College Football Top 25, Week 16: Bruins Take Week Off, Stay Put at #17/18

Guess who is still not in the rankings?  Southern Cal.  Kind of nice, am I right?  As for our Bruins, there wasn't much change, with UCLA staying put at #17 in the AP Top 25 Poll and moving up one spot to #18 in the USA Today/Coaches' Poll.  But there's been some big changes further up the poll now that conference titles have been decided.  Obviously, the biggest story is Auburn moving up to #2 in both major polls following their demolition of #5-ranked Missouri in the SEC championship game and #2-ranked Ohio State's epic choke job in Indianapolis against #10-ranked Michigan State.  Looks like all of that from "the" Ohio State was just that: talk - as once again the national title will be battled by teams from the southeastern corner of the United States (in the last five BCS title games, only two teams - Notre Dame and Oregon - play in the Union, with every other participant hailing from the former Confederacy and only two - Texas and Florida State - coming from outside the SEC).

In our own conference, Stanford has re-found their mojo, pounding Arizona State into dust at Sun Devil Stadium after looking pedestrian (by their high standards) the last few weeks, leading them up to #5 in the AP poll and #7 in the USA Today/Coaches' poll.  Meanwhile, the Sun Devils stumble down from #11 in both polls last week to #16 in the AP poll and #17 in the USA Today/Coaches' poll.  The happiest recipient of the Sun Devils' fall is the Oregon Ducks, which climbed back to  #10 in the AP poll and #12 in the USA Today/Coaches' poll, but it's probably not enough to get them an at-large bid for a BCS bowl.

So with all that said, let's take a look at how the polls shape up this morning, courtesy of our friends at the SB Nation mothership, beginning with the AP Top 25 Poll:

And here's how the USA Today/Coaches' Poll looks like:

Overall, that sounds about right given the play we've seen from our Bruins this year.  It would have been nice to see them in the Pac-12 title game and sitting somewhere around #14 or #15 in both polls.  But, for now, let's wait and see where our Bruins end up in the bowl selection shuffle and keep our fingers crossed that Jim Mora can earn his huge contact extension with a dominating bowl win.

GO BRUINS