College Football

College Football Rankings, Week 8: South Carolina falls, Notre Dame rises in AP Top 25

Unanimous No. 1 Alabama continues to lead the way in the AP Poll, while Florida climbs to No. 3 and Notre Dame climbs to No. 5 in the latest edition of the poll.

by Asher Feldman

Oct 14, 2012, 4:30 PM UTC

Jonathan Daniel - Getty Images

As teams suffering their first losses of the season moved out of the way, the remaining undefeated teams – including the Florida Gators and Notre Dame Fighting Irish – climbed significantly in the latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll, as the season hits its midway point.

Losses from the previously highly touted South Carolina Gamecocks and West Virginia Mountaineers opened up slots for the No. 3 Gators and No. 5 Irish to move up into this week. Both teams are now securely in the top five but continue to chase the steady No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide and No. 2 Oregon Ducks.

The Kansas State Wildcats are in at No. 4, having stayed undefeated, while Big 12 favorites such as Texas and West Virginia have suffered losses in the previous weeks, and are right in the thick of things at the season’s midway mark.

Alabama collects all 60 of the AP Poll’s first-place votes, while Oregon sits 64 points behind the Tide in second place.

The LSU Tigers land at No. 6 after topping the Gamecocks, which themselves fall to No. 9. The bowl ineligible Ohio State Buckeyes are right behind the TIgers at No. 7, while the Oregon State Beavers round out the top eight.

Here’s this week’s entire AP Top 25 poll:

Rank	Team	Votes
1	Alabama	1,500
2	Oregon	1,436
3	Florida	1,361
4	Kansas State	1,296
5	Notre Dame	1,283
6	LSU	1,153
7	Ohio State	1,071
8	Oregon State	1,050
9	South Carolina	1,042
10	Oklahoma	994
11	USC	874
12	Florida State	836
13	Georgia	753
14	Clemson	673
15	Mississippi State	591
16	Louisville	574
17	West Virginia	552
18	Texas Tech	444
19	Rutgers	405
20	Texas A&M	379
21	Cincinnati	294
22	Stanford	242
23	Michigan	177
24	Boise State	133
25	Ohio	104