After a one-week hiatus, Florida is back in the top spot in the AP Poll, while Alabama was dropped to No. 2 again.
No. 3 Texas got seven first-place votes after its 41-7 victory at Missouri.

The last time two teams flip-flopped in the top two spots of the AP Top 25 from one week to the next was 1992, when Miami and Washington did it.

Like Texas, No. 4 Southern California, No. 5 Cincinnati, No. 6 Boise State and No. 7 Iowa held their places in the latest media rankings.

TCU jumped two spots to No. 8 after a 38-7 victory at Mountain West Conference rival BYU. LSU stayed at No. 9 and Oregon moved up two spots to No. 10.

The Ducks host USC on Saturday in a game with huge Pac-10 championship implications.

Florida began the season as an overwhelming No. 1 in the AP poll. Alabama started five and steadily gained on the Gators before finally jumping past them last week, when Florida needed a field goal in the waning seconds to beat Arkansas at home.

This is hardly surprising. The AP was looking for a reason to get the Gators back into the top spot and when ‘Bama almost lost yesterday at home to Tennessee, they got one. Florida didn’t earn many style points in Mississippi State, but the game wasn’t really in doubt like the Tide’s win against the Vols was at the end.

Either way, I think most objective college football fans would agree that neither Florida nor Alabama was very impressive yesterday.

The final votes are in and to the shock and dismay of approximately zero people, the Florida Gators are college football’s No. 1 team. The undefeated Utah Utes are No. 2.

The Gators received 48 first-place votes and 1,606 points in the poll released early Friday, after they beat Oklahoma 24-14 in the BCS national title game.

Utah, the only team in major college football to go undefeated this season, got 16 first-place votes and 1,519 points.

“I thought we had an outside chance,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said in a telephone interview with the AP. “There was enough national sentiment, I thought we might get the No. 1 slot. It wasn’t to be.”

Florida won its third AP national championship and second in the last three seasons. Steve Spurrier and Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel led the Gators to the 1996 title.

No. 3 USC received one first-place vote. Texas was No. 4, and will have to settle with finishing ahead of fifth-ranked Oklahoma.

The Utes from the Mountain West Conference swept through their regular season, while Florida and Alabama from the SEC, Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 and Southern California from the Pac-10, jockeyed for position in the national title chase.

The Mountain West does not have an automatic bid to the BCS — it’s not considered a strong enough league to deserve one — but the Utes earned their way in.

Utah was seventh in the final regular-season poll, but that perfect record looked much more impressive after the Utes beat Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl last week.

The Pac-10 should do the right thing and bring Utah and BYU (or TCU?) into its conference. Then they could have a conference championship game and Utah and BYU (or TCU?) could show how good they really are.

Imagine if the NFL had the same system college football has. We wouldn’t have had the opportunity to witness one of the greatest Super Bowls of all time when the Giants beat the Patriots last year, because the Giants would have been ranked No. 6 in the polls.

After ‘Bama squeaked by LSU in overtime and Tech ran ramped over Oklahoma State on Saturday night, the hottest debate in college football centers around which team deserves to be ranked No. 1. The polls say Crimson Tide, but many pundits and college football fans alike believe the Red Raiders are easily the best team in the nation.

It’s hard to say unequivocally that neither team deserves to be ranked in the top spot. ‘Bama has disposed of some of the best teams in the SEC including LSU and Georgia, but college football enthusiasts will be quick to note that the conference is down on a whole this year so those victories don’t hold as much water.

Conversely, Tech has run through the best the Big 12 has to offer including Texas and Oklahoma State, and still has to face Oklahoma two weeks from now. And unlike the SEC, nobody is saying the Big 12 is down this year.

Assuming Tech gets past the Sooners (which won’t be a picnic by any means) and ‘Bama holds off Mississippi State and Auburn, than the battle for No. 1 will most likely come down to championship weekend. If the Tide beat Florida, than it’s hard to say ‘Bama should be ranked any lower than the top spot, especially considering Tech’s opponent in the Big 12 championship won’t be as tough. (I think we can essentially say that Oklahoma will be Tech’s Big 12 Championship Game.)

Don’t count out the Gators either. They’re playing about as well as any team in the nation right now and are making a case for being ranked No. 1 themselves. This is going to be a great finish to a wild college football season.