Florida St. falls to 10; Irish in at 24
Associated Press
Florida State slipped all the way to 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 is No. 1 again, securing 60 of 61 firstplace votes in the first Top 25 of the regular season. Ohio State remained No. 2 in the media poll and received the other firstplace 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 consecutive week there will be a top- five matchup. The Sooners play at Ohio State on Saturday.
Florida State was No. 3 in the preseason poll and lost an openingweek showdown with Alabama 24- 7. Francois went down with a knee injury late.
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 that Florida State would not have dropped 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 without the Francois injury. Instead, Dooley has the Noles ninth.
“That’s a different team without him,” he said.
Jason Galloway of the Wisconsin State Journal dropped Florida State four spots to seventh 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 beworse without him,” he said.
They’re in
Notre Dame moved into the rankings at No. 24 after beating Temple 49- 17. 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.
They’re out
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 getting beaten at home by Maryland, but they did not receive a vote.
Ranked vs. ranked thisweek
No. 5Oklahoma atNo. 2Ohio State: The Buckeyes beat the Sooners going away in Norman last season, and it was a major factor in getting them into the College Football Playoff. The return match is an opportunity for Oklahoma to boost not only its resume but the Big 12’ s credibility.
No. 13Auburn atNo. 3 Clemson: New Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant had a stress- free debut against Kent State. Facing the Tigers’ defense will be anything but stress- free.
No. 14 Stanford at No. 6 USC: Think the Cardinal noticed how much difficulty USC had stopping Western Michigan’s running game last week?
No. 15 Georgia at No. 24 Notre Dame: Pivotal earlyseason game to determine what type of rebound season this could be for the Irish.
AnotherQBout for year
Maryland’s Tyrrell Pigrome is out for the season with a torn right anterior cruciate ligament suffered in the upset of Texas. True freshman Kasim Hill becomes the starter.