Alabama gets 60 of 61 No. 1 votes; FSU slides to 10th
Florida State slipped all the way to the No. 10 in The Associated Press college football poll after losing to Alabama and losing quarterback Deondre Francois to a season-ending injury.
The Crimson Tide are No. 1 again, securing 60 of 61 first-place votes in the first Top 25 of the regular season. Ohio State remained No. 2 in the media poll and received the other first-place vote.
Defending champion Clemson moved up to No. 3 on Tuesday. Penn State is No. 4 and Oklahoma moved up to No. 5, meaning for the second straight week there will be a topfive matchup. The Sooners play at Ohio State on Saturday.
Florida State was No. 3 in the preseason poll and lost an opening-week showdown with Alabama, 24-7. Francois went down with a knee injury late in the game.
The Seminoles will turn to freshman quarterback James Blackman to start. Florida State hosts
Louisiana-Monroe this week, but the stiffer tests are coming soon. No. 16 Miami visits Tallahassee on Sept. 16.
Many AP voters said they would not have dropped FSU as far on
their ballots had Francois not been injured. ESPN’s Rece Davis said he would have had the Seminoles no lower than No. 3 without the injury to Francois.
“I have them at a shaky seven now solely because
their defense is filthy,” Davis said.
Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun said he likely would have dropped Florida State to fifth or sixth this week without the Francois injury.
Instead, Dooley has the Seminoles ninth.
“That’s a different team without him,” he said.
Jason Galloway of the Wisconsin State Journal dropped Florida State four spots to seventh on his ballot this week and said the Francois injury was not a factor.
“I’ll allow FSU’s play on the field to drop them rather than simply assuming they’ll be worse without him,” he said.
Southern California slipped two spots to No. 6 after playing a tighter-than-expected game against Western Michigan. Washington is No. 7 and Michigan moved up 11 spots to No. 8 after beating Florida. The Gators dropped five spots to No. 22 Wisconsin is No. 9. Notre Dame moved into the rankings at No. 24 after beating Temple 49-17 in the opener. Notre Dame was third among the other teams receiving votes in the preseason rankings. No. 23 TCU also makes its season debut in the Top 25.
West Virginia slipped out of the rankings after losing a heartbreaker to Virginia Tech to open the season. Texas, which started the season No. 23, not only fell out of the rankings after losing at home to Maryland but did not receive a single vote this week.