In the final AP Top-25 Poll of the year, the Auburn Tigers, with a convincing, 56-17 win over South Carolina in the SEC Championship Game, took the No. 1 spot away from the Oregon Ducks. The fall to No. 2 in the AP Poll ended the Ducks string of seven consecutive weeks atop the poll. Auburn garnered 36 first-place votes while Oregon picked-up 23. Last week, the first place votes were flipped, with Oregon picking up 36 and Auburn 23.
The rest of the top-5 stayed the same, with TCU, Wisconsin and Stanford rounding it out. Again this week, TCU picked-up one first place vote. The only other change in the top-10 came when Oklahoma jumped Boise State, taking over the No. 9 spot. The Broncos fell one place to No. 10.
Outside of Oregon and Stanford, no other Pac-10 team was in the top-25 in the final rankings. In fact, no Pac-10 teams even received votes this week. With only four bowl-eligible teams -- Stanford, Oregon, Arizona and Washington -- and two of those teams at 6-6, the rankings were not unexpected. Future Pac-12 member Utah did move up one spot, checking-in at No. 20 this week.
The AP Poll is purely for entertainment purposes and plays no part in the BCS rankings. Oregon and Auburn, with undefeated seasons, are expected to top the rankings and play for the BCS National Championship in Glendale, Arizona. The final BCS rankings will be released later this evening in a live show on ESPN. That will be followed by the BCS Bowl Selection Show -- two hours of bowl announcements and analysis, live on ESPN.