USC entered the week #27, but with a big voting gap behind Oklahoma State at #26. The Pokes lost to TCU, but then came back and beat Texas; so SC is likely to remain just behind Oklahoma State based on the voting patterns of the pollsters.

Starting with 21st ranked UCLA, the bottom 5 teams in the Top 25 (UCLA, Florida, Kansas, Purdue and Drake) all had unimpressive weeks, and are likely to move down. Oklahoma State, USC and Loyola-Chicago are likely to move up in front of those five.

The big questions for USC:

-- Can USC jump ahead of Oklahoma State (and keep ahead of Loyola-Chicago)?

-- How far do Iowa (2 losses), Creighton (bad loss to G'Town) Virginia Teach (loss to Pitt) fall in the polls?

-- What do the pollsters do with Florida State, which is on a pause because of covid?

Best case scenario: USC moves ahead of Oklahoma State, Creighton, Virginia Tech, and Florida State -- which puts them SC at about #17.

Worst case scenario: USC doesn't move ahead of Oklahoma State, Creighton, Virginia Tech, and Florida State and is leapt-frogged by Loyola -- which will put USC at about #23.

My prediction is USC ends up about in the middle at #20.

Here is how the rankings looked entering this past week:

RK TEAM (Record) Voting Points - PAST WEEK RESULTS (PROJECTION)

8 Iowa (12-4) 7 Big Ten 1,079 -- beat Michigan State, lost to Ohio State and Indiana (will move down)
9 Oklahoma (11-4) 966 -- lost to Texas Tech, beat Iowa State (will likely stay about same)
10 Alabama (14-4) 958 -- beat LSU, lost to Missouri (will likely stay about same)
11 Tennessee (12-3) 869 -- lost to Mississippi, beat Kentucky (will likely stay about same)
12 Illinois (11-5) 850 -- beat Indiana, beat Wisconsin (will move up several spots into the Top 10)
13 Texas Tech (12-5) 797 -- beat Oklahoma and K- State (will move up a few spots, probably into the Top 10)
14 Virginia (11-3) 752 -- beat NC State and Pitt (will move up, may as high as #10)
15 Creighton (13-4) 732 -- lost to Georgetown, beat Marquette (will slide down with loss at home to G'Town)
16 Virginia Tech (13-3) 718 -- lost to Pitt, beat Miami in OT (Va Tech will probably survive in the Top 25)
17 West Virginia (11-5) 669 -- beat Iowa State and Kansas (will move up several spots)
18 Missouri (11-3) 589 -- beat Kentucky and Alabama (will move up several spots, maybe close to Top 10)
19 Wisconsin (13-5) 452 -- beat Penn State, loss to Illinois on road (will stay about the same, or move up due to teams falling)
20 Florida State (10-3) 393 -- DNP / covid (will probably stay about the same)
21 UCLA (13-3) 260 -- lost to SC (will probably fall out of Top 25)
22 Florida (10-4) 196 -- lost to South Carolina (will probably barely hang on inside the Top 25)
23 Kansas (11-6) 171 -- beat K-State, loss to West Virginia (the last blue blood may be out of the Top 25)
24 Purdue (12-6) 130 -- lost to Maryland, beat Northwestern (unclear if Purdue can hang on inside the Top 25)
25 Drake (16-0) 117 -- split with Valpo (no longer undefeated, Duke will be out of the Top 25)
26 Oklahoma State (11-4) 111 -- lost to TCU, beat Texas (may sneak back into the Top 25)
27 USC (14-3) 57 -- beat UCLA (will be firmly inside Top 25)
28 Loyola Chicago (14-3) 52 -- beat Missouri State and swept Evansville (will be firmly inside Top 25)
29 Minnesota (11-6) 42 -- lost to Rutgers (will get less votes)
30 Xavier (11-2) 25 -- DNP / covid (will probably stay about the same)
31 Boise State (14-2) 23 -- swept by Nevada (no votes)
32 St. Bonaventure (9-1) 19 -- lost to St. Louis (no votes)
33T Saint Louis (7-2) 11 -- lost to LaSalle, beat St. Bonnie (will gets some votes)
33T Belmont (18-1) 11 -- beat E. Illinois and SIU Edwardsville (will get close to Top 25)
35 Toledo (15-4) 9 -- beat Akron, lost to Ball State (will get some votes)
36T Oregon (9-3) 8 -- lost to Wazzu, beat Washington (may get some votes)
36T Colorado (13-5) 8 -- beat Arizona (may make a play for Top 25)
38 San Diego State (11-4) 6 -- swept Wyoming (will make a play for Top 25)