New York, NY (Sports Network) - Alabama remained the top team in the latest
Associated Press college football poll, but next week's SEC opener against
Arkansas will not be a matchup of top 10 teams after the Razorbacks tumbled
all the way out of the rankings following Saturday's overtime loss to
Louisiana-Monroe.
Arkansas was ranked eighth this past week, but lost quarterback Tyler Wilson
during Saturday's 34-31 setback and will be unranked when the Crimson Tide
invade Fayetteville next weekend. It's the second-largest drop-out of any team
in the AP rankings. Only Michigan had a bigger fall, dropping out of the poll
after losing to Appalachian State as the fifth-ranked team in 2007.
Alabama, which ascended to the top spot last week following a season-opening
win over Michigan, rolled to a 35-0 rout of Western Kentucky on Saturday. This
week, the Crimson Tide received 48 first-place votes -- three more than last
week -- and a total of 1,486 points from a nationwide media panel.
Southern California, which started the season at No. 1, is again ranked second
this week. The Trojans, after a 42-29 win over Syracuse in New Jersey, picked
up eight first-place votes -- three fewer than last week.
LSU, which again earned four top tallies, remained third, followed again by
Oregon. Florida State and Oklahoma tied for fifth, while Georgia, South
Carolina, West Virginia and Michigan State round out this week's top 10.
The second 10 consists of Clemson, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Texas, Kansas
State, TCU, Michigan, Florida, Louisville and Notre Dame. Kansas State and
Florida each moved up six places.
Stanford and newcomers UCLA, Tennessee, Arizona and BYU are the last five
teams ranked this week. UCLA beat then-No. 16 Nebraska, 36-30, sending the
Cornhuskers out of the poll, while Arizona knocked off then-No. 18 Oklahoma
State to drop the Cowboys out.
In addition to Arkansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma State, Wisconsin also fell from
the rankings. The Badgers were 13th last week and dropped a 10-7 decision at
Oregon State.
After Saturday's action was void of any top-25 matchups, next week's schedule
features a trio of such games as Stanford welcomes Southern California,
Florida visits Tennessee and Michigan State hosts Notre Dame.
The Sports Network