One week ago, a lone writer who tossed Florida some poll love kept Alabama from being a unanimous No. 1 in both the Associated Press and coaches’ polls for the second straight week.
Thanks to the Gators’ loss, the Tide can again claim unanimity.
Earlier today, all 59 coaches voted the Tide No. 1. All 60 media members have followed suit, placing the defending BcS champion at the top of the AP rankings for the ninth consecutive week. Oregon is again No. 2, although the Ducks saw its lead over No. 3 -- this week Kansas State -- shrink from 44 points to 30.
Below the top two? As it did for the coaches, change reigned.
There were just three teams -- K-State, Notre Dame (No. 4) and LSU (No. 5) -- that moved up one spot, while four more -- Florida State (No. 9), Boise State (No. 19), Louisiana Tech (No. 22) and idle West Virginia (No. 23) -- moved up two spots. For 13 other teams, it was jumps up or down of three or more spots:
UP THREE
Ohio State (No. 6)
UP FOUR
Clemson (No. 10)
Louisville (No. 12)
Stanford (No. 15)
DOWN FOUR
Mississippi State (No. 17)
UP FIVE
Georgia (No. 7)
DOWN FIVE
Florida (8th)
Texas Tech (20th)
UP SIX+
South Carolina (up six to No. 11)
Texas A&M (up six No. 16)
DOWN 6+
Oregon State (down six to No. 13)
Oklahoma (down six to No. 14)
USC (down eight to No. 18)
Of course, there were also teams that left and came back into the rankings. Following losses, Rutgers (No. 18), Michigan (No. 20) and Ohio (No. 23) dropped out, replaced by Nebraska (No 21), Arizona (No. 24) and UCLA (No. 25)
