NCAA Top 25 - Pre-Bowls

Welcome to the last Top 25 before the bowl games.  This encompasses the results of the conference championship games, which caused some shake-up in the rankings; they always do.  One of them were considered for the Upset of the Week, as East Carolina outlasted Houston in an exciting Conference USA Championship to steal the title from the still-ranked Cougars.  However, the biggest upset occurred outside the Top 25, as the Washington Huskies took revenge on a Cal Golden Bear squad who ran up the score against them last them, thrashing the Bears 42-10 and knocking the Bears out of a major bowl appearance.

This week's ranking [Last week's position]
1.  Alabama Crimson Tide (13-0) [3] : The Tide regain the top spot with an impressive victory over the Florida Gators
2.  Texas Longhorns (13-0) [1] : A last second field goal prevented an upset and sends the Longhorns to the BCS title game
3.  Boise State Broncos (13-0) [5] : The Broncos played an extra game and vaulted over TCU, but we don't know if they'll get a BCS bowl game
4.  TCU Horned Frogs (12-0) [4] : The Mountain West champ seems likely to gain a BCS bowl berth
5.  Cincinnati Bearcats (12-0) [6] : Their defense has evaporated, but Tony Pike led the Bearcats to the Big East title
6.  Florida Gators (12-1) [2] : Florida falls to Alabama and will get a likely Orange Bowl berth as consolation
7.  Oregon Ducks (10-2) [7] : The Ducks win the Pac-10 and a Rose Bowl trip
8.  Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (11-2) [12] : The ACC Champs will likely gain a Sugar Bowl trip
9.  Ohio State Buckeyes (10-2) [8] : Next stop - Pasadena!
10. Iowa Hawkeyes (10-2) [9]
11. BYU Cougars (10-2) [10]
12. Penn State Nittany Lions (10-2) [11]
13. Central Michigan Chippewas (11-2) [14] : Winners of the MAC
14. Virginia Tech Hokies (9-3) [16]
15. Houston Cougars (10-3) [15]
16. Pittsburgh Panthers (9-3) [13] : They nearly had the Big East title
17. Utah Utes (9-3) [18]
18. LSU Tigers (9-3) [19]
19. Oklahoma State Cowboys (9-3) [20]
20. Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-4) [17] : Nearly beat Texas
21. Wisconsin Badgers (9-3) [24] : Huge demolition of Hawaii
22. Miami Hurricanes (9-3) [22]
23. West Virginia Mountaineers (9-3) [25]
24. Texas Tech Red Raiders (8-4) [NP]
25. East Carolina Pirates (9-4) [NP]

On the Edge
+1 Stanford Cardinal (8-4)
+2 Oregon State Beavers (8-4)
+3 Arizona Wildcats (8-4)
+4 USC Trojans (8-4)
+5 Ole Miss Rebels (8-4)
+6 Navy Midshipmen (8-4) : They have one more game, against Army this weekend
+7 Clemson Tigers (8-5)

Dropped:  USC Trojans [#21], Clemson Tigers [#23]