With Clemson and Alabama falling significantly after weekend losses, the Trojans gained ground in the latest media poll.

USC enters Week 11 ranked No. 8 in the new AP Top 25, released Sunday. The Trojans moved up one spot, but were jumped by two-loss LSU after the Tigers handed Alabama a rare second regular-season loss in overtime. The Tide fell four spots to No. 10.

USC survived a late rally from Cal Saturday night to win 41-35 and remain right in the hunt for the Pac-12 title game. USC moved to 8-1 and 6-1 in the Pac-12 with the victory.

And it was a good weekend for USC in other ways as well.

LSU jumping USC despite holding more losses likely tells us how voters feel about the Trojans, at least on the surface level. USC’s lone loss was by one point to Utah on the road — a Utes team sitting 13th in the current AP poll. But it doesn’t have a win over a team that was either ranked at the time or ranked currently.

That could change. A 1-8 Colorado team is on the docket this week; USC should handle business. UCLA survived an upset-minded Arizona State team late Saturday evening and moved up to No. 9 in the latest AP poll. And Notre Dame, victorious over Clemson, moved from unranked to No. 20.

The Trojans face UCLA in the Rose Bowl and then host Notre Dame to close out the year. It’s shaping up to be a potentially memorable close.

First comes Colorado, though. Kickoff in that game is set for 6:30 p.m. PT on FS1 this Friday.

The rest of the AP Top 25 can be seen below (first-place votes are in parenthesis). The Pac-12 has five ranked teams once again, with the Huskies swapping spots with Oregon State.

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

Receiving votes: Cincinnati 74, Kentucky 61, Coastal Carolina 46, Wake Forest 34, Oklahoma State 21, Baylor 19, Kansas 10, Mississippi State 8, South Carolina 6, Troy 5, UTSA 5, Louisville 3, Oregon State 3, San Jose State 1