With precious little drama this week, our focus when it comes to the polls has shifted from movement to points.
Specifically, what Florida State is doing in the Associated Press poll.
Coming out of Week 9, the Seminoles sat at No. 3, 42 points behind No. 2 Oregon. Exiting Week 10 with yet another undefeated scalp on its résumé, FSU has pulled to within nine points of the Ducks in a poll that admittedly plays no role whatsoever in determining who will play for the BCS title.
That move somewhat mirrors the coaches’ poll, which is one-third of the BCS formula, as the ‘Noles went from 64 points behind the Ducks last week to 39 behind today.
As was the case with the coaches, FSU also gained first-place votes from the media. Six of the 60 AP voters cast their votes to the Seminoles, up from two a week ago. Conversely, No. 1 Alabama dropped three first-place votes to 52 and Oregon lost one and now has two.
No. 4 Ohio State, No. 5 Baylor and No. 6 Stanford all held steady from a week ago, while Auburn (No. 7), Clemson (No. 8), Missouri (No. 9) and LSU (No. 10) all moved up one spot. The latter quartet’s climb came at the expense of Miami, which fell seven spots to No. 14.
Texas Tech was an even bigger tumbler coming off a loss, going from No. 15 after Week 9 to No. 25 after Week 10. Oklahoma State, which handed the Red Raiders their second straight loss, moved up three to inherit Tech’s No. 15 spot.
Michigan State made the biggest jump up this week, going from No. 24 to No. 18 on the strength of a dominating win over then-No. 23 Michigan. The Wolverines were the only team to drop out of the Top 25, replaced by No. 24 Notre Dame.
