The coaches may not have felt that the lone postseason-eligible unbeaten deserved all their first-place votes, but that certainly wasn’t the case when it came to the media.
In the latest release of the Associated Press poll, the Irish were a unanimous No. 1, receiving all 60 of the first-place votes. This marks the first time the Irish have been ranked No. 1 in the AP poll since 1993, five years after the Golden Domers’ last national championship.
As was the case in the coaches’ poll, though, Alabama is No. 2 while Georgia is No. 3. After that, the two polls begin to diverge in their respective looks.
Ohio State, unranked by the coaches because of NCAA sanctions, comes in at No. 4 according to the media. The Buckeyes and the Irish are the lone remaining undefeated FBS teams.
Oregon fell four spots to No. 5, while Kansas State trumped that drop by tumbling from No. 2 to No. 7. Florida moved up one to No. 6, while LSU (No. 8), Texas A&M (No. 9) and Florida State (No. 10) complete the Week 12 Top 10.
Just like the coaches’, the media moved Stanford up a mere three spots following their win over then-No. 1 Oregon, with the Cardinal now standing at No. 11. Stanford’s move up cost Clemson (No. 12), South Carolina (No. 12) and Oklahoma (No. 13) one spot apiece.
A total of four teams -- Oklahoma State (No. 22), Northern Illinois (No. 23), Utah State (T-No. 25) and Mississippi State (T-No. 25) -- moved into this week’s rankings, replacing Louisiana Tech (then-No. 19), USC (No. 21) and Texas Tech (No. 23).
