After a season-high six ranked teams last week, the Pac-12 is down to four in the newest AP Top 25 poll. You can partly thank No. 2 Oregon for that, as the Ducks squashed then-No. 23 Washington's hopes of having a prolonged stay in the rankings with a 52-21 victory over the Huskies. The Chip Kelly attack was as explosive as always, amassing nearly 500 yards of total offense while being in possession of the pigskin for just more than 40 percent of the game. As a result, the Ducks held on to the two-spot and were the only team ranked in the top 5 last week that won on Saturday (No. 1 Alabama was idle, while No. 3-5 all dropped road contests).

Raise your hand if you projected the Beavers being in the top 10 by October. Well, by beating Washington State 19-6 yesterday in Corvallis, Oregon State is now the No. 10 team in the country and surpassed USC as the second highest-ranked team in the Pac-12. Mike Riley's boys had another defensive masterpiece, keeping the Cougars out of the end zone and limiting the Air Raid attack to just 227 yards of total offense. Three was the magic number for the Beavers' defense: Jordan Poyer had three interceptions and Scott Crichton registered three sacks. This is Oregon State's first time in the top 10 since opening the 2001 season at No. 10. Who's ready for the Civil War?

While the Trojans were passed up by the Beavers, USC did jump two spots to No. 11 in the latest AP rankings. That was in thanks to a great 57 minutes against the Utah Utes on Thursday night. After the Trojans quickly fell behind 14-0 as a result of two fumbles in the first three minutes, Matt Barkley got his guys in gear, throwing for 303 yards and three touchdowns. USC defeated its Pac-12 South foe 38-28, improving to 4-1 overall and inching closer to the top 10.

For a while on Saturday afternoon, it looked like perhaps the Stanford Cardinal would not be a part of this AP Top 25 post. David Shaw's group was down two touchdowns to Arizona with nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter before Josh Nunes worked his magic, calmly leading the Card down the field on two touchdown drives that were capped off by the quarterback hitting paydirt with his feet. The defense held its ground when it mattered most, forcing a three-and-out to keep the deficit at seven late in the fourth quarter and picking off Matt Scott in overtime. Stanford eventually won 54-48 in OT and moved up one spot to No. 17 in the process. Like USC, Stanford is 4-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

Here is the poll in its entirety:

1. Alabama (60)
2. Oregon
3. South Carolina
4. Florida
5. West Virginia
6. Kansas State
7. Notre Dame
8. Ohio State
9. LSU
10. Oregon State
11. USC
12. Florida State
13. Oklahoma
14. Georgia
15. Texas
16. Clemson
17. Stanford
18. Louisville
19. Mississippi State
20. Rutgers
21. Cincinnati
22. Texas A&M
23. Louisiana Tech
24. Boise State
25. Michigan

Other Pac-12 teams receiving votes: Arizona State 39, Washington 39, Arizona 4