College Football Polls 2012: Comparing Week 7 AP and Coaches' Polls

The South Carolina Gamecocks were one of the biggest winners in this week's polls.
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College football fans got everything they wanted and then some out of Week 6, with three games pitting Top 15 teams against one another, a couple of shocking upsets and an overtime thriller. That has led to some inevitable changes in this week's AP and USA Today coaches' polls.

Who moved up, who moved down and who got snubbed? Click the "Begin Slideshow" button to find out!

Who's In and Who's Out at the Back of the Top 25?

The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs have made their way into the Top 25.
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The Cincinnati Bearcats and Texas A&M Aggies are new to the AP poll this week. So are the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, Boise State Broncos and Michigan Wolverines, who round out the Top 25 in that order.

In the coaches' poll, the Aggies and Broncos are ranked No. 21 and No. 22, respectively, just slightly ahead of the TCU Horned Frogs, who lost to the Iowa State Cyclones without suspended starting quarterback Casey Pachall.

TCU is definitely deserving of its Top 25 ranking, even though the Horned Frogs lost to Iowa State. Pachall should return soon, and the Horned Frogs offense will get back on track. If Pachall's suspension lasts more than a couple of weeks and TCU continues to struggle, though, the Horned Frogs will likely fall out of the rankings.

Louisiana Tech comes in at No. 24 in the coaches' poll, and Iowa State finishes off the Top 25 for this week.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers, Northwestern Wildcats and Texas Tech Red Raiders all lost over the weekend and fell out of the coaches' poll.

Nos. 20-16 Breakdown

The Mississippi State Bulldogs are slowly creeping up the Top 25 polls.
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The next dispute in the coaches' poll is the No. 16 spot, which is occupied by the unbeaten Louisville Cardinals. The Stanford Cardinal are only 51 points behind Louisville, according to the coaches, but they are ahead in the AP rankings. Stanford came in at No. 17 in the AP poll, while Louisville moved up one place to No. 18.

On the other hand, Stanford is ranked No. 17 in the coaches' poll, just ahead of the unbeaten Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Dan Mullen's Bulldogs are ranked slightly ahead of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Cincinnati Bearcats and Texas A&M Aggies in both polls. Those four teams are ranked Nos. 19-22 in the AP poll and take up the Nos. 18-21 spots in the coaches' poll.

The only reason the Bulldogs are still behind Louisville and some of the other teams in the Top 25, despite an unblemished resume, is the fact that Mississippi State lacks a quality win through six weeks of action.

Nos. 15-11 Analysis

Georgia stayed in the Top 15 after being dominated by South Carolina.
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The Georgia Bulldogs and Florida State Seminoles were the two biggest losers of the week in both polls. Both teams slipped seven spots in the coaches' poll and nine places in the AP poll.

The Bulldogs fell all the way back to No. 12 in the coaches' poll and No. 14 in the AP poll. Meanwhile, the Seminoles are the No. 12 team, according to the AP, and were voted No. 11 by the coaches.

Texas rounded out the Top 15 in both polls this week, and the Clemson Tigers are right behind the Longhorns in the AP poll. The Tigers are ranked No. 13 in the coaches' poll, just ahead of the Oregon State Beavers.

These seem like fair rankings for all of the losing teams. Two of the teams in question, Texas and Georgia, lost to teams that are ranked inside the Top Five this week, while the Seminoles had a mental lapse on the road against a tough North Carolina State squad.

For a deeper analysis of Oregon State's ranking, check out the next slide.

Examining the Bottom Half of the Top 10

Florida is unbeaten and ranked No. 6 in the coaches' poll.
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Will Muschamp's Florida Gators are the No. 6 team in the coaches' poll, while the West Virginia Mountaineers are ranked No. 5 in the AP poll.

The Kansas State Wildcats cracked the Top Five in this week's coaches' poll, but fell one spot short in the AP poll. The Wildcats blew out the Kansas Jayhawks with ease over the weekend and likely got the nod over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish because of their road victory over the Oklahoma Sooners two weeks ago.

Speaking of Notre Dame, fans are celebrating in South Bend, as the Fighting Irish ran all over the Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes at Soldier Field to move up three spots in the coaches' poll and two places in the AP poll. Notre Dame is ranked No. 7 in both polls.

Rounding out the Top 10 had to be difficult for this week's voters, as the final three spots are radically different in both polls.

LSU slipped five spots to No. 8 in the minds of the coaches, but the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes are ranked No. 8 in the AP poll. To be fair, though, the Buckeyes would probably be ranked eighth in the coaches' poll if they were eligible.

The Tigers are ranked right behind the Buckeyes in the AP poll, while the USC Trojans vaulted back into the Top 10 this week at No. 9 in the coaches' poll. USC only moved up two places to No. 11 in the AP poll.

Oklahoma rounds out the coaches' Top 10, but the 4-0 Oregon State Beavers rightfully occupy the No. 10 position in the AP poll. Additionally, the Sooners moved up from No. 17 to No. 13 in this week's AP rankings.

It's understandable that the coaches would rank the Beavers behind Oklahoma and three other marquee schools with a loss because Oregon State has not exactly been impressive from the perspective of the eye test.

However, the Beavers have won all of their games, two of which were against ranked opponents, and have earned the No. 10 ranking based on their unblemished record.

Breaking Down the Top Five

Steve Spurrier has South Carolina fans dreaming of a national title this season.
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The Alabama Crimson Tide are still the nation's No. 1 team in both polls, and the Oregon Ducks have not been able to close the gap at No. 2 despite a 31-point victory over the formerly ranked Washington Huskies.

Alabama did not play on Saturday, but the Tide still earned all 60 first-place votes in the AP poll and were ranked No. 1 by 58 of the voters in the coaches' poll. The only other first-place vote went to the Ducks.

The new No. 3 team in both major polls this week is the South Carolina Gamecocks, who dominated the Georgia Bulldogs in a matchup of Top 10 teams over the weekend. The Gamecocks are now 6-0 and have established themselves as national title contenders, which is something the pollsters clearly recognized.

The differences in the two polls start at the No. 4 spot, which is occupied by the West Virginia Mountaineers in the coaches' poll and the Florida Gators in the AP poll.

The Mountaineers offense continued its prolific start to the season on Saturday by outscoring the Texas Longhorns 48-45. Meanwhile, the Florida Gators topped the reigning SEC champion LSU Tigers at home 14-6 in a defensive battle.

West Virginia and Florida both make a strong case for the No. 4 spot given their marquee wins, but the Gators got the better victory in this writer's opinion and should be ranked ahead of the Mountaineers this week.