Raise your hand if you projected the Beavers being in the top 10 by October. Well, by beating Washington State 19-6 yesterday in Corvallis, Oregon State is now the No. 10 team in the country and surpassed USC as the second highest-ranked team in the Pac-12. Mike Riley’s boys had another defensive masterpiece, keeping the Cougars out of the end zone and limiting the Air Raid attack to just 227 yards of total offense. Three was the magic number for the Beavers’ defense: Jordan Poyer had three interceptions and Scott Crichton registered three sacks. This is Oregon State’s first time in the top 10 since opening the 2001 season at No. 10. Who’s ready for the Civil War?
While the Trojans were passed up by the Beavers, USC did jump two spots to No. 11 in the latest AP rankings. That was in thanks to a great 57 minutes against the Utah Utes on Thursday night. After the Trojans quickly fell behind 14-0 as a result of two fumbles in the first three minutes, Matt Barkley got his guys in gear, throwing for 303 yards and three touchdowns. USC defeated its Pac-12 South foe 38-28, improving to 4-1 overall and inching closer to the top 10.
For a while on Saturday afternoon, it looked like perhaps the Stanford Cardinal would not be a part of this AP Top 25 post. David Shaw’s group was down two touchdowns to Arizona with nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter before Josh Nunes worked his magic, calmly leading the Card down the field on two touchdown drives that were capped off by the quarterback hitting paydirt with his feet. The defense held its ground when it mattered most, forcing a three-and-out to keep the deficit at seven late in the fourth quarter and picking off Matt Scott in overtime. Stanford eventually won 54-48 in OT and moved up one spot to No. 17 in the process. Like USC, Stanford is 4-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
Here is the poll in its entirety:
- Alabama (60)
- Oregon
- South Carolina
- Florida
- West Virginia
- Kansas State
- Notre Dame
- Ohio State
- LSU
- Oregon State
- USC
- Florida State
- Oklahoma
- Georgia
- Texas
- Clemson
- Stanford
- Louisville
- Mississippi State
- Rutgers
- Cincinnati
- Texas A&M
- Louisiana Tech
- Boise State
- Michigan
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