Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE
For the first time since 1988, Notre Dame ends regular-season play as the No. 1 team.
The USA Today Coaches' Poll is out, and for the first time since 1988, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will finish regular-season play ranked college football's No. 1 team.
Saturday's 22-13 victory over the USC Trojans helped the Irish (12-0) earn 56 of the 59 first-place votes and cement a trip to the BCS National Championship game where they could play either the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide or No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs. The two schools meet next week in the SEC Championship game.
Overall, there was some movement among the top 10 thanks to rivalry games.
The Oregon Ducks remained No. 4 while the Florida Gators moved up to No. 5 after being ranked No. 6 last week.
The Gators leapfrogged the inter-state rival Florida St. Seminoles, who fell to No. 12 after losing to the Gators, 37-26, on Saturday.
The Seminoles loss helped the LSU Tigers (No. 6), Kansas St. Wildcats (No. 7) Texas A&M Aggies (No. 8), Stanford Cardinal (No. 9) and South Carolina Gamecocks (No. 10) all move up.
A pair of schools -- the Oklahoma St. Cowboys and Mississippi St. Bulldogs -- dropped out of the top 25. The Utah State Aggies (No. 22) and Northwestern Wildcats (No. 20) are now ranked.
Below is the complete USA Today Coaches' Poll:
| Rank | Team | Record | Points | First Place Votes | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Notre Dame | 12-0 | 1469 | 56 | 1 |
| 2 | Alabama | 11-1 | 1398 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Georgia | 11-1 | 1341 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | Oregon | 11-1 | 1277 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | Florida | 11-1 | 1265 | 0 | 6 |
| 6 | LSU | 10-2 | 1124 | 0 | 7 |
| 7 | Kansas St. | 10-1 | 1114 | 0 | 8 |
| 8 | Texas A&M | 10-2 | 1076 | 0 | 10 |
| 9 | Stanford | 10-2 | 1008 | 0 | 11 |
| 10 | South Carolina | 10-2 | 972 | 0 | 12 |
| 11 | Oklahoma | 9-2 | 878 | 0 | 13 |
| 12 | Florida St. | 10-2 | 829 | 0 | 5 |
| 13 | Nebraska | 10-2 | 765 | 0 | 14 |
| 14 | Clemson | 10-2 | 720 | 0 | 9 |
| 15 | Boise St. | 9-2 | 479 | 0 | 22 |
| 16 | UCLA | 9-3 | 445 | 0 | 16 |
| 17 | Oregon St. | 8-3 | 410 | 0 | 17 |
| 18 | Northern Illinois | 11-1 | 377 | 0 | 23 |
| 19 | Kent St. | 11-1 | 337 | 0 | 25 |
| 20 | Northwestern | 9-3 | 314 | 0 | NR |
| 21 | Texas | 8-3 | 312 | 0 | 15 |
| 22 | Utah State | 10-2 | 264 | 0 | NR |
| 23 | Louisville | 9-2 | 184 | 0 | 18 |
| 24 | Michigan | 8-4 | 158 | 0 | 20 |
| 25 | Rutgers | 9-2 | 152 | 0 | 19 |
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