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.
Did you see the game? Tulane led the first half and LSU looked awful. So, yes, they struggled.
LOL...no I missed the game, but even so, at 34-9, that would be like me entering the Boston Marathon, running the first two miles at a dead sprint and bragging about how all the other runners were struggling to keep up with me for the first two miles (before I fell by the wayside, gasping for breath). If LSU struggled during the first half, what did Tulane do during the second? Not show up?
I guarantee LSU spent more time preparing for Florida last week than they spent preparing for Tulane.
No, there were guys in green jerseys on the field ... but they played like they were ranked around #124, in other words ... they looked like Tulane. I can't imagine the ass-chewin' that the Tigers got in the locker room at halftime, but it appeared to get results.
Wasn’t LSU behind at the half? Or was it 10-9? Either way, that is struggling.
Apparently, then, you do not have a legitimate reason for LSU's unwillingness to schedule home-and-home series against powerful out-of-conference opposition. Sooner or later, such unwillingness to play beyond inbred competition may come to be understood as cowardice. There is a ready solution.
In the meantime, one can only hope for a LSU-USC bowl matchup. Even better would be one in the Superdome followed the next year by one in the Rose Bowl--now that would be truly home-and-home!
STANFORD... gotta love them 41 point underdogs...
I believe your smugness has been answered.
I've been a rabid, though not smug, USC fan since my freshman year in 1966. That year, I attended my first SC-Notre Dame game at the Coliseum. Final score: ND 51, SC 0. I learned early on that rooting realistically precludes smugness.
Since that sunny, dreary day, I have encouraged my Trojans faithfully. They have rewarded us with six national championships and six Heisman Trophies.
Therefore, I have the very good fortune to have a realistic hope for continued success. Always I will congratulate those who best us. Last night, as the final gun went off, I said to my wife, and meant it, "Good for Stanford."
It would be nice if LSU would manfully take the challenge and schedule an out-of-conference home-and-home series with serious competitors like SC. Were we bested then by them, I would be happy to congratulate them, too. Until then, I can only consider their refusal to do so as indicative of their insecurity. One need not be smug, you see, to feel and be secure.
I would love to see LSU play USC. It would finally shut them up with all that “dual national champions” baloney. I’m hoping they play at the BCS this year. Show those west coast weenies what a real game looks like. :oD
GEAUX TIGERS!
Be careful what you wish for--you might get it. One thing I have noticed about LSU fans: they are big talkers. And talkers. And talkers.
10. The PAC 10 is definitely the toughest conference west of the Continental Divide.
9. John David Booty played with a broken finger.
8. Standford was the best 0 and 5 team in the country.
7. Its impossible to play your best week after week against teams with losing records.
6. The Trojans always deserve a share of number one regardless of their record.
5. Even with a loss, they have had more Heismann Trophy winners than other schools.
4. They were looking forward to an eventual battle with another titan of football, Notre Dame later in the season.
3. They were National Champions in 2003 without being in the Championship Game (a feat no other school would even try to accomplish).
2. You can't expect any team to beat Washington State and Stanford back to back.
1. Former USC players have gotten away with murder, so whats one little bitty loss in a national poll.
GEAUX TIGERS!
More big talk. Get LSU to schedule a home-and-home with SC—let’s settle it on the field. Everything else, including your fearless predictions, is just Big Talk.
I tuned in after SC's game ended and caught the last half of the fourth quarter along with the three overtimes. I was certainly perplexed about Coach Miles' playcalling at the end: four consecutive straight-ahead line plunges!? Is that his Big 10 background reasserting itself when under pressure?
Let me clarify something: I’m not an LSU fan. I picked UK to beat the spread, and I am very happy for them with their win. With our previous conversation, I was trying to point out something to you about which you’re oblivious. And if you can’t see the difference between losing a tough conference game on the road to a ranked team to losing what should have been a gasser to the worst team in the conference, then continuing this conversation is pointless.
I should have realized that far earlier, though.
Interestingly, it is not even necessary to succeed in these nonconference tests. SC and Notre Dame have played annually for eighty years, and overall SC has a losing record in this series. But the need to compete surely spurs SC's efforts, to the point that we've won eleven national championships during that period. That is probably not merely a coincidence. Striving against the best brings out one's own best. Iron sharpens iron.
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