Alabama No. 1 in week of poll shake-up

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MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Alabama pulled to near unanimity as the No. 1-ranked team but a series of high-profile games Saturday caused a shake-up in the USA Today Coaches football poll.

Alabama (5-0) was idle last week but still picked up additional poll support. This week, 58 of the 59 coaches on the voting panel placed the Crimson Tide first; the other put Alabama second.

Oregon (6-0) got the other first-place vote and is again second in the poll.

Other than that, only No. 16 Louisville (5-0) is in the same position it was in last week. Five teams -- not counting Nebraska, which drops out of the rankings -- fall by five or more places. Eleven teams, including previously unranked Texas A&M, move up at least three spots in the rankings.

Those big gainers include No. 3 South Carolina (6-0), fourth-ranked West Virginia (5-0) and No. 5 Kansas State (5-0), which all move up three places.

Florida (5-0) goes from 11th to sixth while Notre Dame (5-0) is up three to No. 7. Louisiana State (5-1) falls five places to eighth but Southern California (4-1) improves three to No. 9 and Oklahoma (3-1) jumps from 14th to No. 10.

No. 11 Florida State (5-1) and 12th-ranked Georgia (5-1) after both plummet seven spots. Clemson (5-1) is voted No. 13 while Oregon State (4-0) is up three to 14th, Texas (4-1) falls six spots to 15th.

Louisville (5-0) is 16th, with Stanford (4-1) in at 17th, Mississippi State (5-0) goes up one to 18th and Rutgers (5-0) is at No. 19 and Cincinnati (4-0) is 20th.

Texas A&M (4-1) enters the poll at No. 21 and Boise State (4-1) is 22nd after a week at No. 25 but Texas Christian (4-1) drops 10 places to 23rd. No. 24 Louisiana Tech (5-0) and 25th-ranked Iowa State (4-1) weren't ranked a week ago.

In addition to Nebraska, Northwestern and Texas Tech fall from the Top 25 this week.

Key games this week include LSU playing host to South Carolina, which beat Georgia last week; Oklahoma and Texas playing their annual game in Dallas; and Stanford going to Notre Dame.