College Sports: LSU and Clemson fall in the rankings

A perfect day for ranked teams produced little change in the Top 25 on Sunday.

Ranked teams went 17-0 Saturday, the opening day of the college football season around most of the country. It was the first time ranked teams had a perfect record on a day in which 10 or more played since Aug. 31, 1996. That day, ranked teams went 11-0.

And it was only the second time ranked teams rolled through a full slate of games unbeaten since the mid-1960s.

Add No. 1 Southern California's victory on Aug. 28 and Utah's win Thursday night, and teams in The Associated Press media poll started the season 19-0.

AP Top 25    (Updated 9/5)

No.
Team
Pts

1. Southern Cal- 1609

2. Oklahoma- 1548

3. Georgia-1481

4. Florida State-1326

5. Miami (FL)-1306

6. LSU- 1292

7. Texas-1276

8. Michigan- 1260

9. Ohio State- 1012

10. West Virginia-987

11. Florida- 840

12. California-839

13. Kansas State-732

14. Tennessee-662

15. Virginia-642

16. Iowa- 578

17. Utah-570

18. Auburn-552

19. Missouri-535

20. Clemson-490

21. Wisconsin-346

22. Minnesota- 259

23. Maryland-195

24. Oregon-181

25. Purdue-131

Others receiving votes: Nebraska 92, Louisville 89, Memphis 80, Boise St. 60, N.C. State 49, Oregon St. 34, Oklahoma St. 16, TCU 14, Washington St. 11, Alabama 9, Penn St. 7, Arkansas 3, Southern Miss. 3, Boston College 2, Fresno St. 2, Mississippi 2, Rutgers 1, Stanford 1, Virginia Tech 1


USC, off a lackluster 24-13 victory over Virginia Tech, gained three first-place votes (51) and six points (1,609) in the latest rankings, but the Trojans' lead over No. 2 Oklahoma shrunk from 74 points to 61.

The Sooners got 10 first-place votes and 1,548 points. No. 3 Georgia received the other four first-place votes and 1,481 points. Like most of the ranked teams, both the Sooners and Bulldogs posted double-digit wins against lesser competition Saturday.

The exceptions were LSU and Clemson, and both dropped in the rankings after scrambling to win at home in overtime.

LSU, the defending BCS champs, slipped two spots to No. 6 after a 22-21 overtime victory against Oregon State. The Tigers were fortunate, to say the least. Beavers kicker Alexis Serna missed all three of his extra-point attempts, including the final one in overtime that ended the game.

"Those guys that came in, they outplayed us and beat us all over the field," LSU defensive tackle Kyle Williams said. "We snuck one out."

Clemson dropped five spots from No. 15 to No. 20 after rallying to beat Wake Forest 37-30 in double OT.

Benefiting from LSU's drop from the top five were No. 4 Florida State and No. 5 Miami, which each moved up a spot. The Hurricanes and Seminoles will play Friday night at the Orange Bowl, a game originally scheduled for Monday night and postponed because of Hurricane Frances.

Behind LSU, the top 10 stayed the same with Texas, Michigan, Ohio State and West Virginia all winning big.

The seventh-ranked Longhorns had the easiest go of it with a 65-0 win over North Texas.

"We got about everything out of an opening win that we could get," Texas coach Mack Brown said. "We have to realize we'll have to beat better teams than North Texas."

And the Longhorns will have to do it starting next week, when they travel to Fayetteville to face Arkansas.

No. 11 Florida was idle. The Gators' home opener against Middle Tennessee was also postponed by the hurricane that hit the Sunshine State this weekend.

No. 12 California and No. 13 Kansas State switched spots in the rankings this week. No. 14 Tennessee opened its season Sunday night at home against UNLV.

Virginia is No. 15, followed by Iowa and Utah, which moved up four spots after a 41-21 win over Texas A&M.

Auburn, Missouri and Clemson round out the top 20, followed by Wisconsin, Minnesota and Maryland.

No. 24 Oregon was idle. No. 25 Purdue also opened its season on Sunday after the poll was released.

No team fell out of the rankings.

I'm suprised LSU only dropped 3 spots. That could have been the worst game i've seen in a long time. LSU didn't look anything like a National Champion should have. If the kicker from Oregon State was just a little better it wouldn't have been close enough to go to overtime. LSU better pull it together or they are in big trouble this year.