Idle UCLA Moves Up, USC Rejoins AP Top 25
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Less than a week before their annual Pac-12 showdown, UCLA moved up three spots in The Associated Press college football poll while USC rejoined the Top 25 thanks to Thursday's win.
The Bruins (8-2 overall, 5-2 in the Pac-12) moved from No. 14 to No. 11 despite not playing this weekend. They have won four straight since losing to No. 3 Oregon in mid-October.
USC (7-3, 6-2), which is currently leading the Pac-12 South, returned to the poll at No. 24 after defeating California 38-30 on Thursday night.
Florida State is No. 1 again in another comeback of sorts for a team with a season full of remarkable rallies.
The Seminoles (10-0) were preseason No. 1 before being replaced by Mississippi State in October. The Bulldogs (9-1) had a run of six weeks at No. 1 stopped by a 25-20 loss at Alabama on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide moved up four spots to No. 2. The Bulldogs dropped to fourth.
The Seminoles received 43 first-place votes from the media panel. Alabama got 16 and No. 3 Oregon got one.
Florida State is the only unbeaten team remaining from the Big Five conferences after Jameis Winston and the 'Noles erased a halftime deficit for the fifth time this season in a 30-24 victory at Miami.
TCU remained fifth after a close call against Kansas. Baylor is sixth, just five points behind its Big 12 rival.
Ohio State moved up to seventh, followed by Mississippi, Georgia and Michigan State, rounding out the top 10.
The latest College Football Playoff rankings come out Tuesday.
Notre Dame, Clemson and LSU all dropped out of the AP Top 25 after losses. No. 18 Missouri and No. 23 Oklahoma joined USC in making their return.
The USC-UCLA game is slated for 5 p.m. Saturday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
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