UCLA Football in the Polls, Week 13: Bye to the Also-Ran Bowls

UCLA was in the eye of the storm this week in the polls, as several upsets sent teams into free fall. Here is the coaches' poll for this week-

As you can see, the SEC was treated with kid gloves. Mississippi State only dropped to #4, after losing to Alabama. My guess is that the College Football Playoff Committee won't be so kind, when the next set of rankings come out on Tuesday. Everybody else in the top four moved up one spot, so the top four teams are identical, although the order is different. In fact, the teams in the top seven remain the same, as TCU, Baylor and Ohio State run in place. TCU stays #5 despite almost having an epic fail at Kansas. Again, my sense is the College Football Playoff Committee may not be so kind, and should knock them out of the top four.

From number eight on, there is plenty of movement. ASU drops like a rock after losing in Corvallis, Auburn also drops like a rock after getting pummeled at Georgia, Nebraska drops like a rock after giving up 59 at Wisconsin, and Duke somehow hangs onto a spot in the top 25 but barely after losing at home to a woeful Virginia Tech. And Notre Dame (losers at home to Northwestern), Clemson (lost by 3 scores at Georgia Tech), and LSU (shutout at Arkansas) were jettisoned into the stratosphere.

On the flip side, the biggest upside swings in the top 20 were by Arizona (rewarded for the fact that Chris Peterson forgot that unused timeouts don't carry over), Wisconsin (for thrashing Nebraska), and Georgia Tech (for thrashing Clemson).

But, and this could be important as a preview of other rankings, no team leapfrogged idle UCLA. That is good news for sure. Big wins didn't translate into any team passing the Bruins. UCLA moved up to 12.

Utah jumped back into the top 25 as they woke up enough to defeat Stanford, a team which eschewed a 51 yard FG in regulation to win the game, and then kicked a 51 yard FG in OT to keep the game going. Way to go, Coach Shaw.

And $C will be able to say they are a top 25 team again until around 9 pm on Saturday night, when they will be sent back to their rightful spot of irrelevance. Maybe the Foster Farms Bowl will greet the Trojans with open wings, or the Cactus Bowl reps will snag $C. Whatever happens with them, I am counting on some New Year's Bruin football.

Turning to the AP poll, here are the most recent standings, after the chaotic Saturday-

1		Florida State (43) ACC Record: 10-0	PV Rank 2 Points 1,476
2		Alabama (16) SEC Record: 9-1	4 1,439
3		Oregon (1) Pac-12 Record: 9-1	3 1,385
4		Mississippi State SEC Record: 9-1	1 1,289
5		TCU Big 12 Record: 9-1	5 1,237
6		Baylor Big 12 Record: 8-1	6 1,232
7		Ohio State Big Ten Record: 9-1	8 1,167

8		Mississippi SEC Record: 8-2	10 1,064
9		Georgia SEC Record: 8-2	16 948
10		Michigan State Big Ten Record: 8-2	12 941
11		UCLA Pac-12 Record: 8-2	14 876
12		Kansas State Big 12 Record: 7-2	13 868
13		Arizona State Pac-12 Record: 8-2	7 720

14		Wisconsin Big Ten Record: 8-2	22 707
15		Arizona Pac-12 Record: 8-2	17 695
16		Auburn SEC Record: 7-3	9 531
17		Georgia Tech ACC Record: 9-2	24 523
18		Marshall Conference USA Record: 10-0	21 383
19		Missouri SEC Record: 8-2	28 376
20		Utah Pac-12 Record: 7-3	25 349

21		Nebraska Big Ten Record: 8-2	11 291
22		Colorado State Mountain West Record: 9-1	23 281
23		Oklahoma Big 12 Record: 7-3	26 206
24		USC Pac-12 Record: 7-3	29 195
25		Duke ACC Record: 8-2	19 85

Again, UCLA moved up, but not dramatically (from #14 to #11), and $C squeaked into the top 25 until next Saturday night. In the AP Poll, Georgia did leapfrog the Bruins. Let's hope the College Football Playoff committee doesn't follow suit. Starbucks meanwhile did not have much caffeinated boost, only moving up one spot to #22.

Next up is the Football Playoff Rankings on Tuesday. And next step for UCLA on the national scene- beat $C.