Posted on 09/30/2007 12:43:23 PM PDT by indcons
NEW YORK (AP) -- LSU reached No. 1 the hard way.
The Tigers edged past Southern California in the AP Top 25 on Sunday, even though the Trojans remained undefeated.
On a wild day in college football, when half the top 10 lost, USC avoided the upset bug that struck Oklahoma, Florida, Texas and Rutgers. But a sloppy 27-24 victory at Washington on Saturday night cost the Trojans the No. 1 ranking they've held all season.
USC is the first team to lose the No. 1 ranking after a victory since Nov. 3, 2002, when top-ranked Miami dropped after beating Rutgers 42-17 and No. 2 Oklahoma moved up after a 27-11 victory over No. 13 Colorado.
LSU, which recovered from its own first-half malaise to beat Tulane 34-9 on Saturday, received 33 first-place votes from the media panel and 1,593 points. USC got 32 first-place votes, 11 fewer than last week, and 1,591 points.
The voting was the closest since the second poll of the 2002 season, when Miami and Oklahoma tied for No. 1 and each received 27 first-place votes.
LSU is No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time since Nov. 2, 1959.
The rest of the rankings released Sunday bore little resemblance to any of the previous polls, thanks to a crazy weekend in which three of the top five and seven of the top 13 teams lost.
Overall, nine ranked teams went down, seven to unranked opponents.
California moved up three spots to No. 3, Ohio State jumped four places to No. 4 and Wisconsin moved up five spots to No. 5.
The rest of the top 10 featured some unfamiliar names.
South Florida, which knocked off No. 5 West Virginia 21-13 on Thursday night, made it into the poll for the first time two weeks ago. Now the Bulls are No. 6 in the country and West Virginia dropped eight spots to 13th.
No. 7 Boston College is in the top 10 for the first time since 1992. No. 8 Kentucky has a top-10 ranking for the first time since 1977.
No. 9 Florida, which lost 20-17 on a last-second field goal to Auburn, fell five spots. Oklahoma, which lost to Colorado on a field goal as time expired, dropped seven spots to No. 10.
In the USA Today coaches' poll, USC held on to No. 1, with LSU, Cal, Ohio State and Wisconsin in the top five.
The other two top-10 teams to lose this weekend took the largest tumbles in the new rankings.
Texas dropped 12 spots to No. 19 after it was handed its worst home loss of the Mack Brown era, 41-21 at home to Kansas State. The Wildcats entered the rankings for the first time since 2004 at No. 24.
Rutgers fell 11 spots to No. 21 after losing 34-24 at home to Maryland.
The second 10 starts with South Carolina at No. 11 and Georgia at No. 12.
After West Virginia is Oregon at No. 14. The Ducks fell three spots after a tough 31-24 loss to Cal. Virginia Tech is No. 15, followed by Hawaii, Missouri and Arizona State at No. 18.
Cincinnati moved up four spots to No. 20, a week after receiving its first national ranking in 31 years.
Clemson, another upset victim, fell nine spots to No. 22 after losing 13-3 to Georgia Tech.
No. 23 Purdue was the second newcomer to the rankings, along with Kansas State, and No. 25 Nebraska was the only team in the Top 25 to hold the same spot as it did last week.
Falling out of the rankings were Penn State and Alabama.
Are you even serious? Try Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia...do I have to go on? USC in the SEC loses 3 or 4 games this year. Give me a break!
Right on!
And wrt the Bulls being the the #1 team in the state, I guess the polls say it’s so now!
That being said, I would vote LSU #1, USC #2 after seeing them both play.
What happened is someone changed their vote for USC to Wsshington (they have 1 vote) and LSU is now tops.
I find that hilarious.
Auburn and Arkansas were the only SEC teams that had the guts to schedule SC for their out-of-conference games during the Pete Carroll era and the results speak for themselves. Hopefully, SC and LSU can meet in the post season. I know Les Miles’ pre-season remarks will be a great motivator for Sedrick Ellis et al. I just hope the Trojans can limit the penalties while they emasculate the Tigers.
Yep...they said the same thing about Ohio State in last year’s NC game. Teams from the SEC are underrated by fans from outside the conference because the latter don’t acknowledge how good a team has to be in order to remain undefeated in the SEC.
No offense meant personally.
I never thought Ohio State had a chance against Florida.
One of the few time when I enjoy the phrase, “The Trojans Slip”
My Horns :(
All I know is that Virginia is 4-1, and we’re good! Go Hoos!
Neither is an acceptable option...
I agree, it’s Virginia’s Homecoming Weekend, I’ll be going.
It looked like Texas couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag.
With their performance all season, I wouldn't have them ranked.
Class of ‘91, Fine Arts!
Of course, I dropped out in 89 to work full time in stage production, and went back to college later- to get a degree in theology! (not from USF lol)
So, I’m either inconsistent, or well-rounded. :) Go Bulls!
“I’m not an LSU fan but I think their #1 ranking is perfectly fair considering their superior performance so far this season.”
I’m a Trojan fan, but I have to admit SC played horribly Saturday night and doesn’t deserve to be no. 1 because of that. A few bad calls by the officials against SC, but even so, there was no excuse for all the other penalties.
It reminded me of last year when they played very well against the ranked teams but screwed up against two bad unranked teams. Hope this isn’t a repeat of last year!
“LSU would clean USC’s clock any time.”
At least USC’s motto is to “play any team, anywhere, anytime.” Unfortunately, many teams refuse every year to play them, including LSU.
Sounds like my path to a degree! I was on the 6-year plan...3 years at HCC, 3 years at USF. It didn’t help that I didn’t know what I was going to major in until I got my AA...
How do you like that #6 AP ranking?
AFAIC the most surprising team in the top ten by far is South Florida. When I lived down there just a few years ago the University of South Florida didn't even field a football team, and now they're #6 in the nation. Way to go Bulls!
How long do you think USF can keep Leavitt, I bet there are a lot of people in South Bend and Ann Arbor that would love to have him.
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