Monday, November 8, 2004
USC and Oklahoma still one and two
By Ralph D. Russo
The Associated Press
Southern California and Oklahoma made it 11 for 11 in the Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday.
The top-ranked Trojans and second-ranked Sooners have lined up that way in the rankings since the preseason.
The stretch of straight polls with the same Nos. 1 and 2 is the longest since 1987, when No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Nebraska also went unchanged for the first 11 polls of the season.
USC and Oklahoma overcame double-digit deficits Saturday to remain unbeaten.
The Trojans fell behind 13-0 at foggy Oregon State, but rallied to win 28-20.
The Sooners were 14 points down three times in the first half at Texas A&M, before Jason White's fifth touchdown pass of the game midway through the fourth quarter provided the winning margin in a 42-35 victory.
"There will be plenty to criticize, which will happen," Sooners coach Bob Stoops said, "and we're one of those teams that gets it even when we win."
White said, "This game helped us out tremendously."
Not necessarily in the polls.
USC received 52 first-place votes and 1,611 points in the media poll. Oklahoma had 10 first-place votes and 1,555 points.
No. 3 Auburn was idle but got a slight bump. The Tigers received three first-place votes, two more than last week, and 1,512 points. They are five points closer to Oklahoma than they were last week.
Auburn needs to close the gap between itself and the Sooners in the polls to surpass Oklahoma in the Bowl Championship Series standings.
The BCS standings will be released Monday. Just like in the polls, last week's BCS standings had USC, Oklahoma and Auburn in the top three.
No. 4 and unbeaten Wisconsin moved up a spot after a 38-14 victory over Minnesota. California dropped a spot to No. 5 after needing a couple of breaks and a second-half rally to beat Oregon 28-27.
The ESPN/USA Today poll top four are the same as in the AP poll, but Georgia is No. 5 in coaches voting.
On a day for comebacks, No. 6 Texas had the best. The Longhorns scored 49 unanswered points to beat Oklahoma State 56-35.
No. 7 Utah, trying to earn a BCS bid from a non-BCS conference, was 14 points behind Texas.
No. 8 was Georgia, which plays at Auburn on Saturday, followed by Michigan and Virginia.
No. 11 Florida State leads the second 10 ahead of Louisville, West Virginia, Boise State and Tennessee, which dropped six spots after losing to Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish moved into the rankings for the second time this season at No. 24.
Virginia Tech is No. 16 and LSU was 17th.
No. 18 Miami dropped seven spots after losing a second straight game. The Hurricanes fell 24-17 to Clemson in overtime.
Iowa and Arizona State rounded out the top 20.
Boston College was No. 21 and Texas A&M remained No. 22, despite the loss to Oklahoma.
UTEP, which cracked the rankings for the first time in school history last week, moved up two spots to No. 23 without playing.
Miners coach Mike Price had joked he was nervous that his team would fall out of the rankings on an off week.
No. 25 is Oklahoma State, and Southern Mississippi fell out of the rankings after losing 52-24 to Cincinnati.
The AP Top 25
The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 6, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:
