USC rises two spots to No. 17 in AP Poll after taking down rival UCLA

Last week, USC came in at No. 19 in the college football AP Poll. After defeating crosstown rival UCLA at the Coliseum on Saturday night, the Trojans moved up two spots in the poll, and are now ranked No. 17.

USC jumped ahead of two teams who lost over the weekend. Michigan was ranked No. 15 last week, but fell three spots to No. 18 after losing to rival Ohio State. In addition, Tennessee dropped from No. 18 to out of the top 25 entirely after falling to Vanderbilt.

The Big Ten has three of the top four teams in the poll in the No. 1 Buckeyes, No. 2 Indiana, and No. 4 Oregon. After that, however, there is a notable gap between them and the Trojans and Wolverines, who are the only other two teams ranked from the conference. The Hoosiers and Ohio State will square off next week for the conference title.

Finally, USC rival Notre Dame held firm at No. 9 after demolishing Stanford. With the Trojans finishing the regular season 9-3, two of their three losses came on the road against top ten opponents. The third loss, however, was to an 8-4 Illinois team that received just two votes—a game that will haunt USC fans for quite some time, as it may have kept the Trojans out of the College Football Playoff.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC football ranked No. 17 in AP Poll after victory over rival UCLA