Here is a ESPN's first shot at the 2006 Top-25.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2281099
That looks a little more like it... ND over USC next year with USC losing all their players.
that looks about right.
I don't know about ranking WVU up that high to start with, and historically #3 teams in the preseason (see Florida) tend to suck, or at least, not live up to expectations......