New USA Today/Coaches Poll is out

Michigan has finally secure the #2 ranking in the coaches poll, after USC was humbled by unranked Oregon State. USC, after struggling for four consecutive weeks against unranked opponents, finally fell from the #2 spot, down to #9. Ohio State is the unanimous first place selection, receiving all 63 first place votes, for 1575 total points. Michigan is not quite the unanimous second place choice. If Michigan received all 63 second place votes, they would've finished with 1512 points. Instead, they have 1500, meaning that either 12 voters have West Virginia ahead of Michigan in their ballots, or some clown ranked Michigan at #14 (or some combination thereof)

On the one hand, I can recognize why West Virginia could possibly be ranked higher, since they've blown out every opponent they've place this season. On the other hand, Michigan intentionally strays away from blowing out their opposition, and has had a much more difficult schedule then West Virginia thus far. Using the current coach's poll, Michigan has defeated:

#11 Notre Dame (Road)
#17 Wisconsin
#26 Iowa
#33 Penn State (Road)

West Virginia has defeated:

#35 Maryland

This will start to chance next weekend, as the Mountaineers face undefeated #5 Louisville on the road. West Virginia still has #34 Pittsburgh (road) and #15 Rutgers later this season. If West Virginia can win out their schedule, they make a much stronger case for holding onto that #3 seeding, but for now, it is difficult to justify voters ranking the Mountaineers ahead of the Wolverines.

Also of note:

• Clemson drops from #11, down to #19
• Arkensas moves up two spots to #12, ahead of LSU
• #20 Nebraska falls entirely out of the rankings, with a loss to Oklahoma State
• Missouri drops two spots to #25, after a loss to Oklahoma
• #25 Georgia falls out of the rankings, after a 21-14 loss to Florida