Who will be No. 2? College football poll projection after Ohio State's loss - USA Today
Ohio State will drop as far as No. 9 in the US LBM Coaches Poll after losing 30-18 at Southern California.
Ranked No. 2 heading into Saturday, the Buckeyes will fall behind one-loss or unbeaten teams in Georgia, Indiana, Utah, Notre Dame and UCLA.
The slide will stop as early as No. 7, which would keep OSU ahead of 7-1 Kentucky. The Wildcats were off on Saturday but own wins against LSU and South Carolina.
But OSU could also fall to No. 9, trailing Kentucky and 7-1 Brigham Young. Voters are unlikely to drop the Buckeyes behind Alabama or Texas, which were No. 10 and No. 11 in last week’s poll, despite the Longhorns’ head-to-head win in September.
The poll will start with Miami still at No. 1 before a reshuffling to match the Buckeyes’ drop. Here’s how the top 10 of this week’s Coaches Poll should look:
Miami doesn’t make it easy. After taking two overtimes to beat Florida State, the Hurricanes needed a late charge to beat North Carolina 38-35. They’ll still be No. 1, but the Hurricanes are playing like the best team in the country.
Georgia forced three turnovers in the first half and gave Florida the big-brother treatment, keeping the Gators at arm’s length in a never-in-doubt 27-8 win. As the only SEC with one loss heading into November, the Bulldogs are the league’s safest bet to make the conference championship game and the playoff.
Things are not easy for the defending national champions. To beat Minnesota, the Hoosiers needed to nail a 60-yard field goal as time expired, score in the first extra frame and then make a goal-line stand to keep the Gophers from evening the score. Curt Cignetti has a decision to make at quarterback after more struggles from Josh Hoover.
Utah led 42-6 at halftime and beat Cincinnati 49-25 one week after the Bearcats knocked off Texas Tech. Devon Dampier had a day: 22 of 29 passing for 260 yards, 45 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
The Irish were never really in sync in a 35-13 win at Navy, though they were able to climb out of a 13-7 hole with touchdowns heading into and coming out of halftime. Notre Dame can’t afford another sluggish start against the Hurricanes.
After beating Nevada 27-0, UCLA can lose at least once and probably twice in November and still make the playoff. The Bruins are 8-0 for the first time since 2005.
Kentucky is also closing in on an unexpected playoff berth, but the Wildcats are not going to have things easy this month. There are no breaks in November: Tennessee and Missouri are on the road and Florida and Louisville at home.
OSU could drop another spot to No. 9 after losing 30-18 to Southern California. While Brigham Young only has one loss, it has not played well outside of a win against Notre Dame. Of much bigger concern for the Buckeyes is the state of the offense with Luke Fahey in place of Julian Sayin.
Beating Arizona State 27-20 wasn’t quite the response BYU was hoping for after the loss to Central Florida. After rushing for 116 yards on 36 carries last week, the Cougars had just 47 yards on 30 carries against the Sun Devils.
Alabama should hold onto this spot in advance of a winner-take-all matchup this Saturday against LSU. The Crimson Tide have a very good win against Kentucky but shouldn’t end up with the overall résumé to make the playoff as a three-loss team.
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