Penn State holding firm at No. 4

Alabama remained No. 1 and won back some of the support it lost last week to No. 2 Clemson. The Crimson Tide received 52 firstplace votes Sunday, up seven from last week, after beating Vanderbilt 59-0 on Saturday.

Clemson received eight first-place votes, down seven from last week, after taking more than three quarters to pull away from Boston College. No. 3 Oklahoma got the remaining first-place vote.

Penn State held at No. 4. Southern California was No. 5, followed by Pac-12 rival Washington.

Georgia followed Michigan, TCU and Wisconsin rounded out the top 10.

POLL POINTS

OUT » What a strange start to the season for Florida State, which had a streak of 105 straight poll appearances snapped. The Seminoles were No. 3 in the preseason poll, lost to Alabama in a marquee opener and lost quarterback Deondre Francois to a season-ending injury in that game, too.

Then Florida State’s season was put on hold for two weeks because of Hurricane Irma. That cost the ‘Noles what figured to be a good game against LouisianaMonroe to break in freshman quarterback James Blackman, and delayed its game against Miami.

Finally back on the field against North Carolina State, the Seminoles lost 27-21 to drop to 0-2 for the first time since 1989. Florida State also became the first team to start the season ranked in the top three of the AP poll and begin its season with two losses since 1984, when No. 3 Pitt began 0-4 and finished 3-7-1.