Rankings: USC Moves Up To No. 4

December 6, 2020 by Staff

The latest edition of the Congrove Computer Rankings were released within an hour of the completion of USC's 38-13 destruction of Washington State on Sunday evening. It was one of two contests delayed to a rare Sunday kickoff as teams and conferences do everything they can to complete as many game as possible in the year of Covid.

The other Sunday contest saw Western Kentucky score a 37-19 upset win at Charlotte.

Alabama remains No. 1, with Ohio State hot on the Crimson Tide's heels. Notre Dame stays at No. 3, but the undefeated Trojans unseat Clemson at No. 4 while the Tigers slip to 5th.

All five of those schools won handily over the weekend with 'Bama blasting LSU 55-`17, the Buckeyes crushing Michigan State 52-12, the Irish clubbing Syracuse 45-21, and the Tigers romping to a 45-10 win at Virginia Tech.

Florida stays at No. 6 after a 31-19 win at Tennessee. Texas A&M needed a 17-0 fourth quarter at Auburn to prevail 31-20 and stay at No. 7.

Indiana, playing its first game after losing its starting QB for the season, climbed a notch from 9th to 8th on the heels of a 14-6 win at Wisconsin.

Idle Cincinnati rose from 10th to 9th, and Oklahoma jumped from 14th to 10th after downing Baylor 27-14.

Here are some interesting moves in this week's rankings:

- Washington plummeted from 6th to 17th as a result of the 31-26 loss at home to Stanford.
- Coastal Carolina, undefeated against the nations 88th-ranked schedule, finally made the top 25 at No. 22.
- BYU lost for the first time this season at Coastal Carolina, but the Cougars stayed several spots ahead of the Chanticleers at No. 15.
- Louisiana-Lafayette, which defeated Appalachian State for the first time in 9 tries, rose from 18th to 14th.
- Undefeated Colorado climbed from 16th to 12th following a 24-13 win at Arizona.
- Oregon crashed from 13th to 26th after losing 21-17 at Cal.
- Wisconsin plummeted from 11th to 29th with the loss to Indiana. The Badgers were No. 1 in the computer rankings just 3 weeks ago.
- Virginia tech, a preseason top ten team expected to finish 10-1, fell to 4-6 with the loss to Clemson and is likely to see its 27-year bowl appearance streak come to an end. The Hokies are now ranked 64th.

SEE: Top 127