It might not quite be a 1-2 punch, but Alabama-Auburn is about as close to IRON BOWL OF THE CENTURY as you're going to get. Both the Tide and the Tigers are in the Top 5 in both the AP and the coaches polls, making the annual rivalry tilt by far the biggest game of the week. First, as always, the AP:
Rank | Team | Record | Votes | Previous |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alabama (56) | 11-0 | 1,496 | 1 |
2 | Florida State (4) | 11-0 | 1,444 | 2 |
3 | Ohio State | 11-0 | 1,375 | 4 |
4 | Auburn | 10-1 | 1,294 | 6 |
5 | Missouri | 10-1 | 1,202 | 8 |
6 | Clemson | 10-1 | 1,196 | 7 |
7 | Oklahoma State | 10-1 | 1,177 | 11 |
8 | Stanford | 9-2 | 1,002 | 10 |
9 | Baylor | 9-1 | 976 | 3 |
10 | South Carolina | 9-2 | 960 | 12 |
11 | Michigan State | 10-1 | 929 | 13 |
12 | Oregon | 9-2 | 731 | 5 |
13 | Arizona State | 9-2 | 690 | 19 |
14 | Wisconsin | 9-2 | 684 | 16 |
15 | LSU | 8-3 | 642 | 18 |
16 | Fresno State | 10-0 | 619 | 15 |
17 | UCF | 9-1 | 588 | 17 |
18 | Northern Illinois | 11-0 | 470 | 20 |
19 | Texas A&M | 8-3 | 429 | 9 |
20 | Oklahoma | 9-2 | 386 | 22 |
21 | Louisville | 10-1 | 383 | 21 |
22 | UCLA | 8-3 | 300 | 14 |
23 | Southern Cal |
9-3 | 262 | 23 |
24 | Duke | 9-2 | 135 | 25 |
25 | Notre Dame | 8-3 | 68 | NR |
Others Receiving Votes: Georgia 15, Texas 10, Cincinnati 10, Mississippi 7, Nebraska 6, Arizona 6, Minnesota 5, Vanderbilt 1, East Carolina 1, North Dakota State 1 |
Beyond the IRON BOWL OF THE CENTURY, Missouri also moves into the Top 5 after its defeat of Ole Miss and the carnage elsewhere, while South Carolina moves in the Top 10. The latter does not change the number of SEC teams in that subset, though, because it was made possible in part by Texas A&M falling all the way from 9th to 19th, which is not really all that unexpected after the way LSU blasted them Saturday.
Speaking of the Bayou Bengals, they move from 18th to 15th. Ole Miss, meanwhile, drops out of the Top 25 completely, meaning the conference is back "down" to six teams in the rankings. Georgia, though, is next on deck if one of the teams near the bottom of the poll loses next week and the Dawgs get the win over Georgia Tech.
As for the coaches:
Rank | Team | Record | Votes | Previous |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alabama (56) | 11-0 | 1,544 | 1 |
2 | Florida State (6) | 11-0 | 1,488 | 2 |
3 | Ohio State | 11-0 | 1,428 | 3 |
4 | Clemson | 10-1 | 1,289 | 6 |
5 | Auburn | 10-1 | 1,268 | 7 |
6 | Missouri | 10-1 | 1,243 | 8 |
7 | Oklahoma State | 10-1 | 1,225 | 9 |
8 | Baylor | 9-1 | 1,009 | 4 |
9 | South Carolina | 9-2 | 1,003 | 11 |
10 | Stanford | 9-2 | 981 | 12 |
11 | Michigan State | 10-1 | 962 | 13 |
12 | Oregon | 9-2 | 777 | 5 |
13 | Fresno State | 10-0 | 687 | 16 |
14 | Wisconsin | 9-2 | 661 | 17 |
15 | LSU | 8-3 | 646 | 19 |
16 | Louisville | 10-1 | 603 | 15 |
17 | Oklahoma | 9-2 | 581 | 18 |
18 | Arizona State | 9-2 | 574 | 22 |
19 | UCF | 9-1 | 512 | 20 |
20 | Northern Illinois | 11-0 | 459 | 21 |
21 | Texas A&M | 8-3 | 410 | 10 |
22 | UCLA | 8-3 | 257 | 14 |
23 | Southern Cal |
9-3 | 210 | 25 |
24 | Duke | 9-2 | 203 | 24 |
25 | Cincinnati | 9-2 | 47 | NR |
Others Receiving Votes: Notre Dame 17, Minnesota 12, Texas 12, East Carolina 11, Georgia 8, Nebraska 7, Miami (FL) 6, Louisiana-Lafayette 6, Arizona 2, Vanderbilt 2 |
Yeah, Louisville, UCF, whatever. I just can't muster the energy to get worked up about it anymore. It's obvious the coaches aren't paying attention to football, and they're going to at least be less relevant next year, so I'm over it.
Alabama and Auburn are both Top 5 here, but just barely, and Missouri is locked out in favor of ... Clemson. Mkay. South Carolina moves up to No. 9 and Texas A&M plunges even further among the coaches, going from 10th to 21st, a fall of 11 places. LSU jumps four spots to get back to the Top 15. Ole Miss wasn't ranked here last week, so a half-dozen is status quo. But Georgia is further outside the rankings here and will need a good deal of help to make it, perhaps even after the bowls.
Remember, this is the one that factors into the BCS. That means that the Top 4 is particularly important when it comes to getting an at-large berth, and so the jockeying between Clemson, Mizzou and Auburn here is not insignificant. But it's still way too early to tell where things will end up two weeks from today.