After beating UCLA 48-45 at the Rose Bowl, USC moved up once again in the AP Top 25.

The Trojans enter into a regular-season finale against Notre Dame ranked No. 5 in the latest media poll, released Sunday. USC is the highest-ranked team from the Pac-12 — which once again has six in the rankings — and right on the doorstep of a top-four spot as the season winds down.

USC jumped LSU, which remained at No. 6. Both teams won on Saturday, with LSU beating UAB at home in a November buy game. In last week’s College Football Playoff ranking, LSU and USC were sitting sixth and seventh as well, so perhaps the AP poll is a sign of what’s to come on Tuesday when the new CFP rankings are released.

This is the first time USC has been inside the AP Top Five since Sept. 24, 2017. USC opened that campaign at No. 4 in the AP preseason poll and finished at No. 8. The Mercury News’ Jon Wilner was lowest on USC this week, placing them eighth in his ballot — one spot below Oregon.

USC (10-1, 8-1 Pac-12) clinched a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game with its win over UCLA Saturday. One year removed from a 4-8 record, the Trojans officially completed one of the most remarkable one-year turnarounds we’ve seen in recent college football.

Throughout Clay Helton’s entire tenure, USC spent nine weeks inside the AP Top 10. In Lincoln Riley’s first year, USC is set to spend its 10th week inside the AP Top 10.

And it’ll have another top-25 matchup on tap this upcoming weekend. The Trojans host Notre Dame at the Coliseum on Saturday (4:30 p.m. PT, ABC). After their eighth win in nine games, the Irish rose to No. 13 in the latest AP Top 25.

The rest of the poll can be seen below (with first-place votes in parenthesis):

  1. Georgia (62)
  2. Ohio State (1)
  3. Michigan
  4. TCU
  5. USC
  6. LSU
  7. Clemson
  8. Alabama
  9. Tennessee
  10. Oregon
  11. Penn State
  12. Washington
  13. Notre Dame
  14. Utah
  15. Kansas State
  16. Florida State
  17. UCLA
  18. North Carolina
  19. Tulane
  20. Ole Miss
  21. Cincinnati
  22. Oregon State
  23. Coastal Carolina
  24. Texas
  25. UCF

Receiving votes: UTSA 85, South Carolina 44, Troy 34, Boise State 16, Illinois 12, Iowa 5, Louisville 5, South Alabama 3, Mississippi State 3, Oklahoma State 2, Arkansas 2, Purdue 2, Fresno State 1