Upsets, Anyone?
Five teams ranked in last week's AP Poll fell to unranked opponents and Texas A&M fell at home to Auburn, making a total of six big upsets that completely rearranged the rankings in this week's AP Poll.
LSU (6-2) fell seven spots and is now No. 13 after losing 27-24 on a last second field goal at Ole Miss and surrendering 525 yards of offense.
Texas A&M (5-2) also fell seven spots and is now No. 14 after their 45-41 home loss to then-No. 24 Auburn in a game that featured 1,217 yards of total offense. The Tigers (6-1) rocketed up the rankings after their road triumph, climbing 13 spots to check in at No. 11 this week. Auburn is now alone in second place in the SEC West.
Louisville (6-1) suffered a devastating home loss 38-35 in a Friday night contest, surrendering a touchdown pass with 23 seconds left in the game to fall to Central Florida. The Knights (5-1) used the win to climb into this week's poll and are No. 21 while the Cardinals fell 10 spots and are now No. 18.
Georgia (4-3) dropped out of the rankings after being ranked No. 15 in last week's poll. The Bulldogs suffered a 31-27 loss at Vanderbilt after getting outscored 17-0 in the fourth quarter.
South Carolina (5-2) dropped nine spots after their 23-21 defeat at the hands of Tennessee and is now No. 20. The Gamecocks also lost on a last-second field goal, and also lost quarterback Connor Shaw to a sprained knee late in the fourth quarter.
Washington (4-3) dropped out of the rankings after being ranked No. 20 in last week's poll after getting absolutely manhandled at Arizona State and losing 53-24.
Showdowns Shape Rankings
The two marquee games of the week were then-No. 5 Florida State at then-No. 3 Clemson and then-No. 9 UCLA at then-No.13 Stanford. The results had huge implications for this week's poll.
After embarrassing Clemson 51-14, the Seminoles (6-0) earned enough style points to leapfrog undefeated Ohio State and climb to the Tigers' vacated No. 3 spot in this week's rankings. While the Buckeyes remained No. 4, Clemson (6-1) fell to No. 9 after a historically bad performance at home.
The Cardinal (6-1) used stifling defense to earn a 24-10 home win and rebound after being upset by Utah the week prior. Stanford went up five spots and is now No. 8 while the Bruins (5-1) fell three spots and are now No. 12.
SEC and Big 12 Surprises
Because of the chaos around them, Missouri, Baylor and Texas Tech were able to make big moves in this week's poll after earning solid wins.
The Tigers (7-0) rose nine spots and are now No. 5 after defeating Florida at home 36-17 behind backup quarterback Matt Mauk. The Gators fell from the rankings after being ranked no. 22 last week. Because of losses by South Carolina and Georgia, Missouri now holds a two game lead in the SEC East.
The Bears (6-0) have an offense that has yet to be stopped and climbed six spots to check in at No. 6 in this week's rankings after a 71-7 rout of Iowa State. Behind quarterback Bryce Petty, running back Lache Seastrunk and wide receivers Antwan Goodley and Tevin Reese, Baylor has looked to be the class of the Big 12 so far this season.
The Red Raiders (7-0) have not been quite as impressive as Baylor, but still rose six spots and are now ranked No. 10 after a 37-27 comeback win at West Virginia. The Red Raiders play at no. 17 Oklahoma (6-1) this week.
Top Two Maintain Control
While other national championship and conference contenders fell, No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Oregon stayed atop the rankings after blowout victories. Even though the Ducks (7-0) have been impressive, No. 3 Florida State was ranked second in the first BCS Standings. Either Oregon will need some bigs wins or the Seminoles will have to scuffle for the Ducks' BCS ranking to reflect their stranglehold on the No. 2 spot in the AP Poll.
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