After storming back from a 24-0 deficit in the Iron Bowl, Auburn completed its regular season schedule undefeated and held on to the No. 1 spot in the Legends Poll.

Heisman frontrunner Cam Newton led the comeback for Auburn in the 28-27 win. The Tigers face 13th-ranked South Carolina in the SEC championship game next weekend with a national championship berth on the line.

“I’ve been saying all year that [Newton] is the best player in the country,” former Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry said. “He’s just willing that team to victory week in and week out.”

(Click for Fisher DeBerry’s full top 25 ballot)

Oregon outlasted another opponent as well on Friday night, defeating No. 25 Arizona, 48-29.

No. 3 TCU finished its regular season undefeated as well and defeated New Mexico, 66-17.

The rest of the Legends Poll saw its first major shakeup after the wild Thanksgiving weekend.

Boise State fell to No. 19 Nevada in overtime and dropped nine spots to No. 12 in the Legends Poll.

No. 4 Wisconsin moved up a spot and likely clinched a Big Ten championship.

No. 5 Stanford impressed as well in a 38-0 shutout victory over Oregon State at home.

No. 6 Ohio State moved up two spots and No. 7 Arkansas made its first top 10 showing after knocking off No. 11 LSU at home.

No. 8 Michigan State moved back into the top 10 as well as No. 9 Oklahoma — the Sooners knocked off formerly once-beaten Oklahoma State and likely will appear in the Big 12 championship game.

No. 10 Virginia Tech clinched a spot in the ACC championship game and climbed all the way back up the rankings after starting the season 0-2 before rattling off ten straight wins.

Click here to view the Legends Poll Top 25

No. 4 Boise State took advantage of an off weekend for the top 3 teams in the Legends Poll, inching within five points of TCU.

Auburn, Oregon and TCU were idle and stayed atop the rankings this week.

Boise State put on another dominating performance over a WAC opponent, defeating Fresno State, 51-0, in front a national audience late Friday night.

“I’ve been impressed with Boise all year long,” said former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Ross. “I think their physicality on both offense and defense gets overlooked at times. And of course, Kellen Moore is one of the best quarterbacks in the country. That makes for a balanced team.”

(Click for Bobby Ross’s full top 25 ballot)

The Broncos have one more chance to impress voters next week when they take on No. 19 Nevada.

LSU remained in the top 5 after surviving a scare at home against Ole Miss. The Tigers conclude their regular season next weekend against No. 13 Arkansas — another SEC West team that passed a tough test on Saturday, defeating Mississippi State, 38-31, in overtime.

Wisconsin also stayed at No. 6.

No. 7 Stanford jumped a spot above No. 8 Ohio State after the Buckeyes needed late heroics to knock off Iowa on the road.

No. 9 Alabama and No. 10 Oklahoma State rounded out the top 10.

No. 16 Nebraska dropped seven spots after falling on the road to No. 18 Texas A&M, 9-6. The Aggies moved up one spot.

No. 22 North Carolina State moved back into the top 25 after defeating its in-state rival North Carolina. The ranking is the first for N.C. State since Halloween.

Click here to view the Legends Poll Top 25

Second-ranked Oregon has had little trouble putting points on the board in the 2010 season. That is until they met California last weekend.

California may have provided a blueprint on how to stop the Oregon offense.

The Golden Bear defense was the first to hold Oregon under 40 points all season in the 15-13 loss. On Monday’s conference call, the Legends Coaches discussed what went wrong for Oregon and what Cal did to slow down the Ducks’ attack.

“Cal played man-to-man and kept a spy on the quarterback, not allowing him to run,” said former USC head coach John Robinson.

“They also took the A gap and the B gap away from them,” added former Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry. “They made that little No. 21 (LaMichael James) run outside and they ran him down. They wouldn’t let him run north and south.”

James rushed for 91 yards, averaging just 3.1 yards per carry and wasn’t able to find the end zone. Cal’s defense also held Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas to only 34 yards on 16 carries and no scores.

“I think the time that these clubs run rough shot over teams is diminishing because defensive schemes are starting to catch up,” Robinson said. “There’s going to be a lot of teams looking at Cal’s scheme and saying they can do that.”

Oregon surrendered its No. 1 spot this week to Auburn and fell to No. 2 for the first time in three weeks. However, the Ducks still control their own destiny in the national championship race.

“Every national champion has that kind of game,” said Robinson. “The ones that wind up champions win those kind of games.

“I think the difference this year is that neither Auburn nor Oregon have great defensive teams. If somebody can play great defense against them like Cal did, then they might have a chance to beat Oregon because their own defense isn’t very good.”

Auburn spent three weeks as the No. 2 team behind Oregon. But after rallying to beat Georgia and clinching the SEC West, Auburn is the new No. 1 team in the Legends Poll.

“I’ve been saying for a few weeks that Auburn is the best team in the country,” said former Ohio State John Cooper. “I think the other voters in the Legends Poll finally came around after seeing Auburn beat Georgia — even with all of the distractions surrounding the team.”

(Click for John Cooper’s full top 25 ballot)

Auburn received 14 first place votes.

No. 2 Oregon held on against California Saturday night but just barely.  The Ducks’ offense was held under 40 points for the first time all season in the 15-13 victory. Oregon received the remaining five first place votes.

No. 3 TCU survived as well and won 40-35 against San Diego State.

Boise State remained at No. 4 after another blowout win, 52-14, on Friday night against Idaho.

LSU stayed at No. 5.

No. 19 Texas A&M made its first appearance in the Legends Poll this season.

No. 21 USC, No. 22 Northwestern and No. 25 Florida State all moved back into the rankings this week.

Click here to view the Legends Poll Top 25

TCU may not be in a BCS conference, but the Legends Coaches would want nothing to do with the Horned Frogs if they were still coaching.

TCU dominated Utah from the start and won 47-7. The Horned Frogs moved up to No. 3 in the Legends Poll after the victory, jumping Boise State. Former UCLA coach Terry Donahue was on hand to call the TCU-Utah game for radio over the weekend. Donahue says that he wouldn’t be surprised if TCU played for the national championship this season. Listen to his thoughts on TCU from Monday’s Legends Poll conference call below:

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Fresh off a victory over Alabama, LSU rose to the top of the ranks of the once-beaten teams in Sunday’s release of the Legends Poll. The Tigers climbed five spots to No. 5, one spot behind unbeaten Boise State.

On Monday’s conference call, the Legends Poll voters were as complimentary of LSU as they had been all year.

“We’ve said all along that LSU has as good of athletes as anybody in the country and what’s held them back is inconsistency on offense,” former Georgia coach Vince Dooley said. “I think they had some extra time to get ready and came off a loss. It fits a pattern of when a team has an extra week of preparation.”

Two weeks prior, LSU had been gashed by Auburn’s rushing attack in a 24-17 loss on the Plains. However, head coach Les Miles and the Tigers had a bye week to prepare for the defending national champions and took advantage.

“They played to their capabilities defensively, but the real surprise was their more consistent play on offense,” Dooley added.

“Bottom line is LSU made the plays whenever they had to,” said former Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry. “The 4th-and-1 situation when they ran the reverse was a typical call of their offensive coordinator (Gary Crowton). Of course I coached against him many times when he was at BYU. It was a gutsy call.”

Crowton, however, isn’t the only source of LSU’s gutsy calls. Les Miles has earned the nickname “Mad Hatter” for his rolls of the dice and edgy coaching style.

The difference in Saturday’s, however, game might have been the play of quarterback Jordan Jefferson.

“I’ve seen LSU a lot this year,” said former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Ross. “I don’t think Jefferson had been playing like he did in the Alabama game.”

TCU’s dominating victory over former top 10 team Utah propelled the Horned Frogs past Boise State into the No. 3 spot in the Legends Poll.

TCU beat Utah, 47-7, in Salt Lake City on Saturday, taking control of the Mountain West Conference. The Horned Frogs are also in position to play for the national championship with a little bit of help.

“I thought Utah’s defensive front would slow down TCU,” said former UCLA coach Terry Donahue. “But TCU was just too good. And their defense is probably the best I’ve seen all year.”

(Click for Terry Donahue’s full top 25 ballot)

Top-ranked Oregon remained unbeaten after a second half onslaught against Washington. No. 2 Auburn set up another Southeastern Conference showdown with Georgia after defeating Chattanooga, 62-24.

No. 4 Boise State fell one spot in the Legends Poll despite its 42-7 win over Hawaii.

LSU replaced Alabama as the No. 5 team after defeating the Crimson Tide 24-21 on Saturday. The fifth-ranked Tigers moved up five spots. Alabama fell six spots to No. 11 in the Legends Poll rankings.

Wisconsin remained No. 6 with a win over Purdue, and idle Ohio State moved up a spot to No. 7.

No. 8 Stanford moved into the Legends Poll top 10 for the first time this season after dismantling Arizona, 42-17, on Saturday night.

Nebraska remained at No. 9.

No. 10 Oklahoma State joined Stanford as a newcomer to the top 10.

No. 17 Oklahoma fell six spots after a tough road loss at Texas A&M. No. 21 Missouri also fell six spots after a Big 12 road loss at Texas Tech.

No. 23 Penn State and No. 24 Florida returned to the Legends Poll top 25 after short stints of being unranked.

No. 25 North Carolina was ranked for the first time this season. The Tar Heels replaced Florida State after beating the Seminoles, 37-35, on the road.

Click here to view the Legends Poll Top 25

The Boise State Broncos have a lot going for them.

They are ranked as high as No. 2 in the human polls — No. 3 in the Legends Poll. They have won 21 consecutive games and will likely finish another regular season undefeated.

Still, however, Boise State might be feeling blue.

In the latest BCS standings, Boise State was jumped by TCU and fell to No. 4. If TCU or Utah stays undefeated, then Boise State could be kept out of a BCS bowl altogether, forget the national championship game.

Legends LaVell Edwards and Bobby Ross watched the Broncos last week against Louisiana Tech and discussed how Boise may have suffered a major setback.

Listen to the audio below from Monday’s conference call.

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Heading into the 2010 season, not many people expected Baylor to be the best team in the state of Texas. But heading into November, quarterback Robert Griffin has led No. 22 Baylor to a 7-2 record and a place atop the Big 12 South standings.

On Monday’s Legends Poll conference call, former Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum says that much of Baylor’s success comes from their attack from the spread offense.

How does this offense compare to the other spread offenses in the Big 12?

Slocum: I watched when Leach was out there at Tech. Over all, their talent was not as good as some of the teams that they played. I think it is equalized by spreading the field. Baylor is the same way.

Why is the spread so effective for Baylor?

Slocum: One of the things that they do with that offense is they execute and do that every single day. Like Fisher DeBerry used to do at Air Force, he felt that his teams could out-execute some of the teams that he played against because they did the same thing over and over and knew exactly what to do.

You said that high schools are throwing the ball more and are bringing more experience to the quarterback and wide receiver positions in college. How has this helped to change the game of football?

Those receivers don’t care what coverage you play. They have a plan for any coverage you throw at them. The level of execution of just throwing and catching has improved tremendously, and I think that’s helping all of these teams across the country. It does give a team like Baylor a chance to go get a few good receivers. The linemen don’t have to line up and knock people off the line like we used to have to do.  If they can get in front of a guy for just a second or so, the quarterback can get rid of the ball.

Do you think Baylor can contend with Oklahoma in the Big 12 South?

You know, over the years you see teams that kind of get on a roll and get a lot of excitement. Going into Austin and beating Texas is big for Baylor. If they get their feet back on the ground and get back to work, we’ve seen week-to-week that anything is possible of happening. They probably won’t be favored to do that, but they’re certainly capable of doing it.