USA Today Coach’s Poll: Alabama, Oregon, Notre Dame Finish On Top
By Josh Hill
The final college football rankings of the seasons are rolling in and as expected, Alabama is king of the college football world. However, that was a foregone conclusion after the Crimson Tide bashed in the Irish in the BCS championship game, but outside of the Tide the fun is in seeing how the rest of the rankings stack up.
Oregon has taken a leap into the No. 2 spot after winning the Fiesta Bowl over Kansas State in pretty convincing fashion. Ohio State is expected to finish high in the AP Top 25, but they are nowhere to be seen in the USA Today Coach’s Poll that honor’s only bowl eligible programs. Because of the Buckeye’s absence in USA Today’s poll the Notre Dame Irish only fall to No. 3 and the Georgia Bulldogs pull in at No. 4.
Johnny Football and the Aggies sit alone in the No. 5 spot according to USA Today while Florida, the only SEC team to lose their major bowl game dropped to No. 10 while LSU — who lost the much less meaningful Chick-fil-A Bowl to Clemson– dropped to No. 12.
Three teams that did not previously rank in the USA Today poll as Vanderbilt, Cincinnati and Tulsa all cracked the rankings to finish the season. One team that is notably absent is USC, who started the season in the Top 3 of the Coach’s Poll and fell completely out of the rankings at season’s end.
While this is the final USA Today Coach’s Poll of the 2012 season, fans are already looking ahead 8 months to see what the 2013 preseason poll will look like and what their favorite school’s road to the BCS Championship looks like.
FINAL USA TODAY COACH’S POLL
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | FIRST PLACE VOTES | PREVIOUS RANK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 13-1 | 1400 | 56 | 2 |
| 2 | Oregon | 12-1 | 1322 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Notre Dame | 12-1 | 1253 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Georgia | 12-2 | 1213 | 0 | 5 |
| 5 | Texas A&M | 11-2 | 1171 | 0 | 9 |
| 6 | Stanford | 12-2 | 1167 | 0 | 8 |
| 7 | South Carolina | 11-2 | 1064 | 0 | 10 |
| 8 | Florida St. | 12-2 | 942 | 0 | 12 |
| 9 | Clemson | 11-2 | 916 | 0 | 13 |
| 10 | Florida | 11-2 | 886 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 | Kansas St. | 11-2 | 841 | 0 | 6 |
| 12 | LSU | 10-3 | 775 | 0 | 7 |
| 13 | Louisville | 11-2 | 772 | 0 | 18 |
| 14 | Boise St. | 11-2 | 633 | 0 | 15 |
| 15 | Oklahoma | 10-3 | 600 | 0 | 11 |
| 16 | Northwestern | 10-3 | 580 | 0 | 17 |
| 17 | Utah State | 11-2 | 444 | 0 | 20 |
| 18 | Texas | 9-4 | 398 | 0 | 25 |
| 19 | Oregon St. | 9-4 | 366 | 0 | 14 |
| 20 | Vanderbilt | 9-4 | 248 | 0 | NR |
| 21 | San Jose St. | 11-2 | 244 | 0 | 24 |
| 22 | Cincinnati | 10-3 | 186 | 0 | NR |
| 23 | Nebraska | 10-4 | 175 | 0 | 21 |
| 24 | Northern Illinois | 12-2 | 156 | 0 | 16 |
| 25 | Tulsa | 11-3 | 110 | 0 | NR |
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