I love The Bottom 25 all year round, but the early season Bottom 25 is my favorite version. Why? Well, I'm glad you asked, because it makes it so much easier for me to transition to the listicle-style intro I had already intended to write for this week's rendition.

1. The results are zanier. The longer the season goes on, the more "normal" the rankings will begin to look. It's early in the season when you see teams you don't expect to see ranked in The Bottom 25 populating the list. This week alone, we have eight Power Five teams in the rankings. That's nearly a third of our list. Three of those teams are SEC teams! How often do you think we're going to see three SEC teams in The Bottom 25?

2. It's more volatile. You'll see that all these reasons are related, but I broke them up anyway. We see bigger swings earlier in the season because there's less data to work with. Typically, a little over a month into the season, we begin to see teams settle into what they are and what they'll likely continue to be. That's not the case this week, as we see nine teams leave the rankings, nine new teams enter and a bunch of movement amongst the 16 teams that remained.

3. Hope lives on. I want every single team to get out of The Bottom 25. I know it's impossible, as 25 teams will remain no matter what, but if you're ranked in September, there's still a chance to get out. The later in the season you're here, the more likely you are to remain. Hope dwindles. I like hope. We should have more of it, but unfortunately, we can't hold onto it forever.

And that's why I prefer the early season Bottom 25. Now, before I get to the rankings, make sure you read past the rankings this week, as I'm adding a couple of new features to The Bottom 25 this season.

No Longer Ranked: Duke (4), East Carolina (7), Western Kentucky (8), Kent State (12), Colorado State (14), Houston (16), Tulsa (18), Missouri (21), Miami OH (25)

Week 2 Superlatives

As many of you know, I rank all 130 teams using a mathematical formula I created. That system is how I compile The Bottom 25, but for those of you interested in how the rest of the rankings look, you can see them all right here (it's updated weekly after The Bottom 25 is published). I will also be sharing some weekly superlatives from the rankings here in The Bottom 25.

Highest Climber: Missouri climbed 58 spots in my rankings, from No. 110 to No. 52 after spanking West Virginia 38-7.

Biggest Faller: Nevada, which will face UTEP in this week's Bottom 25 Game of the Century of the Week, fell 61 spots from No. 44 to No. 105 after losing to Oregon 77-6.

Most Fraudulent Undefeated Team: Congratulations, San Diego State. There are 44 2-0 teams in the country right now, and you rank dead last amongst them at No. 65 overall.

Best 1-Loss Team: We know Miami is the best winless team in the country based on The Bottom 25 rankings. The best 1-loss team in the country is Oregon, who helped Nevada fall 61 spots this week while climbing 51 places of its own to No. 38.