After a handful of weekends that saw a steady stream of changes in the weekly USA Today coaches’ poll, Week 8 was the calm in the middle-of-the-season storm.
In the newly-released coaches’ poll, nine of the Top 10 from a week ago remained in that grouping, although were a couple of tweaks as to how they were positioned.
While Alabama and Oregon remained 1-2 for the fifth consecutive release -- with the Tide again a unanimous No. 1 -- Florida and Kansas flipped spots despite both enjoying blowout wins, with the Gators moving up one to No. 3 and the Wildcats dropping one to No. 5. Notre Dame, LSU and Oklahoma held serve at Nos. 5-7, while USC moved up one to No. 8.
Oregon State, 6-0 for the first time since 1907, moved up two spots and into the Top 10 at No. 9. Florida State remained static from a week ago at No. 10.
South Carolina, routed by the Gators by 33 points in their second straight loss, dropped just eight spots to No. 16. Fellow SEC member Texas A&M fell just two spots to No. 21 despite their loss.
West Virginia, with back-to-back losses by a combined 76 points, somehow still remain in the Top 25, although they did tumble from No. 15 to No. 22.
The biggest mover upward of the week was Michigan, with the Wolverines climbing all the way to No. 20 from No. 25 on the strength of their two-point win over bitter in-state rival Michigan State. Mississippi State (No. 12), Boise State (No. 18) and Stanford (No. 19) each moved up four spots from last week.
Cincinnati (No. 18), TCU (No. 21) and Arizona State (No. 24) all dropped out of this week’s Top 25, replaced by Ohio (No. 23), Texas (No. 24) and Wisconsin (No. 25). This week marks the first time the Bobcats have ever broken into the coaches’ rankings.
