Updated USA TODAY Sports college baseball coaches poll
As conference races tighten up and the regular season winds down, the May 12 edition of the USA TODAY Sports College Baseball Coaches Poll has seen many changes from this past week's action, including a major shakeup at the top of the rankings.
LSU moved up three spots to the top national position as the Tigers took two out of three games against Arkansas. The Tigers replace Texas, which slipped to No. 3 after losing two out of three games against Florida.
Florida State rose one spot to No. 2 following a series win over California, and Arkansas dipped three spots to No. 5.
The largest jump in this week's poll belonged to the Gators, who soared 11 spots from unranked to the No. 21 position. Duke's leap in the polls was not too far behind as the Blue Devils moved nine spots to No. 24 thanks to a series win over now-No. 13 Clemson.
Inversely, Oklahoma suffered the largest fall in the polls as the Sooners dropped completely out of the Top 25 after being swept by Kentucky.
For the Big Ten, Oregon remained at No. 7 with a series sweep of Washington, while UCLA rose two spots to No. 15 after sweeping Illinois.
Following a series loss against now-No. 10 Oregon State that included a rare tie on Sunday, Iowa baseball (37-17-1, 21-6) dropped further the receiving votes category as the Hawkeyes now only hold six votes compared to their 19 from last week.
Iowa will have its best opportunity of the season to jump into the Top 25 this week as they host No. 7 Oregon for a three-game series from Duane Banks Field on Thursday. If the Hawkeyes win at least two games over the Ducks, Iowa will clinch their first conference regular-season title since 1990.
Iowa is amongst 18 other programs also vying for recognition, so a series victory over Oregon coupled with a Big Ten regular-season crown could possibly be enough to vault the Hawkeyes into the Top 25.
Below is how the full USA TODAY Sports College Baseball Coaches Poll appears for the week of May 12-19:
Rank Team Record Change 1 LSU 40-12 +3 2 Florida State 36-11 +1 3 Texas 40-10 -2 4 North Carolina 37-11 +1 5 Arkansas 41-11 -3 6 Auburn 36-15 +2 7 Oregon 38-13 — 8 Georgia 40-13 -2 9 Vanderbilt 36-16 +1 10 Oregon State 37-12-1 +1 11 Coastal Carolina 41-11 +3 12 UC Irvine 38-11 +3 13 Clemson 38-15 -4 14 Tennessee 39-13 -2 15 UCLA 37-14 +2 16 Alabama 39-13 +4 17 West Virginia 40-10 -4 18 NC State 32-16 +1 19 Southern Miss. 38-13 +2 20 Troy 37-16 -2 21 Florida 35-18 +11 22 Dallas Baptist 36-13 +3 23 Louisville 34-17 +1 24 Duke 35-16 +9 25 Ole Miss. 34-17 +3
Schools Dropped Out
No. 16 Oklahoma; No. 23 Arizona;
Others Receiving Votes
Georgia Tech 59; Northeastern 54; Oklahoma 42; TCU 36; UTSA 33; Arizona State 15; Arizona 14; Miami (FL) 11; Virginia 8; Western Kentucky 6; Kansas 6; Iowa 6; Austin Peay 4; Kentucky 2; Wake Forest 1; USC 1; Lamar 1; Kansas State 1; Connecticut 1;
We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn't influence our coverage.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions. Follow Scout on X: @SpringgateNews.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Iowa high school football: Top 4A quarterbacks
Iowa high school football: Top 4A quarterbacks originally appeared on The Sporting News The Iowa high school football season is set to start later this month, so as a way to get you ready, we are looking at some of the top players in the state. MORE: Top Iowa high school football Class 5A quarterbacks These are some of the top quarterbacks set to compete in Class 4A in Iowa high school football in 2025. Players are listed in alphabetical order: TOP IOWA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL CLASS 4A QUARTERBACKS Jude Baumgardner, Boone, Senior Baumgardner averaged over 17 yards per completion last year, finishing with 1,327 yards in the air and 15 touchdowns, rushing for 205 with seven scores. Asher Brueck, Indianola, Senior Brueck was effective, completing 61 percent of his passes while recording 1,326 yards and 11 touchdowns in the air. On the ground, he piled up 140 yards and three scores. Jameer Falls, Mason City, Junior Falls showed off his abilities as a 10th-grader, throwing 13 touchdowns against just four interceptions. He completed 61 percent and had 1,599 yards. Jayden Fujii, Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson, Senior If he can cut down the interceptions, Fujii could have a big senior year. Even with 16 picks a season ago, he had almost 1,500 yards and 10 scores, adding 213 yards with his legs. James Hatlevig, Norwalk, Senior Norwalk relied on Hatlevig to move the offense, which is what he did, throwing for over 1,600 yards and 18 touchdowns with just six interceptions among his 222 attempts. Caden Klein, Newton, Senior More of a runner than a passer, Newton had 1,126 yards and 14 touchdowns with his legs, adding 1,445 yards in the air and eight more scores. Tru McBride, Fort Dodge, Junior Coming into his own, McBride took over the Dodger offense and delivered. He had 1,518 yards and 18 touchdowns, completing 58 percent with a quarterback rating of 144.7. Cash Parks, Cedar Rapids Xavier, Junior The Saints have all the pieces, and Parks will try to take that next step after throwing for over 1,100 yards with 11 touchdowns. He also found the end zone five times on the ground with nearly 200 yards. Conlan Poynton, Clear Creek-Amana, Senior The Clippers will try to take that next step, and if they do, Poynton will be a big reason why. He had over 1,200 yards passing and 12 TDs a year ago. Hudson Shull, ADM, Senior Shull was big when the Tigers needed it, recording 1,363 yards with 13 touchdowns. With his legs, he rushed for 1,168 yards - which ranked sixth in the class - and 18 scores - which was tied for third most. Jami Sitzmann, Le Mars, Senior Sitzmann piled up 19 touchdowns in the air, throwing for 1,331 yards while completing 67 percent of his passes. He added another 306 yards on the ground. MORE HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS NEWS: Iowa high school conference adding perennial power in future After three years, Alleman will field a varsity football program Central High School will not compete at varsity level this year
USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
Big Ten plan for College Football Playoff expansion is latest bad idea from league
Let me take you to the intersection of dumb and dumber, and the undoing of a once proud conference of legends and leaders. There, standing proudly in the middle of it all, is Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and his reported 28-team College Football Playoff idea. And by idea, I mean the Big Ten's postseason desire specifically leaked to gauge the winds of change. This is where we are with the oldest conference in college football, the one-time collection of Midwest schools and foundational stability of the sport that not long ago held itself above the fray of the ever-changing whims of public opinion and stayed the course. PATH TO PLAYOFF: Sign up for our college football newsletter But legends and leaders, everyone, has become dumb and dumber. The metamorphosis began on a dreary, confusing day in the summer of 2020 when the world was coping with something called COVID-19. It was then, on a conference call with the other power conferences commissioners, where the seeds of this strange undoing blossomed. The commissioners were attempting to figure out a non-conference schedule for the pandemic season, when then-Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren interrupted the conversation and declared, 'We're the Big Ten, we lead, we don't follow' — and hung up. From that moment forward, the moves made by the Big Ten – a group of schools former legendary commissioner Jim Delany once called the 'conscience of college sports' – fundamentally and profoundly altered amateur sports. It wasn't long after the failed conference call that Warren canceled the fall season for the Big Ten, and pitched the idea of spring football and playing two seasons in nine months. Maybe the dumbest idea ever. Stick a pin in that, people. We'll get back to the dumbest of dumb. In that same pandemic season, after the Big Ten was forced into playing in the fall because everyone else found a way to play through the obstacles, it 'returned to play' with the rule that all teams had to play six games to be eligible for the Big Ten championship game (and by proxy, the CFP). Until, that is, it became clear that undefeated Ohio State would only play five games. Then the rules were readjusted midstream, and lowly Indiana got jobbed when the path was cleared for the blue blood Buckeyes. But it wasn't until Texas and Oklahoma decided in 2021 to leave the Big 12 for the SEC that dumb officially hit the fan in the Big Ten. That singular move began a cavalcade of dumb that tsunami'ed over more than a century of smart, measured decision-making. Warren convinced the Pac-12 (which never did anything without big brother's stamp of approval) and the ACC that the SEC was the death of college sports, and the three power conferences needed to band together in an 'Alliance' of like minds and goals for the future. And to stop the SEC at all cost. Less than a year later, Warren stabbed his 'partners' in the back by inviting Southern California and UCLA to join the Big Ten, thereby completely destabilizing the Pac-12 and, after the dominoes of change began to fall, every other conference in college football. The ink was barely dry on that dumb when the Big Ten realized two important things: travel was going to be extremely difficult (still is), and USC and UCLA needed partners on the West Coast. So Oregon and Washington were invited, which eventually led to Stanford and California moving to the ACC — a move rivaling all for dumbest of dumb. Two years later, with Petitti new on the job and the SEC in the middle of yet another championship run, the Big Ten decided to essentially look the other way on Michigan's illegal advanced scouting scheme. You want dumb? Check out this dumb: Michigan, already being investigated by the NCAA for illegal contact with players during the pandemic season, had a second NCAA investigation opened in the middle of the 2023 season — this time for the advanced scouting scheme. But instead of suspending Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh for the season because he and the program were repeat offenders, Petitti decided a three-game suspension would suffice for a coach and a team that had the talent to win it all. I know this is going to shock you, but Michigan won the whole damn thing. Fast forward to last month, and the Big Ten is coming off back-to-back national championship seasons. The conference hasn't been this strong in decades, and SEC coaches are begging to play non-conference games against Big Ten schools. So what does Petitti do? Because of scheduling conflicts in Indianapolis, he moves Big Ten media days to Las Vegas. Without the swooning Ohio State media hoard and wall-to-wall coverage from the Big Ten Network, it was a barren wasteland of opportunity. What should have been a time for the Big Ten to walk tall, stick out its chest and stand above everyone else in college football, devolved into tumbleweeds in the desert. There was more energy on the fake beach, a football field away at Mandalay Bay resort. This leads us all the way back to the dumbest of dumb: the Big Ten's proposed super duper, extra large CFP. Not to be confused with another dumb idea: the 4-2-1-3 CFP model that the Big Ten, and only the Big Ten, wants for the new CFP contract in 2026. You remember that one: the Big Ten and SEC get four automatic spots in the 16-team field, and get the opportunity to earn one or more of the three at-large selections. In a 28-team model, the Big Ten and SEC would each get seven automatic bids, and the ACC and Big 12 five. Because nothing says battling for the postseason quite like eight-win Louisville and Baylor reaching the dance. Or more to the point: five-loss Michigan with an automatic pass to the CFP. 'Formats that increase the discretion and role of the CFP Selection Committee,' Petitti said last month at Big Ten media days, 'Will have a difficult time getting support from the Big Ten.' We're the Big Ten. We lead, we don't follow. All the way to the intersection of dumb and dumber. Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
USA Today
5 hours ago
- USA Today
ESPN's Football Power Index gives Spartans slim chances of reaching bowl
The computers and numbers behind ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) are not high on the Spartans reaching a bowl game this season. While the Spartans' win total over/under is set at 5.5 (with some sports book juicing it to the over), the FPI rating system is giving Michigan State a less than 50-50 chance of reaching a bowl game this fall. According to a post from The Big Ten Huddle, the Spartans are given only a 31% chance to reach six wins to become bowl eligible. Among Big Ten teams, only Northwestern and Purdue have lower odds from FPI to reach a bowl game this season. Northwestern comes in at 27.8%, while Purdue is listed at a near impossible 1.8%. Michigan State is the only team from the Big Ten to not reach the postseason at least once in the last three years. The Spartans finished last season with a 5-7 record in year one under head coach Jonathan Smith, and are expecting a better record this upcoming season. The Spartans officially kick off the 2025 season on August 29 against Western Michigan. Kickoff from Spartan Stadium is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, with the game set to be televised on FS1. Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.
