After a week that saw the Oregon Ducks win back-to-back road games against AP top-five teams, the first team to do so in more than 40 years, they remain on the outside of the new AP poll, still looking in.

The Ducks (11-6, 4-2 Pac-12) received 15 poll votes, equivalent to No. 32 in the latest poll.

Both sides Oregon upset, UCLA last Thursday in overtime and USC Saturday night, dropped precipitously. The Bruins (11-2, 3-1 Pac-12) dropped from No. 3 to No. 9 in the new AP poll while USC (14-2, 4-2 Pac-12), after dropping its first two games of the season, tumbled from No. 5 down to No. 16.

And while those two fell, Arizona (14-1, 4-0 Pac-12) jumped into the top five for the first time this season. The Cats’ lone loss on the season was a four-point defeat at the hands of Tennessee on the road. The Vols remain in the top 25.

USC has lost two of four since returning from a lengthy COVID pause, and the defense has slipped from its early-season level. The Trojans have a favorable schedule to close out the month of January, though, and perhaps build up some momentum ahead of February meetings with Arizona and UCLA.

The Trojans have road games against Colorado (12-4) and Utah (8-9) on Jan. 20 and 22. Then it has home games against Arizona State (5-9), Stanford (10-5), and Cal (9-9) on Jan. 24, 27, and 29. ASU and Utah hold two of the three worst records among Pac-12 teams.

UCLA rebounded nicely from an 84-81 loss to Oregon last Thursday with an 81-65 win over Oregon State on Saturday. The Bruins will play Utah and Colorado, both on the road, over the next two games before a clash with Arizona at the Pauley Pavillion on Jan. 25.

Arizona has road games against Stanford and Cal on tap this week. After that, it’ll play UCLA twice and USC at home over the course of its next four.

Oregon, with a three-game homestand coming up against Washington State (10-7), Washington (8-7), and Oregon State (3-13), has a good shot at keeping this momentum it has built for itself rolling.

Things are heating up around the league, for sure.

Here’s the full AP poll:

  1. Gonzaga (14-2)
  2. Auburn (16-1)
  3. Arizona (14-1)
  4. Purdue (14-2)
  5. Baylor (15-2)
  6. Duke (14-2)
  7. Kansas (14-2)
  8. Wisconsin (14-2)
  9. UCLA (11-2)
  10. Houston (15-2)
  11. Villanova (13-4)
  12. Kentucky (14-3)
  13. LSU (15-2)
  14. Michigan State (14-3)
  15. Iowa State (14-3)
  16. USC (14-2)
  17. Illinois (13-3)
  18. Texas Tech (13-4)
  19. Ohio State (11-4)
  20. Xavier (13-3)
  21. Providence (14-2)
  22. Loyola Chicago (13-2)
  23. Texas (13-4)
  24. Tennessee (11-5)
  25. UConn (11-4)
    RV: Iowa (56), BYU (50), Davidson (34), Alabama (26), San Diego State (25), Miami FL (21), Oregon (15), West Virginia (14), Colorado State (13), Texas A&M (10), Oklahoma (7), TCU (4), Indiana (2), North Carolina (2)