AP: Cal ranked No. 2; best showing since 1951

No doubt about it, LSU No. 1.

As for the rest of the Top 25, five wild weeks of college football have taken quite a toll.  The Tigers were a unanimous choice for the top spot in The Associated Press rankings released Sunday, receiving all 65 first-place from the media panel. The last unanimous No. 1 during the regular season was Ohio State in December.  LSU is one of just four teams that started the season ranked in the top 10 and remain there. The others are No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 8 West Virginia and No. 10 Southern California, which became the latest team to take a tumble after a startling loss to an unranked opponent.  The Trojans fell to Stanford 24-23 on Saturday, then dropped eight spots in the rankings.  California is the new No. 2, with its best showing in the AP Top 25 since 1951, when the Golden Bears were No. 1.  Ohio State is No. 3 and No. 4 Boston College has its highest ranking ever. South Florida, which entered the poll for the first time three weeks ago, is now No. 5.  A week after half the top 10 and nine ranked teams lost, another four top-10 teams and 11 ranked teams overall went down Saturday.  As a result, there are 10 teams in the latest rankings, including four in the top 10 (BC, USF, No. 7 South Carolina and No. 9 Oregon), that were unranked to start the season.

The second 10 starts with No. 11 Missouri, which has its highest ranking since 1981, when the Tigers were No. 8. No.  12 Virginia Tech is followed by Florida and then three unbeaten teams—Arizona State, Cincinnati and Hawaii. No. 17 Kentucky fell nine spots after losing at South Carolina 38-23 on Thursday.   Five teams fell from the rankings this week. Illinois, which beat No. 5 Wisconsin 31-26, and unbeaten Kansas, which won at Kansas State for the first time since 1989, moved into the poll for the first time this season.

The Illini are No. 18 and Kansas is No. 20. In between is No. 19 Wisconsin, which dropped 14 spots after its first loss of the season.  No. 21 Florida State, winners of four straight, moved back into the Top 25, as did No. 22 Auburn. No. 23 Texas benefited from so many other ranked teams losing and stayed in the poll after a second consecutive loss. The Longhorns fell to Oklahoma 28-21.  No. 24 Georgia dropped 12 spots after a 35-14 defeat to Tennessee, and the Vols moved back into the rankings at No. 25, giving the Southeastern Conference seven ranked teams, the most of any conference.  Falling out of the Top 25 were Nebraska, Clemson, Kansas State, Rutgers and Purdue.