USC pulls away, Georgia slips again in AP Top 25

USC pulls away, Georgia slips again in AP Top 25
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK (AP) -Southern California is now a no-doubt-about-it No. 1 in the AP Top 25, and there's a new No. 2 as Georgia slipped again.

The Trojans' resounding 35-3 victory against Ohio State on Saturday night made USC an overwhelming No. 1 in the media poll. USC received 61 first-place votes and 1,596 points on Sunday. The Trojans had 33 first-place votes last week.

Oklahoma moved past Georgia into No. 2. The Bulldogs barely got past South Carolina 14-7 on Saturday and the Sooners notched their third consecutive blowout victory, winning 55-14 at Washington.

Georgia is the first preseason No. 1 to drop that far after starting 3-0 since Oklahoma in 1985. The Sooners also fell to No. 3 after winning their first three games.

The Bulldogs received two first-place votes this week. No. 4 Florida received the other first-place vote and Missouri moved up a spot to No. 5.

Ohio State dropped eight spots to No. 13.

No. 6 was LSU, followed by Texas, Wisconsin, Alabama and Auburn. Half the top 10 teams are from the Southeastern Conference.

Two Pac-10 teams dropped out of the rankings after losing: California and Arizona State.

Clemson moved back into the rankings. The Tigers started the season ranked ninth and fell all the way out after losing their opener 34-10 to Alabama, and returned as No. 23.

Florida State also moved into the Top 25 for the first time since the middle of last season. The Seminoles were No. 24.

Texas Tech is No. 11, followed by South Florida, Ohio State, BYU and East Carolina, which slipped one spot to No. 15 after squeaking past Tulane 28-24 in its first game as a ranked team since 1999.

Penn State was No. 16 and Oregon was 17th, followed by Wake Forest, Kansas and Utah.

The final five were West Virginia, Illinois, Clemson, Florida State and Fresno State, which lost 13-10 to Wisconsin.