With a dominant win against Arizona that improved Utah's record to 10-1 on the season, the Utes are one of the key teams moving up in the latest update to the coaches' college football rankings. Utah is up two spots from No. 8 to No. 6 after going on the road and beating the Wildcats 35-7. That move up was aided, interestingly enough, by a Pac-12 upset that might have hurt the league's chances of making the College Football Playoff. Oregon rallied late after trailing Arizona State for much of the game, but the Ducks' defeat has them falling in the Coaches Poll from No. 6 to No. 13.
Now if Utah can beat Colorado next week and Oregon the following week in the Pac-12 title game, it will have an argument as one of the top four teams in the country on Selection Sunday. But that win against Oregon carries a little less sizzle now that the Ducks have a second loss on the season.
The top five all remained in order -- LSU, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia and Alabama -- but behind that group we saw some shuffling following the Week 13 action. Baylor moved up three spots to No. 10 as it clinched its first-ever Big 12 title game bid with a win against Texas, Penn State dropped three spots to No. 12 after losing to Ohio State and near the end of the top 25 we see teams like Navy and USC making a return to the rankings after finishing in Others Receiving Votes a week ago.
Check out the entire Coaches Poll below, via USA Today:
- LSU (52 first-place votes)
- Ohio State (7)
- Clemson (4)
- Georgia
- Alabama
- Utah
- Oklahoma
- Florida
- Minnesota
- Baylor
- Michigan
- Penn State
- Oregon
- Wisconsin
- Notre Dame
- Auburn
- Cincinnati
- Memphis
- Boise State
- Iowa
- Oklahoma State
- Appalachian State
- Virginia Tech
- Navy
- USC
Dropped out: No. 21 SMU, No. 24 Texas A&M, No. 25 San Diego State
Others Receiving Votes: Air Force 74; Iowa State 55; Virginia 32; Texas A&M 26; UL Lafayette 18; Southern Methodist 18; Wake Forest 5; San Diego State 4; Indiana 2; Hawaii 2; Temple 1.