Bama,
Oregon, K-State, ND rise to top of AP poll
By RALPH D.
RUSSO (AP College Football Writer) | The Associated Press – Sun, Oct 28, 2012
9:13 PM EDT
Breaking
down the AP college football poll after Week 9 of the regular season.
---
MAKING A
STATEMENT:
Call them
the fantastic four. Or maybe the final four in the race for No. 1.
Alabama,
Oregon, Kansas State and Notre Dame hold the top four spots in The Associated
Press college football poll released Sunday.
The Crimson
Tide is No. 1 for the ninth straight week and the Ducks are No. 2 for the sixth
consecutive week.
The
third-ranked Wildcats and fourth-ranked Fighting Irish each moved up a spot
after Florida lost 17-9 to Georgia. That dropped the Gators from third to
eighth.
The BCS
standings came out later Sunday and Alabama was first again, but Kansas State
and Notre Dame followed with Oregon fourth.
The Tide,
Ducks, Wildcats and Irish will spend the last month of the regular season
competing against each other from a far, vying for two spots in the BCS
national championship game. All of them could get to Dec. 2, BCS selection day,
unbeaten.
The finish
line is now in sight, but no peeking.
''It's
tough not to, knowing you're so close, but man, you just have to focus in on
next week, focus in on next game,'' K-State wide receiver Chris Harper said
after the Wildcats' 55-24 victory against Texas Tech. ''It's really hard not to
look ahead, but the position that we're in, you can't do it.''
Alabama and
Oregon both face big tests Saturday. Emerging Heisman trophy contender AJ
McCarron and the Tide go to Baton Rouge, La., to face No. 5 LSU in a game that
could decide the SEC West.
The
Pac-12's game of the year was supposed to be Saturday as well. The Ducks will
be at No. 18 Southern California, but the Trojans are coming off their second
loss of the season. USC fell 39-36 at Arizona and hasn't looked much like a
team that started the season No. 1.
Still, Matt
Barkley and crew figure to provide some resistance to an Oregon team that has
yet to enter the fourth quarter of a game with the result in doubt.
Kansas
State is home against Big 12 rival Oklahoma State. Notre Dame, coming off a
30-13 victory at Oklahoma, takes on Pittsburgh in South Bend, Ind.
A BCS mess
looms. Alabama's position as No. 1 is safe as long as the defending national
champions keep winning. The other three will jockey for the position behind the
Tide, and voters (both in the AP poll and the two used in the BCS standings)
will parse scores and schedules, looking for the slightest flaws to separate
the Ducks, Wildcats and Irish.
Good luck
with that.
---
MOVING UP
Dismissed
after getting thumped at South Carolina, No. 7 Georgia moved up five spots in
the latest rankings and moved into position to win a second straight SEC East
title.
The
Bulldogs put together by far their best defensive performance of the season
against the Gators. It really came out of nowhere. Georgia, with a lineup full
of future NFL draft picks, had been allowing more than 200 yards per game on
the ground over its last three.
All-American
linebacker Jarvis Jones, who has been slowed by injuries, was spectacular with
13 tackles, three sacks and two forced fumbles. Florida ran for only 81 yards.
Georgia
needs to beat Mississippi and Auburn to book a trip to the Southeastern
Conference title game for the sixth time in 12 seasons under coach Mark Richt.
Yes, the Bulldogs have benefited from a favorable schedule the past two
seasons, missing the best teams from the SEC West. But you can only play the
teams on your schedule and Georgia has beaten almost all of them.
Still, many
Bulldogs fans have been exasperated by their team and coach in recent seasons.
Georgia hasn't won the SEC since 2005, and while Florida, Alabama, Auburn and
LSU have won the last six national titles, Georgia hasn't won any.
That's a
high standard to meet, but that's where the bar is set for the top SEC programs
these days.
---
MOVING DOWN
USC, now
that's a disappointing team.
Even after
losing at Stanford in September, the Trojans were No. 10 with a chance to work
their way back into the national title race. Another sloppy performance led to
their second loss of the season.
The Trojans
had more than 600 yards, including 493 passing by Barkley, against Arizona.
Star receiver Marqise Lee had 16 catches for a Pac-12 record 345 yards. But USC
committed five turnovers and 13 penalties and let a 15-point, second-half lead
slip away.
Coach Lane
Kiffin's talented team has been its own worst enemy all season. USC is the most
penalized team in the country, averaging 10.3 per game for 84.6 yards. The
Trojans are tied for 94th in the nation with 18 giveaways.
The irony
is USC will still be front and center in the national championship chase.
The Trojans
play Oregon on Saturday, and finish their regular season on Nov. 24 at home
against Notre Dame. The Trojans still control their destiny in the Pac-12
South, and could reach the conference title game, possibly for a rematch with
Oregon.
Playing
spoiler, however, is not what the Trojans had in mind this season.
---
IN AND OUT
From
undefeated to unranked.
Rutgers
pulled off that trick with a ghastly performance at home against Kent State.
The Scarlet
Knights committed seven turnovers and the Golden Flashes won 35-23 for the
Mid-American Conference's fourth victory this season against the Big East. For
the second straight week, a ranked and unbeaten Big East team lost to a MAC
team. Last week, it was Cincinnati losing at Toledo.
Rutgers,
which only had six turnovers coming into the game, had been ranked 18th.
The silver
lining for the Scarlet Knights is they are still very much in play for their
first Big East championship. They play Army next week before finishing the
season against Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and No. 12 Louisville.
The Big
East didn't have much chance of sending a team to the national title game, but
those nonconference loses have taken some of the luster off what was set to be
an intriguing league race.
Elsewhere
in the MAC, Ohio University also went from unbeaten to unranked. The Bobcats,
ranked for the first time since 1968, lost 23-20 to league rival Miami of Ohio.
MAC teams
Toledo (8-1, 5-0), Kent State (7-1, 4-0), Northern Illinois (8-1, 5-0) and Ohio
(7-1, 3-1) all received votes in the latest AP Top 25.
Also
falling out of the rankings was Michigan. Moving back in was No. 21 Nebraska,
No. 24 Arizona and No. 25 UCLA.
---
FROM THE
ARCHIVES
Louisville
has not been ranked this high since it reached No. 8 early in the 2007 season,
the year after Bobby Petrino coached the Cardinals to the Orange Bowl, and then
bolted for the NFL.
Louisville
fell out of the rankings in September 2007, and didn't get back in until the
start of this season.
---
ODDS AND
ENDS
Newly
ranked Arizona and UCLA play at the Rose Bowl on Saturday. ... No. 16 Texas
A&M is at No, 17 Mississippi State. The Bulldogs, who were trounced by
Alabama 38-7 on Saturday, will try to avoid a two-game losing streak after
starting the season 7-0.
---
AP Sports
Writer Dave Skretta in Manhattan, Kan., contributed to this report.
---
Follow
Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP
AP Top 10
1. Alabama
(60)
2. Oregon
3. Kansas
St.
4. Notre
Dame
5. LSU
6. Ohio St.
7. Georgia
8. Florida
9. Florida
St.
10. Clemson
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