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The Associated Press has only had 25 teams in the rankings for about 25 years, and it's worth noting that the SEC's current slate of 14 members is the largest in its history. Still, when a conference does something that's never been done before, it's worth noticing, and the SEC has done something that's never been done before: It currently has eight teams in the AP Top 25. To wit:
| Rank | Team | Record | Votes | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama (55) | 6-0 | 1,495 | 1 |
| 2 | Oregon (5) | 6-0 | 1,438 | 2 |
| 3 | Clemson | 6-0 | 1,352 | 3 |
| 4 | Ohio State | 6-0 | 1,330 | 4 |
| 5 | Florida State | 5-0 | 1,242 | 6 |
| 6 | LSU | 6-1 | 1,137 | 10 |
| 7 | Texas A&M | 5-1 | 1,105 | 9 |
| 8 | Louisville | 6-0 | 1,077 | 8 |
| 9 | UCLA | 5-0 | 1,017 | 11 |
| 10 | Miami (FL) | 5-0 | 912 | 13 |
| 11 | South Carolina | 5-1 | 896 | 14 |
| 12 | Baylor | 5-0 | 849 | 15 |
| 13 | Stanford | 5-1 | 824 | 5 |
| 14 | Missouri | 6-0 | 749 | 25 |
| 15 | Georgia | 4-2 | 615 | 7 |
| 16 | Texas Tech | 6-0 | 590 | 20 |
| 17 | Fresno State | 5-0 | 383 | 21 |
| 18 | Oklahoma | 5-1 | 380 | 12 |
| 19 | Virginia Tech | 6-1 | 352 | 24 |
| 20 | Washington | 4-2 | 309 | 16 |
| 21 | Oklahoma State | 4-1 | 264 | 22 |
| 22 | Florida | 4-2 | 249 | 17 |
| 23 | Northern Illinois | 6-0 | 185 | 23 |
| 24 | Auburn | 5-1 | 156 | NR |
| 25 | Wisconsin | 4-2 | 153 | NR |
| Others Receiving Votes: Michigan 118, Nebraska 94, Michigan State 69, Utah 47, Notre Dame 39, Oregon State 21, UCF 19, Texas 16, Northwestern 7, Arizona State 7, Houston 3, Rutgers 1 |
Most of that is relatively self-explanatory, though I'm a little shocked that LSU zoomed up the poll by four places after beating Florida. That included them leap-frogging Louisville and Texas A&M, which you can argue is probably warranted, but it still shows more of a tendency to really shake things up each week than we used to see. I'm also surprised to see Georgia fall all the way to 15th, which strikes me as (a) a compulsion to keep Missouri ahead of them, which doesn't seem to account for the fact that the Dawgs beat South Carolina; and (b) some power polling, among people who vote on that measure, accounting for the injuries now that they've seen the thinner Dawgs in action.
Dropping Florida five seems like a little bit of an overreaction, but that's quibbling. And Auburn shows up this week because -- the Catamounts are just that good? Actually, some of the carnage among ranked teams probably prompted the move, but this seems like an odd week to finally pull the trigger.
As for the coaches:
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | PREVIOUS RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama (58) | 6-0 | 1545 | 1 |
| 2 | Oregon (3) | 6-0 | 1485 | 2 |
| 3 | Ohio St. | 6-0 | 1406 | 3 |
| 4 | Clemson (1) | 6-0 | 1365 | 4 |
| 5 | Florida St. | 5-0 | 1293 | 6 |
| 6 | Louisville | 6-0 | 1166 | 8 |
| 7 | Texas A&M | 5-1 | 1156 | 9 |
| 8 | LSU | 6-1 | 1098 | 11 |
| 9 | South Carolina | 5-1 | 1024 | 12 |
| 10 | UCLA | 5-0 | 999 | 13 |
| 11 | Miami | 5-0 | 905 | 14 |
| 12 | Baylor | 5-0 | 890 | 15 |
| 13 | Stanford | 5-1 | 857 | 5 |
| 14 | Missouri | 6-0 | 617 | NR |
| 15 | Texas Tech | 6-0 | 587 | 21 |
| 16 | Georgia | 4-2 | 546 | 7 |
| 17 | Oklahoma St. | 4-1 | 493 | 20 |
| 18 | Oklahoma | 5-1 | 482 | 10 |
| 19 | Fresno St. | 5-0 | 419 | 22 |
| 20 | Virginia Tech | 6-1 | 297 | 25 |
| 21 | Nebraska | 5-1 | 278 | 24 |
| 22 | Florida | 4-2 | 240 | 17 |
| 23 | Northern Illinois | 6-0 | 224 | 23 |
| 24 | Michigan | 5-1 | 178 | 16 |
| 25 | Washington | 4-2 | 137 | 19 |
| Schools Dropped Out |
| No. 18 Northwestern. |
| Others Receiving Votes |
| Wisconsin 124; Michigan State 83; Auburn 67; Notre Dame 60; Oregon State 23; Texas 23; Central Florida 22; Northwestern 19; Utah 18; Arizona State 13; Houston 6; Boise State 3; Mississippi 2. |
Auburn falls just short of getting ranked in this one, because -- the coaches are still impressed by Michigan's riveting win against UConn? LSU does remain stuck here behind Louisville and Texas A&M, because sports information directors coaches are convinced that what they thought about the teams was right in the first place, no matter what happens later. But South Carolina ends up back in the Top 10 here so I love you coaches, you're the greatest.
Missouri goes all the way to No. 14, which yeah, and Georgia drops to No. 16, because everyone forgets that Texas Tech should have lost to TCU. Florida's back to No. 22.
But at least Stanford remained No. 13 in both polls, because the Cardinal lost to Utah, which couldn't even muster 20 points in the coaches poll -- AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA REALITY YOU HAVE NO PLACE HERE.