USC Sports Media Poll: Week 5 College Football Top 25
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This week there were two games with national championship implications. Both featured a pair of Top 11 squads looking to propel themselves toward the top of the BCS heap.
In one game, No. 1 Alabama thoroughly dismantled Florida, who we had ranked No. 11 overall last week. At the same time, previous No. 4 Oregon staged a comeback after falling behind 21-3 to knock off No. 6 Stanford to gain the inside track to the Pac-10 Conference title.
There was supposed to be a similar conference-swaying battle in the Big 12. But instead the Red River Shootout between Texas and Oklahoma turned into a dud of mediocrity.
Another week means another evaluation of the top teams in the USC Sports Media College Football Top 25 poll.
This week our poll represents four different USC campus media outlets and two successful USC-focused blogs.
The voters (in alphabetical order): Whitney Blaine from USC's television-multimedia news operation ATVN, Joey Kaufman of the SB Nation blog Conquest Chronicles, Kenny Legan from the student newspaper Daily Trojan, Alejandro Madrid of the Fansided blog Reign of Troy, Tommy Morris from the sports debate television show Platforum on Trojan Vision and Shotgun Spratling from Neon Tommy.
Note: The "high" and "low" columns represent the highest and lowest individual ranking each team received this week.
| Rank | Team | High | Low | W-L | Comment |
| 1(1) | Alabama Crimson Tide | 1 | 1 | 5-0 | Alabama dominated Florida and it looks like nobody will stop them until Auburn rolls into town for the Iron Bowl. (Legan) |
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| 2 (4) | Oregon Ducks | 2 | 2 | 5-0 | Oregon got off to a slow start but only because the Ducks turned the ball over twice. Once they settled down, not only did the offense explode, the defense shut down arguably the second best offense in the conference. (Legan) |
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| 3 (2) | Ohio St. Buckeyes | 3 | 4 | 5-0 | Can you really justify placing the Buckeyes, who finished with just 290 yards of total offense in an 11-point win over Illinois, ahead of Oregon? I find it hard. (Kaufman) |
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| 4 (3) | Boise St. Broncos | 3 | 4 | 4-0 | Boise State rolled up 600+ yards against New Mexico State but is anyone surprised? They've now outscored the Aggies 208-7 in their last three meetings. (Spratling) |
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| 5 (5) | TCU Horned Frogs | 5 | 7 | 5-0 | Of their first eight games, TCU only had to travel outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth area once and that was against Colorado State, who they handily defeated 27-0. (Spratling) |
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| 6 (9) | Auburn Tigers | 5 | 10 | 5-0 | QB Cam Newton is on the Heisman watch, especially after throwing the longest pass (94 yards) in school history on Saturday. He also is the leading rusher for the 8th-ranked rushing attack. On the other side of the ball, Auburn has the SEC's second-best rush defense. (Blaine) |
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| 7 (8) | Oklahoma Sooners | 5 | 9 | 5-0 | The Sooners defeated Texas 28-20 in the annual Red River Rivalry but isn’t everybody beating up on the Longhorns these days? OU is 5-0 and is, in all likelihood, the best team in the Big 12 South. (Kaufman) |
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| 8 (7) | Nebraska Huskers | 5 | 12 | 4-0 | I'm still waiting to see how Nebraska plays against a real team. They will get the chance this Thursday when they travel to Kansas State. (Morris) |
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| 9 (13) | Arkansas Razorbacks | 8 | 11 | 3-1 | The Razorbacks’ lone loss came in the final minutes against top-ranked Alabama. Judging by the Crimson Tide's recent play, it’s hard to punish Arkansas much for that. (Kaufman) |
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| 10 (14) | Arizona Wildcats | 8 | 12 | 4-0 | Arizona receiver Juron Criner got the game-winning touchdown with just over a minute to go against a bad Cal team. Once they face tougher Pac-10 competition we will know if they are Top 10 material. (Blaine) |
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| 11 (15) | Utah Utes | 9 | 17 | 4-0 | Utah ranks in the Top 10 in both points scored and points against. They get a chance to show once more what they can do against a BCS conference opponent when they travel to Iowa State this weekend. (Spratling) |
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| 12 (6) | Stanford Cardinal | 11 | 14 | 4-1 | The Cardinal have not won a game while ranked in the Top 10 in 40 years. Even though they jumped out to a 21-3 lead against Oregon and had 518 yards of offense, they turned the ball over three times and couldn't stop LaMichael James (257 yards rushing). (Spratling) |
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| 13 (12) | LSU Tigers | 9 | 21 | 5-0 | Les Miles is the king of clock mismanagement but the wins continue to pile up in Baton Rouge. The defense is aggressive and the Tigers could be a national title contender if they had some semblance of an offense. (Madrid) |
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| T14 (18) | Iowa Hawkeyes | 12 | 18 | 4-1 | The Hawkeyes held Penn State to just 54 rushing yards and three points. The 21-point margin was the largest in the Iowa-Penn State series. (Spratling) |
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| T14 (17) | Miami Hurricanes | 12 | 16 | 3-1 | Miami forced Clemson into six turnovers. Of Clemson's four fourth quarter drives, Miami created three turnovers and stopped the Tigers on a fourth-and-1. (Spratling) |
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| 16 (11) | Florida Gators | 14 | 19 | 4-1 | Urban Meyer wishes Tim Tebow was still around. Florida's offense didn't have a chance against the Alabama defense. After a period of greatness, Florida has come back to reality. (Madrid) |
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| 17 (18) | Michigan Wolverines | 13 | 19 | 5-0 | We could have our third sophomore Heisman in the last four years. Against Indiana, “Shoelace” Robinson finished with 277 yards passing and 217 yards rushing. Oh, the Wolverines are 5-0 too. (Morris & Kaufman) |
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| 18 (22) | Michigan St. Spartans | 15 | 20 | 5-0 | Sparty wasn't getting a lot of credit for beating Notre Dame and some directional schools, but they have believers now after their upset of Wisconsin. (Madrid) |
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| 19 (20) | South Carolina Gamecocks | 18 | 20 | 3-1 | The Gamecocks have had a week to lick their wounds after the loss to Auburn. They have the opportunity to snap back into the national mix when they host No. 1 Alabama Saturday. (Spratling) |
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| 20 (24) | Nevada Wolfpack | 16 | 23 | 4-0 | It appears Chris Petersen’s bunch at Boise State has a challenger for the WAC title. The Broncos' hands will be full with a Wolfpack squad that certainly can make waves offensively. (Kaufman) |
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| 21 (10) | Wisconsin Badgers | 19 | 22 | 4-1 | Talented freshman James White had 235 all-purpose yards and rushed for a pair of touchdowns against Michigan State and was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the second consecutive week. The Badgers also have a beast in defensive end J.J. Watt. (Blaine) |
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| 22 (NR) | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | 19 | NR | 4-0 | Oklahoma State will spend just two weeks on this list unless they answer some defensive questions. They are currently 91st in the country in scoring defense, giving up 29.5 points per game. (Spratling) |
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| 23 (NR) | Florida St. Seminoles | 21 | NR | 4-1 | Florida State leads the nation with 25 sacks. That pressure could force Miami's Jacory Harris into hurried throws and interceptions when the two Florida foes face off Saturday. (Spratling) |
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| T24 (NR) | West Virginia Mountaineers | 23 | NR | 4-1 | West Virginia will look to rebound from the LSU loss against UNLV. It will be the final tune-up prior to their conference schedule. (Spratling) |
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| T24 (NR) | Air Force Falcons | 24 | NR | 4-1 | Air Force finally ended a seven-game losing streak to Navy. They lead the nation, averaging 373.6 on the ground. (Spratling) |
Others receiving votes: Kansas State, Northwestern, Missouri, Baylor
Dropped Out: USC Trojans (LW: 16), Texas Longhorns (LW: 21), Penn State Nittany Lions (LW: 23), North Carolina State Wolfpack (LW: 25)
To reach reporter Shotgun Spratling, click here, or follow him on Twitter @BlueWorkhorse.
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