The Oregon Ducks cleaned up in the rankings this morning, gathering 50 of 60 first place votes in the USA Today Coaches poll to easily keep the top spot in the poll. Oregon ran over UCLA on Thursday night, beating the Bruins 60-13. The Ducks 50 first place votes easily allowed them to distance themselves from No. 2 Boise State, who garnered only five first place votes.
Rounding out the top-5 were Auburn, fresh off a win over LSU, TCU and Michigan State, who took Northwestern down to the wire before pulling away to stay undefeated. Future Pac-12 member Utah also checks in at No. 7, quietly stalking the top-5 with their consistent play this season.
The Stanford Cardinal, after a 38-28 win over the Washington State Cougars, is the second highest ranked Pac-10 team at No. 14. The Cardinal travel to Montlake to take on the inconsistent Washington Huskies this Saturday. Thus far, the only black mark on the Cardinal schedule came at the hands of No. 1 ranked Oregon in Eugene.
Buoyed by a 44-14 win over Washington last night, the Arizona Wildcats sit at No. 16 in the Coaches Poll. The Wildcats are two spots behind Stanford in the USA Today Poll, just like the AP Top-25. The Wildcats are coming off convincing wins over both Washington schools, beating WSU in Pullman two weeks ago, 24-7.
The California Golden Bears, perhaps the most inconsistent team in the Pac-10, somehow received three votes in today's USA Today Poll, showing coaches really don't have time to pay attention to all the games. Convincing win over ASU after getting blown out by USC? Yep, that's worth a vote in the rankings.
The BCS Poll will be out later tonight. With No.1 ranked Oklahoma falling last night, experts are predicting the Auburn Tigers leapfrog Oregon and Boise State for the top spot. Check back later to find out who's got the inside track to the BCS National Championship Game.