Sun Sep 23 16:51:00 2007

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USC, LSU remain atop poll

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New York, NY (Sports Network) - Southern California and LSU remained firmly entrenched as the top two teams in the latest Associated Press college football poll.

The Trojans (3-0) rolled to a 47-14 victory over Washington State on Saturday and the Tigers (4-0) clawed their way past South Carolina, 28-16.

Southern California received 43 first-place votes, three fewer than last week, and a total of 1,601 points from a nationwide media panel, while LSU took the other three first-place votes for a total of 22 and 1,580 points.

Both teams will play on the road this coming Saturday, as USC visits Washington and LSU travels down the road to Tulane.

Oklahoma and Florida swapped spots in this week's poll after both won the road. The Sooners moved into the third slot following a 62-21 pasting of Tulsa and the Gators dropped to fourth after a 30-24 triumph at Ole Miss.

West Virginia, California, Texas, Ohio State and Wisconsin all kept their places in the top 10, while idle Rutgers moved up a spot to 10th after Penn State dropped to 21st following a loss at Michigan.

The second 10 consists of Oregon, Boston College, Clemson, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, South Florida, Hawaii and Missouri.

Kentucky and Georgia each had the biggest jump within the poll, both moving up seven spots following big SEC road wins. The Wildcats rallied past Arkansas and the Bulldogs outlasted Alabama in overtime.

Penn State, which had the biggest fall this week, Alabama, Arizona State, Cincinnati and Nebraska are the last five teams ranked.

Arizona State and Cincinnati are this week's newcomers. The Sun Devils beat Oregon State to improve to 4-0 this season, while the Bearcats are also 4-0 after a 40-14 throttling of Marshall.

Louisville and Texas A&M dropped out of the poll. Louisville didn't even receive a vote after losing its second straight game with a 38-35 home setback against previously winless Syracuse. The Cardinals were ranked ninth just two weeks ago. A&M dropped a 34-17 decision on Thursday night at Miami-Florida.

This week's slate includes a top-25 matchup of Big East teams on Friday, as West Virginia visits South Florida. The only other game involving a pair of top-25 teams comes from the Pac-10, as Oregon hosts California.