With the No. 3 and No. 6 teams going down in flames this weekend, it was expected that there would be some shuffling inside the Top Ten of the USA Today coaches poll.
And, as expected, the... ummm... expected has happened.
Oregon and Auburn remained 1-2 for the fifth straight week, but underneath them is where the real action took place. Losses by Boise State and LSU allowed TCU and Wisconsin to move up one spot each to No. 3 and No. 4 respectively, while Stanford was the biggest beneficiary of the twin losses, leaping from No. 8 to No. 5. Ohio State moved up 1 to No. 6, Michigan State up three to No.7, Arkansas and Oklahoma up four each to No. 8 and No. 9, respectively, and Boise State tumbling to No. 10 to round out the Top Ten.
While the Ducks and Tigers maintained their status quo, the latter did cut into the former’s lead once again as Oregon saw their lead shrink from 61 to 40 points. A chunk of that shrinkage can be attributed to first-place votes as Oregon lost two and Auburn gained six. TCU garnered the remaining three first-place votes.
In addition to the Broncos, the other big tumblers of the week were LSU and Oklahoma State. Each dropped six spots, with the former now sitting at No. 12 and the latter at No. 15. Alabama actually took the biggest fall, dropping eight spots to No. 19.
Nevada, which beat the No. 3 team in the country, picked up just two spots and stands at No. 17.
Arizona (then-No. 20), North Carolina State (No. 23) and Iowa (No. 24) all fell from the rankings, replaced by Northern Illinois (No. 23), West Virginia (No. 24) and Central Florida (No. 25). And, yes, you read that correctly; a Big East team is ranked this week. Kudos to you, Mr. Automatic Qualifying Conference Guy!
Of course, the team in control of its own Big East destiny, UConn, didn’t receive a single vote from the coaches, but we’ll allow the conference to bask in the glory of returning to the rankings after a month-long absence. They’ve “earned” it.
