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College Football Rankings, Week 8: Can USC Rise Above The Wreckage?

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The USC Trojans played their best game of the season on Saturday, building a 42-0 halftime lead over the California Golden Bears en route to a 48-14 win. The win snapped the Trojans' two-game losing streak, but was it enough to garner any votes in the Associated Press college football poll?

After their loss to Stanford last week, USC was wiped off the face of the AP poll, not even in the "others receiving votes" section, a spot they occupied one week before. However, there were a lot of losses this week among the ranked teams:

  • No. 1 Ohio State lost to No. 18 Wisconsin
  • No. 5 Nebraska lost at home to unranked Texas
  • No. 10 South Carolina lost to unranked Kentucky
  • No. 12 Arkansas lost to No. 7 Auburn
  • No. 19 Nevada lost to unranked Hawaii
  • No. 22 Florida lost at home to unranked Mississipi State
  • No. 23 Air Force lost to unranked San Diego State
  • No. 24 Oregon State lost to unranked Washington
  • No. 26 Michigan lost to No. 15 Iowa
  • No. 28 North Carolina State lost to unranked East Carolina

That's seven teams of the 32 teams that received votes in last week's poll that lost to unranked teams. It probably won't be enough to vault USC into the top 25, but they will at the very least receive some votes, and that's a start.

Because it is on NCAA probation, USC is not eligible for the USA Today coaches poll.