Following their controlled demolition of then-No.1 Florida Saturday night, Alabama finds themselves atop the USA Today coaches’ poll for the first time this season.
The Tide received 54 of 59 first-place votes, with Texas — which moved up to No. 2 following their nail-biter against Nebraska — receiving four first-place nods and Big East champion Cincinnati getting the other.
That first-place vote wasn’t enough to help the Bearcats catapult TCU as the Horned Frogs are No. 3 ahead of No. 4 Cincinnati.
Florida tumbled to No. 5 in the latest poll, one spot ahead of unbeaten Boise State.
Rose Bowl combatants Oregon and Ohio State flipped spots, with the Ducks coming in at No. 7 and the Buckeyes at No. 8.
The Top Ten was rounded out by Penn State (No. 9) and ACC champ Georgia Tech No. 10.
Southern Cal’s loss to Arizona knocked the Trojans out of the Top 25 for the first time since 2001, while Pac-10 brethren Cal fell out of the rankings as well following their road loss to Washington.
The Wildcats’ win moved them into the rankings at No. 23, and Wisconsin made another appearance and came in at No. 22.
Interestingly, the SEC has as many ranked teams as the Mountain West — three.
For all of the latest rankings, don’t be shy and visit our friends at NBC Sports.com. C’mon, go ahead. I know you want to…
How is Florida ahead of Boise State? And given that they’re, what? in sixth place in the Pac 10, I would think USC would finally drop from the top 25.
Roll Tide!!!!!!! But Texas is a tough opponent.
I hate the SEC… but ROLL TIDE!
How anyone could possible cast a vote for Texas is beyond me. They squeaked by Neb., while the Tide crushed (understatement) the Gators in every aspect of the game.
It really doesn’t matter. If Bama plays like that in the title game, they will destroy Texas, period.
BTW, congrats to the Bama fans. Your team did a great job dominating every aspect of the game against the Gators. I really admired the focus and intensity that they brought on basically every down. Ingram should win the HT as well. He just doesn’t go down after the first hit.
Fly the top 6 to Hawaii and have a month long round tournament and skip the Bowls. Alabama and Texas get a bye, TCU play Florida, Cincinnati plays Boise State. Winners play the bye teams and then a title game.
A dumb fantasy, but posting to these blogs is not exactly serious anyway.
Would it be arrogant to say that I’m not even that worried about Texas? Because I’m not.
I think Florida is a better and more complete team than Texas, by far, and if the Tide can manhandle Florida the way they did Saturday, then Texas doesn’t figure to be too much more than one final nuisance on the road to being named National Champions.
By the way, Florida would still demolish Cincinnati and probably beat TCU pretty handily as well. If I determined these polls, I wouldn’t have dropped Florida below number 3 or 4.
There is no way a non-BCS school should be ahead of an undefeated BCS school. Should not happen. And Florida has been exposed. They cannot beat Cincinnati, Tebow has been exposed as an H-back with a decent are, and the speed of the Cincy D will hold him in check.
I don’t think it’s quite correct to say that Florida was exposed. True. the Gators had some close calls this season and were not nearly as dominant as everyone thought they’d be at the beginning of the season. But what we saw last night was an Alabama team playing out of its collective mind that could have woodshedded not only any college team in the country, but maybe a few NFL teams, as well.
The question, then, is not whether Florida has the talent to beat Cincinnati, for it surely has it. It is whether the Gators can do a better job than ‘Bama did last year in playing a game that it considers to be a poor consolation prize for what it could have accomplished had it made it to the BCS Championship Game. I think considering that it is Tebow’s last game that the Gators will get up for it and make it one of the more entertaining games of the bowl season.
@bbq …
Omigoodness!! I never never never count my chickens before they’re hatched! We looked extraordinary yesterday–and I believe we are extraordinary. But anything can happen on any given gameday–just ask the Patriots about that game with the Giants. And the Tide has never beaten Texas.
I believe we can and should win. But I’ve never gone into a championship or Super Bowl without worrying.
“the Gators had some close calls this season and were not nearly as dominant as everyone thought they’d be at the beginning of the season. ”
Actually, they turned out to be MORE dominant than I had assumed. I’m only surprised they didn’t suck harder.
@ Deb . . .
I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch. I certainly AM nervous… just like I was nervous going into the Tennessee, LSU, and Florida games. I’m just feeling extremely confident about this one.
So confident, in fact, that I was rooting for Texas during the win they pulled out in the Big 12 championship against Nebraska, because I’m honestly more scared of TCU than I am of Texas.
I just feel like Bama has such a complete team (really, what are our weak points?) and Texas seems so much more one dimensional. Shut down Colt McCoy to Jordan Shipley and what do they have? Not much… and they haven’t faced the likes of Bama’s defense (nor most SEC defenses) up to this point.
I’ll be chewing my nails to hell and back until we have a comfortable lead in the National Championship game, but I just can’t help but taste that 13th title already.
Time to eat crow — congratulations to the Tide and their fans. Bama simply dominated the Gators and the better team won. Good luck against Texas although I don’t think you’ll need any luck. Props also to Ingram — I was convinced he was really hurt in the Auburn game but he certainly showed that he is resilient. Oh well, it was a good ride while it lasted!! Go Gators.
@bbq …
My preacher is a big Gators fan and he came up to me yesterday morning and said, “Well, the one good thing for me is that my anxiety is over. Yours is just starting.” I had to laugh at that because he’s right. Died a thousand deaths during the final minutes of last year’s Super Bowl before my Steelers pulled it out. I want #13 sooo bad. And I want that Heisman, too. After that clock mismanagement against Nebraska, it would be a shame to give it to McCoy. I’m just afraid of jinxing us!!