College Football Recruiting 2012: Winners and Losers from October

With another "Month That Was..." kind of recap, I'm going to give you some winners and losers for the month of October, recruiting-style.

There was some big news that shook out this past month, resulting in great news for some programs and horrible news for others. For this read, I'm going to run down some of the big names in recruiting and tell you which programs were winners and which were losers.

Here we go.

Loser: Florida State

This month wasn't great for the 'Noles. They suffered some pretty deflating losses on the field, and with the way Clemson has played, are just about out of their ACC divisional race.

But it gets worse. On the trail, the Seminoles learned that their class co-headliner, DE Mario Edwards, who is ranked as the No.1 player in the country by ESPNU, is looking around.

LSU and Oklahoma are recruiting Edwards hard, and he says they are standing out. Overall, it has not been a good month for Jimbo and Co.

Winner: Pitt

Anytime you get a 5-star player, you're a winner. But when you're a program like Pitt, which is kind of a mid-major compared to some other schools, a 5-star player is a huge get.

This is especially true when you beat out programs like Alabama, Ohio State, Florida and Penn State for a running back like Rushel Shell.

Winner. Pitt. Period.

Loser: USC

October was an up-and-down month for the Trojans. They had a great win vs. Notre Dame and showed improvement, but then suffered a heartbreaking triple-overtime loss to Stanford.

But they also learned a few weeks ago that their top recruit, 5-star lineman Arik Armstead, was officially decommitting and looking at Notre Dame, Alabama, Michigan and Cal.

While the Trojans are still under consideration for Armstead, losing his pledge is a crushing blow.

Winner: Florida

Sure, the Gators have not looked like world beaters this year and are struggling in SEC play. But on the trail, they still sit in excellent shape.

First, the Gators hosted 5-star RB Keith Marshall and showed him a fantastic time. The trip was so good that Marshall told Scout.com "it was near perfect" and gave it "a 9.9/10" rating.

The news also got better for UF, as they then snagged the top rated TE in the country in Kent Taylor last week. Taylor's commitment gives UF the top-rated TE class since Colin Thompson pledged to Florida in September.

Loser: Indiana

Poor Hoosiers. They had their man locked up and it was the feel-good story of the recruiting cycle. Then it all came crashing down.

They lost Gunner Kiel's commitment. The Indiana native and elite QB prospect decommitted from Indiana and has reopened his recruitment.

Notre Dame hosted him for a visit, and Alabama, Oklahoma, LSU and others are in the race.

Winner: Texas

Things have gone right for Texas this cycle. Really, really right. They sit with the top-ranked recruiting class right now and they have made a push for two 5-star prospects that seemed out of their reach.

First, Landon Collins has added them to his finalist list of Alabama and LSU. This is a huge move since it seemed like it was either Tide or Tigers for the 5-star safety prospect, and Collins will actually take a trip to Austin soon.

Then, according some chatter and a report at Scout.com, it looks like Texas has made a surge for Dorial Green-Beckham, the top player in the country. Oklahoma, Missouri and Alabama were thought to be the prime players, but now it seems Texas is thick in the race.