This time last week, TCU had leapfrogged Boise State into the No. 3 spot in the USA Today coaches’ poll. This Sunday, the Broncos played the role of jumper instead of jumpee.
Boise State erased a 10-point deficit on the Horned Frogs -- due in large part to the combination of the latter’s narrow escape against San Diego State and Utah’s embarrassing 25-point loss to a subpar Notre Dame team -- and now hold a slim 11-point lead on their fellow non-automatic qualifier.
As expected, Oregon maintained their spot atop the coaches’ poll, with Auburn coming in at No. 2. The Ducks’ own close call against Cal cost them a bit; though; the Tigers have gone from 74 points behind to 60.
A part of the reason for the slice in Oregon’s deficit is first-place votes. The Ducks dropped from 50 to 46 first-place votes, with the Tigers gaining two to come in with six. The Broncos now have five first-place votes, up from three last week, while the Horned Frogs held on to their two.
Spots 5-7 remained the same as last week -- Wisconsin, LSU and Ohio State, respectively -- while Stanford and Nebraska flipped spots, with the former now sitting at No. 8 and the latter at No. 9. Oklahoma State moved up one spot from No. 11 to round out the Top Ten.
Utah tumbled the furthest this week, dropping nine spots to No. 24. Iowa fell from No. 13 to No. 20.
Central Florida (then-No. 23) and Florida (No. 24) dropped out of the Top 25, replaced by Miami (No. 21) and Northwestern (No. 25).
And, in our weekly Big East update, the conference still has no teams ranked in the coaches’ Top 25, while one received votes (Syracuse). The MAC & C-USA, incidentally, had two teams each receive votes. And, yes, the Big East still receives an automatic BcS bid based on the information we have.
