The Week 12 USA Today/Coaches Poll has officially been released and there has been a surprising amount of movement in spite of few upsets. Stanford won a tough defensive battle over Arizona State and it was enough to impress some coaches. The Cardinal have taken over the No. 8 spot in the Coaches Poll by leapfrogging the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Nebraska handled their business by defeating Kansas 20-3 but they still lost some votes. Stanford went from trailing Nebraska by nine points to leading Nebraska by five points. This swing probably isn't enough to move Stanford up higher in the BCS standings, but it certainly will help them in those rankings.
One intriguing story is that Boise State leapfrogged TCU to take over the No. 3 spot. Oregon and Auburn have a strong hold on the top two spots and Boise's points differential in the Coaches Poll is greater than TCU's was when they were No. 3 (if that makes sense). Neither school is making any inroads towards a BCS national title game appearance at this point.
Stanford travels to Berkeley to face Cal in The Big Game next Saturday, which will be a tough one for the Cardinal. They're playing much better than Cal, but rivalry games are never easy, and the Cal defense is playing quite well at home. There aren't a ton of big matchups in the top ten next week, but Wisconsin has to travel to Ann Arbor to face a solid Michigan team, while Nebraska travels to face No. 25 Texas A&M. Boise State faces a solid Fresno State team that could give them trouble.
Full poll is as follows:
- Oregon
- Auburn
- Boise State
- TCU
- Wisconsin
- LSU
- Ohio State
- Stanford
- Nebraska
- Oklahoma State
- Michigan State
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Oklahoma
- Virginia Tech
- Missouri
- South Carolina
- Nevada
- Texas A&M
- Iowa
- Miami
- Mississippi State
- Arizona
- Utah
- Northwestern