Sitting atop the USA Today coaches’ poll each of the previous three weeks, LSU did nothing but strengthen their stranglehold on No. 1 with their overtime win over Alabama Saturday night.
In the just-released set of rankings, the Tigers received all 59 first-place votes from the coaches and are 97 points clear of second place, up from 23 the week prior. With the Tide’s loss, both Stanford and Oklahoma State moved up one spot to No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.
You don’t have to go far to find the vanquished Tide, however, as UA comes in at No. 4 coming off the home loss. Undefeated Boise State remained at No. 5, but saw the gap to fourth decrease from 77 to 24 points. Of course, that gap is now between the Broncos and a one-loss team, a fact that BSU will likely have to get used to for the remainder of the season.
Oregon, Oklahoma and Arkansas all held serve at Nos. 6-8, while Virginia Tech (No. 9) and Clemson (No. 10) have moved into the Top Ten. It should be noted here that both Tech and Clemson have one loss, but the Tigers beat the Hokies by 20 points in Blacksburg earlier this year; how in the hell do the coaches have one-loss VT rated ahead of one-loss Clemson? This is just reason No. 1,478 why it’s an utter joke and an absolute disgrace that the coaches are involved in a poll that makes up one-third of the BcS components.
Anyway, the spots taken by the Hokies and Tigers were created by losses by Nebraska and South Carolina; the former fell eight spots to No. 17, the latter five to No. 15.
Texas was on the receiving end of the biggest bump of the week, climbing from No. 25 to No. 20. Georgia (No. 16), Cincinnati (No. 18) and Georgia Tech (No. 19) all moved up four positions, while unbeaten Houston (No. 11), Penn State (No. 12) and Michigan State (No. 12) all jumped three apiece.
Arizona State (then-No. 18) and West Virginia (No. 21) both fell from the rankings, replaced by TCU (No. 24) and Auburn (No. 25). The Tigers, incidentally, are the first three-loss team to make an appearance in the rankings this season.
