While it wasn’t nearly the level of carnage we witnessed last week, there were a handful of changes in the latest USA Today coaches’ poll.
Showing the respect they’ve gained since beginning the season unranked, Missouri remained in the Top 10 at No. 10 despite suffering its first loss of the season to South Carolina Saturday night. The Tigers had entered Week 9 rated as the No. 7 team in the country according to the coaches.
Another Top-10 team hit with its first loss wasn’t as fortunate. Coming off its loss to Oklahoma, Texas Tech tumbled six spots to come in at No. 15.
The beneficiary of those twin drops was the Sooners, now back into the Top 10 at No. 9. OU moved up three positions from where they were a week ago.
Seeing as the Top Six teams all kept its records unblemished, those spots saw no change.
Alabama and Oregon are, once again, 1-2; the Tide and Ducks have held those positions in each of the last eight coaches’ poll releases. Those two are also the only teams receiving first-place votes, with the Tide at 56 and the Ducks at six. The latter actually picked up two first-place votes -- one at the expense of Alabama, the other from No. 3 Florida State.
Ohio State is again No. 4, but saw its points deficit to FSU balloon from 28 to 44 in the span of seven days. Not only that, but No. 5 Baylor cut into the lead the Buckeyes held over the Bears coming out of Week 8. Last Sunday, Baylor trailed Ohio State by 127 points; today, the Bears’ deficit stands at 82.
Miami at No. 6, Stanford at No. 7 and Clemson at No. 8 -- up one and two, respectively, from a week ago -- round out the Top 10.
Auburn made the biggest move up this week, climbing six spots to No. 11. UCLA, on the other hand, took the biggest fall by plunging eight spots to No. 19.
No. 19 Virginia Tech and No. 21 Nebraska dropped out of the Top 25, replaced by Michigan State (No. 24) and Notre Dame (No. 25).
