only big wins that remains impressive are NW's wins over Stanford and Duke. Wins over VaTech, Oregon, BYU seem average at best. And losses to Utah, Alabama and Miami won't help.
You are right pre-season polls do matter a lot which is a shame. I like Herbie's suggestion of not even having polls for the first 5 weeks of the season and then deciding from there. Like I said, the fact that USC is ranked ahead of Stanford despite the same record and losing to Stanford at home baffles me. Early season polls are dumb.