As expected, and thanks to the utter dearth of upsets, the latest USA Today coaches’ poll has a very similar look to its predecessor.
On the strength of its come-from-behind road win over LSU, Alabama is once again the No. 1 team on the ballots of all 59 coaches (winkwink nudgenudge) who vote in the USA Today poll. It’s the 10th consecutive week the Tide has been No. 1 according to the coaches, and the fourth week in a row they’ve been a unanimous selection.
The entire Top 10 from a week ago, in fact, didn’t change, although there was a bit of shuffling of positions thanks to LSU’s loss to the Tide. The Tigers, ranked No. 5 last week, dropped four spots to No. 9. As a result, Georgia (No. 5), Florida State (No. 6), Florida (No. 7) and Clemson (No. 8) all moved up one spot apiece.
Oregon (No. 2), Kansas State (No. 3) and Notre Dame (No. 4) all held serve, as did unbeaten Louisville (No. 10 and sandwiched between a pair of two-loss SEC teams) in rounding out the Top 10.
A total of four teams took the biggest jumps of the week, moving up five spots each: Nebraska (No. 16), Texas (No. 17), Louisiana Tech (No. 18) and Rutgers (No. 20).
Boise State took the biggest hit of those that still remain ranked, tumbling all the way from No. 14 to No. 24 after its loss to unranked San Diego State. USC (No. 22) and Mississippi State (No. 23) each fell five spots from a week ago.
Conference-wise, the voters -- with the inexplicable exception of the Longhorns -- really had it in for the Big 12. Three teams dropped out this week, and all three were from the Big 12: West Virginia (No. 19), Texas Tech (No. 20) and Oklahoma State (No. 24). They were replaced by teams from the Pac-12 (UCLA, No. 19), Big Ten (Northwestern, No. 21) and MAC (Toledo, No. 25).
