Week 5’s edition of the USA TODAY Coaches Poll is out, and the SEC still maintains a pretty strong presence in the Top 25 even with the absence of one of its members.
The Alabama Crimson Tide still rank at the top of the polls as they received 61 first-place votes among the 64 handed out. The Tide are 4-0 through their first four weeks of the season and will next play Kentucky. Whether they stay at the top next week will be interesting as three of the teams in the Top 5 -- Clemson, Louisville, and Michigan -- have tests coming up this weekend. The Tigers and Cardinals will be playing each other, and the Wolverines will be hosting the 4-0 Wisconsin Badgers who are ranked No. 8 in this week’s poll. Stanford, Houston, and Washington comprise the nice spots of 6-9, and checking in at No. 10 is Texas A&M.
The Aggies, of course, are coming off a big win over Arkansas in Arlington on Saturday night. The Ags thumped the Hogs 45-24 in the annual meeting between these SEC West foes and as a result, the SEC again has two Top 10 teams. Trailing A&M is Tennessee who comes in ranked No. 11 in the polls. The Volunteers snapped a lengthy losing streak to hated rival Florida on Saturday as they ended their decade-plus-long misery against the Gators.
You won’t find another SEC team until No. 17 as Ole Miss took a four-spot jump. The Rebels took down the Georgia Bulldogs who fell all the way down to No. 20 after the 45-14 walloping that Ole Miss dished out to them. The Bulldogs had the biggest drop of anybody in the polls this week as they fell nine spots from 11 to 20. After Georgia are aforementioned Florida and Arkansas, who are the sixth and seventh members of the SEC to be featured in this week’s poll. The Gators and Razorbacks will have to rebound and do so quickly if they are to remain in the USA TODAY poll with other teams coming in hot.
LSU would be No. 31 technically in the polls as they received 30 votes this week. Auburn would be No. 36 after garnering 18 votes.