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The latest polls are in. Here is the Coaches' Poll-
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | 1ST PLACE VOTES | PREV | CHANGE | HI/LOW |
| 1 | Alabama | 10-1 | 1474 | 25 | 2 | 1 | 1/7 |
| 2 | Florida State | 11-0 | 1462 | 30 | 1 | -1 | 1/2 |
| 3 | Oregon | 10-1 | 1431 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3/11 |
| 4 | Mississippi State | 10-1 | 1323 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1/NR |
| 5 | TCU | 9-1 | 1259 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5/NR |
| 6 | Baylor | 9-1 | 1242 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3/13 |
| 7 | Ohio State | 10-1 | 1191 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 6/20 |
| 8 | Michigan State | 9-2 | 1052 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 5/13 |
| 9 | Georgia | 9-2 | 1002 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 6/17 |
| 10 | UCLA | 9-2 | 963 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 7/NR |
| 11 | Kansas State | 8-2 | 912 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 9/25 |
| 12 | Arizona | 9-2 | 818 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 13/NR |
| 13 | Arizona State | 9-2 | 783 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 8/24 |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 9-2 | 758 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 14/NR |
| 15 | Georgia Tech | 9-2 | 615 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 16/NR |
| 16 | Auburn | 8-3 | 565 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 2/17 |
| 17 | Missouri | 9-2 | 560 | 0 | 20 | 3 | 19/NR |
| 18 | Oklahoma | 8-3 | 420 | 0 | 22 | 4 | 3/24 |
| 19 | Ole Miss | 8-3 | 390 | 0 | 8 | -11 | 3/19 |
| 20 | Marshall | 11-0 | 383 | 0 | 18 | -2 | 18/NR |
| 21 | Colorado State | 10-1 | 304 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 23/NR |
| 22 | Minnesota | 8-3 | 256 | 0 | 30 | 8 | 24/NR |
| 23 | Louisville | 8-3 | 208 | 0 | 31 | 8 | – |
| 24 | Clemson | 8-3 | 203 | 0 | 27 | 3 | 16/NR |
| 25 | Boise State | 9-2 | 85 | 0 | 29 | 4 | – |
There was a surprise change at the top in the Coaches' Poll, as the voters expressed solidarity with the ref who was shoved out of the way by miscreant Jameis Winston in the waning moments of FSU's squeaker over Boston College. Either that or the voters were super-impressed by how Alabama knocked off Western Carolina from the FCS Southern Conference in an epic showdown.
The next five spots were unchanged, as Oregon remained #3 after an easy win over Colorado. Mississippi State cruised over a weak Vandy team to retain the #4 spot. Ohio State kept the #7 spot despite struggling against a weak Indiana team. All of the top 7 teams in the Coaches' Poll have 0 or 1 losses. So this group of voters doesn't seem to care about quality wins. Fortunately, the College Football Playoff committee does.
The big loser in the Coaches' Poll last week was Ole Miss, which was waxed 30-0 at Arkansas. The Rebels dropped from #8 to #19. Hopefully they can get their act together in time for the rivalry game next weekend vs. Mississippi State.
UCLA moved up in the process, and also leapfrogged Kansas State, which had a narrow win at West Virginia on Thursday night. So the Bruins are now #10 in the Coaches' Poll. UCLA's progression since the loss to Oregon has been as follows- #25 (week 10), #18 (week 11), #15 (week 12), #12 (last week), #10 (this week). Slowly but surely.
Arizona and Arizona State are the only other Pac-12 teams in the top 25 in the Coaches' Poll, as they moved up one spot each (passing Ole Miss) with easy wins over Utah and Washington State, respectively.
And in the AP poll, we have the following results for the most recent poll-
| 1 |  |
Florida State (37)
Record: 11-0
|
PV Rank
1Points
1,458 |
| 2 |  |
Alabama (21)
Record: 10-1
|
2
1,445
|
| 3 |  |
Oregon (2)
Record: 10-1
|
3
1,393
|
| 4 |  |
Record: 10-1
|
4
1,301
|
| 5 |  |
Record: 9-1
|
6
1,234
|
| 6 |  |
Record: 9-1
|
5
1,233
|
| 7 |  |
Record: 10-1
|
7
1,163
|
| 8 |  |
Record: 9-2
|
9
1,002
|
| 9 |  |
Record: 9-2
|
11
998
|
| 10 |  |
Record: 9-2
|
10
971
|
| 11 |  |
Record: 8-2
|
12
898
|
| 12 |  |
Record: 9-2
|
15
807
|
| 13 |  |
Record: 9-2
|
13
790
|
| 14 |  |
Record: 9-2
|
14
764
|
| 15 |  |
Record: 8-3
|
16
597
|
| 16 |  |
Record: 9-2
|
17
581
|
| 17 |  |
Record: 9-2
|
19
525
|
| 18 |  |
Record: 8-3
|
8
398
|
| 19 |  |
Record: 11-0
|
18
384
|
| 20 |  |
Record: 8-3
|
23
363
|
| 21 |  |
Record: 10-1
|
22
346
|
| 22 |  |
Record: 8-3
|
31
232
|
| 23 |  |
Record: 8-3
|
27
198
|
| 24 |  |
Record: 8-3
|
28
191
|
| 25 |  |
Record: 9-2
|
28
96
|
In the AP poll, as you can see, UCLA leapfrogged Michigan State, despite Michigan State manhandling conference foe Rutgers. I am all for it (the leapfrogging, not the manhandling). Arizona passed Arizona State in the AP poll, which makes sense after Arizona stomped Utah on the road.
Next up will be the College Football Playoff committee rankings. These come out late afternoon on Tuesday. This committee, including Pat Haden, meet in person to put together the rankings. Committee members need to recuse themselves when the discussion turns to their team. So I imagine that the conversation will go like this-
Committee chair Jeff Long (Arkansas AD)- "Pat, you need to leave the room, while we discuss your sorry ass excuse for a team."
PH- "Sorry ass?"
JL- "Yes, sorry ass. We didn't have you in the rankings at all two weeks ago. But then you brought really good danishes and coffee for everybody last week. So we moved you in at #19. And what did your team do? There wasn't a player from your team in the same zip code on that first TD pass to Lucien. And there wasn't a player from your team in the same zip code when Hundley waltzed into the end zone on his TD run. Like I said, sorry ass."
PH- "Listen, we could have done a little better. Is it my fault that we have players who do things like lie about being the human equivalent of Lassie, rescuing a nephew? Actually, don't answer that question. But UCLA is a great team. You need to move them way up in the rankings. Nobody could have come close to them on Saturday. So don't punish my team just because we played a real opponent, instead of those stupid SEC joke games. I'll leave now, but I only have one other comment. Condi- if they are out of the blueberry danish, I will pick up a pumpkin muffin for you, if that's okay."
So hopefully, the committee will take to heart the thought that UCLA is solid, and deserves to be right in the hunt going into the Stanford game. And hopefully, the committee will also take to heart the thought that Southern Cal is sorry ass, and will kick them into the stratosphere.
As always, your thoughts and observations are most welcome. Fire away.