It was separation Saturday!

Week 9 of the college football season brought plenty of changes as more than a half-dozen ranked teams suffered losses, including three teams in the Top 10 as No. 5 Oklahoma, No. 8 Notre Dame and No. 9 Auburn all lost on the road.

That makes three consecutive weeks where we’ve had a number of head-scratching losses by top teams with the latest being Oklahoma which lost 48-41 to Kansas State. The week before, it was Wisconsin losing at Illinois. And the week before that, it was Georgia losing at home to South Carolina.

No. 12 Utah Defeats California; Sets Up Showdown With Washington

The Pac-12 was the biggest winner on Saturday as both Oregon and Utah climbed into the Top 10. After looking like the Pac-12 was going to miss out on getting a team into the College Football Playoff once again this year, the Conference of Champions now has a legitimate shot at ending the two-year drought.

Oregon jumped four spots to No. 7, with Utah following close behind as the Utes moved from No. 12 to No. 9 following its dominating defensive performance in a 35-0 shutout victory over California. It’s Utah’s highest ranking this season after climbing as high as No. 10 prior to playing USC.

The No. 1 vs. No. 2 game between Alabama and LSU in two weeks looks to be set with both teams having bye weeks before taking on each other Nov. 9. It was one of the closest votes in AP history as the Tigers (1,476 points) edged the Crimson Tide (1,474) by two votes, while Ohio State followed right behind with 1,468 points for the third spot. The eight points separating first from third is the fewest in the regular season since Dec. 3, 1979.

With most of the top teams not playing this week, it’s a big moment for the Pac-12 as the conference has two high-profile games this week as Utah travels to play Washington and USC hosts Oregon. Both games will be broadcast on FOX. With USC holding the tiebreaker over Utah, both games will have a major impact about who will face Oregon out of the Pac-12 South division.

Here’s the entire AP Top 25 poll:

1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Ohio State
4. Clemson
5. Penn State
6. Florida
7. Oregon
8. Georgia
9. Utah
10. Oklahoma
11. Auburn
12. Baylor
13. Minnesota
14. Michigan
15. SMU
16. Notre Dame
17. Cincinnati
18. Wisconsin
19. Iowa
20. Appalachian State
21. Boise State
22. Kansas State
23. Wake Forest
24. Memphis
25. San Diego State

Others receiving votes: Texas 49, Navy 43, UCF 33, Washington 19, Texas A&M 14, USC 11, Louisiana Tech 6, Indiana 4, Pittsburgh 1, Oklahoma State 1, Iowa State 1

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