USC Sports Media Poll: Week 8 College Football Top 25
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The ESPN College GameDay curse is alive and three weeks deep now. For the third consecutive week, a No. 1 ranked team in the nation went on the road and lost. Each time, GameDay was there.
This week it was Missouri knocking off Oklahoma after a 16-point fourth quarter. There was a reason why we only had Oklahoma at No. 5. The win sent the fans into a frenzy as the yellow brigade stormed the field and hauled the goalposts out of the stadium, possibly to the nearby Shiloh Bar & Grill.
Michigan State held off Northwestern. Auburn was able to hold off LSU to win a battle of top 10 teams. And the rest of the top 10 dominated their opponents by a combined score of 247-36.
Outside the top 10, Nebraska bounced back to win a barnburner with Oklahoma State and Wisconsin was able to win in a tough environment at Iowa's Kinnick Stadium.
Another week means another evaluation of the top teams in the USC Sports Media College Football Top 25 poll.
This week our poll represents five 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, Dave Dulberg representing USC's student run radio station KXSC, 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) | Oregon Ducks | 1 | 3 | 7-0 | Oregon blasted UCLA 60-13, but the last three sites ESPN College GameDay has visited, the No. 1 team lost on the road. This week, No. 1 (in the AP Poll) visits USC. College Gameday will be there. (Legan) |
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| 2 (4) | Auburn Tigers | 1 | 3 | 8-0 | Cam Newton is now the SEC's all-time leader in rushing yards for a quarterback in a season. I bet Florida wishes they could have looked past his off-the-field issues and kept him in Gainesville. (Morris) |
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| 3 (2) | Boise St. Broncos | 1 | 3 | 6-0 | Auburn and Oregon are too one-dimensional. If Cam Newton gets hurt, Auburn will drop like a rock. If someone can keep up with Oregon's offense (such as USC), the Ducks will choke. Boise State has a great defense and a great offense. (Legan) |
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| 4 (3) | TCU Horned Frogs | 4 | 4 | 8-0 | TCU has allowed a combined 10 points in its first four Mountain West Conference games, meaning that if a team kicks a field goal, it’s above average. The Horned Frog defense leads the nation in points allowed with 9.0 per game. (Kaufman) |
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| 5 (6) | Michigan St. Spartans | 5 | 7 | 8-0 | It's fitting the Spartans travel to ranked-Iowa on Halloween's Eve, because while their record reads 8-0, the boys of East Lansing have yet to determine whether their success is more trick or treat. Mark Dantonio's squad could be in for a rude awakening if it continues the recent pattern of lackluster first halves. (Dulberg) |
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| 6 (13) | Missouri Tigers | 5 | 8 | 7-0 | The Tigers proved that they were a much better team then the former BCS No. 1 on Saturday night. This week, Blaine Gabbert and the Tigers to travel to Lincoln to try to prove they are for real. (Morris) |
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| 7 (7) | Alabama Crimson Tide | 5 | 9 | 7-1 | Alabama's running game has been slowed and against Tennessee, the Crimson Tide allowed their first 100-yard rusher since 2007. But Julio Jones set a school record with 221 receiving yards on a career-high 12 catches. (Spratling) |
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| 8 (9) | Utah Utes | 5 | 8 | 7-0 | The Utes have to be careful not to look past Air Force before their showdown with TCU. QB Jordan Wynn racked up some serious stats last week, passing for 321 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also leads the MWC with a QB rating of 168.6. (Morris) |
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| 9 (10) | Wisconsin Badgers | 8 | 11 | 7-1 | Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema may have to make some serious depth changes after his leading receiver Nick Toon, backup running back James White and future NFL tight end Lance Kendricks were banged up against Iowa. (Blaine) |
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| 10 (11) | Ohio St. Buckeyes | 10 | 12 | 7-1 | Terrelle Pryor became only the ninth Buckeye to throw for more than 5,000 career yards as Ohio State stomped Purdue. (Spratling) |
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| 11 (5) | Oklahoma Sooners | 9 | 14 | 6-1 | After squeaking by mediocre teams early in the season, the Sooners finally fell victim to a solid team in Missouri. By allowing the opening kickoff to be returned, they put themselves behind the 8-ball early. (Madrid) |
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| 12 (12) | Stanford Cardinal | 9 | 15 | 6-1 | Washington State's Jeff Tuel outplayed Andrew Luck, but Stanford got the victory moving to 6-1 for the first time since 1970. (Spratling) |
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| 13 (8) | LSU Tigers | 12 | 15 | 7-1 | LSU entered last week as the 6th best rushing defense, but Auburn shredded that defense. LSU allowed 440 rushing yards -- the most in school history. (Spratling) |
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| 14 (18) | Arizona Wildcats | 13 | 16 | 6-1 | Even without heralded quarterback Nick Foles to run the offense, the Wildcats threw up 44 points and shut down Jake Locker. The glue holding the Cats' nearly perfect season together is the nation's seventh-ranked defense. (Madrid & Dulberg) |
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| 15 (15) | Nebraska Huskers | 13 | 16 | 6-1 | Nebraska had a strong comeback performance against Oklahoma State, in which we learned Taylor Martinez can actually pass. (Legan) |
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| 16 (16) | Florida St. Seminoles | 15 | 16 | 6-1 | Jimbo Fisher's team barely scathed by Boston College in a 24-19 win. The nailbiter should be motivation to thrash upcoming opponent North Carolina State under primetime lights. (Blaine) |
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| 17 (20) | South Carolina Gamecocks | 17 | 20 | 5-2 | The Gamecocks got their first SEC win on the road in two years snapping a seven-game losing streak. (Spratling) |
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| 18 (14) | Iowa Hawkeyes | 18 | 21 | 5-2 | It’s reasonable to assume that the Hawkeyes may have been looking ahead to this week’s home contest with undefeated Michigan State. Iowa allowed Wisconsin to convert twice on fourth down during the Badgers' game-winning drive. (Kaufman) |
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| 19 (21) | Arkansas Razorbacks | 17 | 23 | 5-2 | Ryan Mallett failed to make it through the entire game for the second week in a row after leaving with a shoulder injury, but sophomore running back Knile Davis picked up the slack rushing for a career-high 176 yards and three scores. (Blaine) |
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| 20 (17) | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | 17 | 21 | 6-1 | Have you seen Justin Blackmon's highlights? The Cowboys receiver has already totaled 62 catches for 1,112 yards and 14 touchdowns. He is on pace to amass more than 2,000 yards, which would be an NCAA record. (Kaufman) |
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| 21 (25) | Virginia Tech Hokies | 20 | 25 | 6-2 | Virginia Tech is right where many expected they would be at this point: atop the ACC standings. If it weren't for the two opening losses, they might also be atop our Top 25. (Spratling) |
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| 22 (24) | USC Trojans | 19 | 25 | 5-2 | Did the Trojans play Saturday? No. But ESPN’s College Gameday is coming to USC for this week’s matchup with Oregon, and well, you can’t have the host team be unranked, right?. (Kaufman) |
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| 23 (NR) | Miami Hurricanes | 20 | 25 | 5-2 | Running back Damien Berry rushed for more than 100 yards for the fourth consecutive game. The Canes scored the final 30 points in a 33-10 beatdown of North Carolina. (Spratling) |
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| 24 (23) | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | 18 | NR | 6-2 | The party in Starkville continues as the Bulldogs have won five consecutive games, including against Florida and Georgia. Former Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen has MSU eligible for a bowl game for the first time in years. (Kaufman) |
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| 25 (NR) | Baylor Bears | 23 | NR | 6-2 | Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Houston -- all teams from the state of Texas that aren't ranked. Instead, it's TCU and the Baylor Bears in the Top 25. The Bears will have to go to Austin and take down the Longhorns if they want to keep it that way. (Spratling) |
Others receiving votes: Nevada, San Diego State, Navy
Dropped Out: West Virginia (LW: 19), Texas (LW: 21)
To reach reporter Shotgun Spratling, click here, or follow him on Twitter @BlueWorkhorse.
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