New York (AP) — Southern California dropped nine spots and out of the top
10 in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday, and Washington
moved into the rankings for the first time in six years.
A day
after the Huskies upset the Trojans 16-13 on a late field goal, USC
fell from No. 3 to No. 12 in the media poll. The Trojans became the
second preseason top-five team to lose in the first three weeks of the
season. Preseason No. 3 Oklahoma lost its opener to BYU.
Washington, ranked for the first time since Sept. 28, 2003, is No. 24.
No.
1 Florida and No. 2 Texas have held firm to their spots all season. No.
3 Alabama and No. 4 Mississippi moved up one spot in the latest poll,
giving the Southeastern Conference three of the top four teams in the
nation. Penn State remained No. 5.
Florida received 55 of 60 first-place votes. Texas had two and Alabama received three.
BYU
dropped the farthest this week, from seventh to 19th after a 54-28 home
loss to Florida State. The Seminoles moved back into the rankings at
No. 18.
The rest of the top 10 was California at No. 6, followed by LSU, Boise State, Miami and Oklahoma.
The
Hurricanes made the biggest jump of the ranked teams from last week,
moving up 11 spots after a 33-17 victory against Georgia Tech. The loss
knocked the Yellow Jackets out of the rankings. Utah also dropped out
after a loss.
Miami is in the top 10 for first time since the
final regular-season poll of the 2005 season. The Hurricanes play at
No. 11 Virginia Tech on Saturday in a huge Atlantic Coast Conference
game.
Miami was the dominant team in college football during the
early 2000s. In the latter part of the decade, USC has taken the
Hurricanes' place.
The last time Miami was ranked higher than USC
was Oct. 26, 2003. That week the Hurricanes were No. 2 and USC was No.
3. The next week, USC moved up a spot, Miami dropped to sixth and the
two programs kept drifting apart. The Trojans became a top-10 fixture
while the Hurricanes struggled to even crack the Top 25.
Since
Nov. 3, 2002, Pete Carroll's second season at USC, the Trojans have
spent only six weeks out of the top 10 — all in 2007 following an early
October home loss to 40-point underdog Stanford.
Washington, like
Miami, contended for national championships earlier this decade, but
the Huskies have fallen on even harder times than the 'Canes.
Washington
finished that 2003 season 6-5 and hasn't had a winning season since.
The Huskies hit rock bottom last season, becoming the first Pac-10 team
to go 0-12.
Jake Locker and the Huskies snapped a 15-game losing
streak last week with a 42-23 victory against Idaho, but beating the
Vandals could hardly be viewed as a sign that Washington was ready to
defeat USC for the first time since 2001.
New coach Steve
Sarkisian, a former USC assistant, and the Huskies did just that.
Locker led a masterful late drive and Eric Folk kicked a 22-yard field
goal with 3 seconds left in the game.
"We said early on that it
wasn't going to take us very long," Sarkisian told reporters on
Saturday. "I think maybe some people outside our own little domain
thought that that was just press-conference-speak."
It was only a
week ago that USC, behind freshman quarterback Matt Barkley, was coming
off a dramatic comeback victory against Ohio State. Barkley did not
play against Washington because of a sore shoulder.
The Buckeyes are No. 13 in the new poll, followed by Cincinnati and TCU.
Oklahoma
State, Houston, Florida State, BYU and Kansas round out the top 20.
Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Washington and Nebraska are the
final five.