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Michigan State Spartans win the bye week, move up in AP and Coaches Polls

The Spartans won the bye week and moved up in both the AP and Coaches Polls this week. We are officially in full swing of hate week!

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Michigan State v Indiana Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

The Michigan State Spartans “won the bye week” by watching higher-ranked teams lose, and have thus moved up in both the Associated Press Poll and USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll. Following the stunning upset of previously No. 7/8 Penn State by Illinois and a loss to unranked Iowa State by No. 8/9 Oklahoma State, the Spartans enter this week at No. 7 in the Coaches Poll and No. 8 in the AP Poll.

With Michigan having won its game over Northwestern, both teams enter the week in the top-10 and remain undefeated at 7-0. This means that the matchup Saturday between in-state rivals Michigan and Michigan State will officially be the first top-10 matchup in the series since the No. 7 Wolverines beat the No. 9 Spartans 17-10 in Spartan Stadium in 1964. It will also mark the first game when both teams are undefeated since 2010.

The game will be just the fourth matchup all-time with both teams in the top-10. The other years included 1956, 1957, and 1961. The Spartans are 3-1 in those games, but the only loss was the 1964 matchup when Michigan was ranked higher.

Let us all take a second to also remind America of the fact Oklahoma has played like trash all season long to date, including trailing Kansas, KANSAS people, 17-7 at one point in the third quarter, and yet is still ranked No. 4 in the AP Poll. If anyone wants to talk “fraud” in reference to Michigan State, well then I’ve got quite the “boomer” counter-point for who the fraud is in in the form of the “Sooners.”


AP Poll

This week’s AP Top-25 Poll features four Big Ten teams all ranked inside the top-10, thanks to Iowa just squeaking in to replace Penn State’s precipitous drop down to No. 20. For the first time since 2007, Appalachian State beat a ranked team. This time it was not Michigan, but rather Coastal Carolina, dropping the Sun Belt team back to No. 24. As mentioned above, Oklahoma remains horribly overrated in the AP.

Big Ten teams are in bold.

Full AP Results:

  1. Georgia (63 first-place votes)
  2. Cincinnati
  3. Alabama
  4. Oklahoma (what a joke)
  5. Ohio State
  6. Michigan
  7. Oregon
  8. Michigan State
  9. Iowa
  10. Ole Miss
  11. Notre Dame
  12. Kentucky
  13. Wake Forest
  14. Texas A&M
  15. Oklahoma State
  16. Baylor
  17. Pittsburgh
  18. Auburn
  19. SMU
  20. Penn State
  21. San Diego State
  22. Iowa State
  23. UTSA
  24. Coastal Carolina
  25. BYU

Others Receiving Votes:

Arkansas 36, Louisiana-Lafayette 32, North Carolina State 28, Houston 12, Virginia 9, Oregon State 7, Arizona State 7, Texas 6, Appalachian State 5, Florida 3, Minnesota 1, UCLA 1.


USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll

The Big Ten also has four teams inside the top-10 of the Coaches Poll (Big Ten teams in bold). Iowa made it back into the top-10 thanks to teams ahead of the Hawkeyes losing, including Penn State, as the Nittany Lions dropped all the way to No. 17. Just like the AP, Oklahoma is horribly overrated in the Coaches Poll results.

Full Coaches Poll Results:

  1. Georgia (64 first-place votes)
  2. Cincinnati
  3. Alabama
  4. Oklahoma
  5. Ohio State
  6. Michigan
  7. Michigan State
  8. Oregon
  9. Ole Miss
  10. Iowa
  11. Notre Dame
  12. Kentucky
  13. Wake Forest
  14. Texas A&M
  15. Oklahoma State
  16. SMU
  17. Penn State
  18. Baylor
  19. Pittsburgh
  20. San Diego State
  21. Auburn
  22. UTSA
  23. Iowa State
  24. Coastal Carolina
  25. NC State

Others Receiving Votes:

Louisiana 42; BYU 42; Arkansas 41; Houston 27; Arizona State 27; Virginia 23; Oregon State 13; Florida 13; Fresno State 10; Air Force 9; Appalachian State 5; Texas 3; Liberty 3; Utah 1.


Next week will include the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season.