The Biggest Winners And Losers In The Week 6 College Football Polls

Looking at both the AP and USA Today Polls provides a bit of insight on the winners and losers in the college football rankings.

Oregon is the big winner in the Week 6 polls. The Ducks are now third in both polls, and squarely situated ahead of both Boise State and TCU in most voters’ minds. With computer formulas unlikely to reward the non-BCS teams for running through lesser schedules, it seems clear that Oregon’s moved past both into the waiting room for the BCS Championship Game, and should either Alabama or Ohio State falter, the Ducks, not the Broncos or the Horned Frogs, will slot into a potential chance for a national championship.

Michigan State is one of the bigger movers in either poll, and slips one spot front of Michigan in both polls just a week before the rivals square off. That’s the Spartans’ reward for beating a highly-rated Wisconsin team.

Elsewhere, idle Arizona benefited from carnage in front of it and moved up in both polls, and Air Force and Northwestern come in 25th in the AP and USA Today Polls, respectively, earning their first rankings of the year.

The big losers this week are Texas and USC, both newly unranked. For the Longhorns, it’s the first time they’ve been unranked in the AP Poll since Week 9 of 2000. (USC was unranked that week, too, in case you were wondering about that trivia question.)

Stanford got to taste defeat for the first time this season, and tumbled in both polls as a result. Of course, the coaches now have Stanford ranked below Michigan, which should be an indication that some people are just not paying attention.

In fact, both the coaches and the AP voters deserve a bit of blame for some strange choices. The AP miscue is more or less benign, as voters elevated Oklahoma past idle Nebraska. I’m not sure what the Sooners did against Texas to merit a move, but it was apparently enough for the AP voters.

The coaches, though, have some issues up and down their poll. LSU moved up despite needing a last-play penalty to beat Tennessee. Stanford lags behind Michigan. Florida is one spot ahead of Arkansas despite losing to their common opponent, Alabama by three more touchdowns. Oklahoma State and Missouri, unimpressive against BCS conference opponents Texas A&M and Illinois, are ranked ahead of Nevada, which dismantled Cal. No week is ever a particularly great one for the coaches poll, but this one in particular rankles.

And, of course, Boise State and TCU shut out opponents, and still saw Oregon slot in at third.