USC maintained its No. 1 position in the polls after a come-from-behind 31-28 win over Stanford. Oklahoma trails the Trojans at No. 2 coming off an idle week. Georgia also had a bye week and remains at No. 3 in both polls. Miami beat Houston and holds its No. 4 position just above the Longhorns.
Ohio State and West Virginia stay flip-flopped in the polls with the Buckeyes at No. 6 in the Coaches poll (No. 7 in AP), while the Mountaineers claim the No. 6 position in the AP poll (No. 7 in Coaches).
After crushing Louisiana Tech 42-17, Tennessee holds at No. 8 in the Coaches poll (No. 11 in AP) followed by No. 9 Auburn (No. 8 in AP). Florida State checks in at No. 9 in the AP, but again fails to crack the top 10 in the Coaches poll. California rounds out the top tier at No. 10 in both polls.
Oklahoma State remains the only Big 12 team aside from Texas and Oklahoma to earn a top 25 berth. The Cowboys, who took a weekend off before opening conference play vs. Iowa State this weekend, stay at No. 25 in the AP poll but slide up a spot to No. 24 in the Coaches poll.
In short, the Top 10 remains almost unchanged from last week following a college football weekend that produced no real upsets near the top. But things will shake out in the next couple of weeks as Georgia hosts LSU, Auburn travels to Tennessee, USC faces Cal and Texas, of course, takes on OU on October 9. (The Sooners get Mike Leach's cardiac Raiders in their final tune-up before traveling to Dallas.)
When the Longhorns face Baylor on Saturday, they will look to start the year 4-0 for the third time in the last four years. UT has done that just twice in the last 20 years, both of which have occurred during the Mack Brown era (2001 & 02). The Horns opened 4-0 in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1983 but did not duplicate the feat until the 2001 season.