Jameis Winston Florida State 2014
Following their narrow victory over Notre Dame, Jameis Winston and the Florida State Seminoles are still the No. 2 ranked team in the country. Reuters

Even with the week off, the Mississippi State Bulldogs managed to maintain the nation’s No. 1 ranking and headline a historical group of SEC schools to hold down four of the top five spots in the Associated Press college football poll. The SEC is now the first conference in history to have four schools in the top five.

The undefeated Bulldogs earned 43 first-place votes, holding off Florida State despite their impressive comeback victory over Notre Dame. With 14 first-place votes, the Seminoles remain at No. 2, and Ole Miss also stays pat at No. 3 with three. The Fighting Irish only dropped two spots to No. 7 after their first loss of the season.

Alabama crushed Texas A&M 59-0, and moved up three spots to No. 4 to remain in the hunt for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Auburn also had the week off but moved up one spot to No. 5 following Notre Dame’s letdown and Baylor’s upset loss to West Virginia. The Bears slipped all the way down to No. 12.

Building on their big win over UCLA, the Oregon Ducks beat down Washington and leapfrogged Michigan State for No. 6. The Spartans are still No. 8, having won five straight, but voters likely still remember Oregon blasting them by nearly three touchdowns in the second week of the season.

The 5-2 USC Trojans re-entered the top 20 following their 28-point victory over Colorado, building off their two-point upset over then No. 10 Arizona. USC will travel to Salt Lake City to face the No. 19 Utah Utes on Saturday.

The full poll results can be found here.

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