As expected, given the fact that five ranked teams went down in defeat throughout the day Saturday, a shakeup was expected when the polls were released Sunday afternoon.
Just as expected, USC -- along with Michigan State -- took the biggest tumble of the teams that stayed in the Top 25 despite a loss.
Ranked as the No. 2 team in the country last the two weeks by the Associated Press after opening the 2012 season at No. 1, the Trojans suffered its first loss of the season against Pac-12 nemesis Stanford, a 21-14 loss that dropped USC all the way out of the AP’s Top 10 and into the No. 13 spot.
Conversely, the huge “upset” propelled the Cardinal, ranked No. 21 last week, into the Top 10. In the latest set of rankings, Stanford sits at No. 9.
Notre Dame was also the poll beneficiary of a huge win over a highly-ranked opponent. The Irish jumped all the way from No. 20 to No. 11 on the strength of its dominating 20-3 over then-No. 10 Michigan State. The Spartans fell the same number of spots as the Trojans and are ranked this week at No. 21.
Also as expected, Alabama remained the No. 1 team in the country. Somewhat unexpectedly, it wasn’t unanimous.
While Alabama was the runaway leader in first-place votes (58), LSU, which replaced USC as the No. 2 team, received the other two No. 1 nods from the media.
Oklahoma, which was apparently unimpressive playing Bye Weekend University yesterday, dropped one spot to No. 6. Oregon, (No. 3), Florida State (No. 4), South Carolina (No. 7), West Virginia (No. 8) and Clemson (No. 10) each moved up one spot from a week ago. Georgia rounded out the Top 10, moving up two spots from No. 7 to No. 5.
Ohio State, which escaped with a seven-point win at home against Cal, by far dropped the furthest of the teams that won, falling from No. 12 to No. 16.
Virginia Tech actually dropped the furthest of any team regardless of the situation this week, going from No. 13 to the ranks of the, um, unranked courtesy of its stunning 35-17 loss to hapless Pittsburgh. Tennessee (then-No. 23) and BYU (No. 25) also fell from the Top 25.
Taking their places were Mississippi State (No. 23), Boise State (No. 24) and Nebraska (No. 25.).
Below is the complete set of AP rankings, courtesy of our good buddies at NBCSports.com:
