Sun Sentinel Broward Edition

Georgia, TCU jump into top 10, Seminoles fall out

- By Safid Deen Staff writer

TALLAHASSE­E, Fla. — The Florida State football team started this season ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

But after losses to No. 1 Alabama and NC State sandwiched between two games affected by Hurricane Irma in the first four weeks of the season, the Seminoles find themselves on the outside looking in.

FSU, which became a fixture in the AP poll under Bobby Bowden with the trend continuing under Jimbo Fisher, was bounced from the rankings on Sunday for the first time in nearly six years.

“There is no panic, but there is urgency,” Fisher said Saturday following the first home-opening loss in his tenure, a 27-21 defeat to NC State in Doak Campbell Stadium.

FSUbecame the first preseason No. 3 team to start 0-2 since Pitt in 1984, but could not become the first 0-2 team ranked since Michigan in 1988, according to AP research.

The Seminoles dropped from No. 12 to unranked among the country's top 25 teamsfor the first time since Week 12 of the 2011 season, which FSU started as a preseason No. 6 team and finished at No. 23 in the final ranking.

Just a season ago, the Seminoles started 3-2 after losses to Louisville and North Carolina, but rebounded to finish 10-3 with an Orange Bowl victory over Michigan and No. ranking to end the season.

FSUisoff to a0-2 start for the first time since 1989, a year the Seminoles finished 10-2 with a No. 3 ranking after a Fiesta Bowl win over Nebraska.

The following season, Bowden began a heralded stretch where the Seminoles were never ranked lower than No. 11 from November 1990 to September 2001.

Fellow in-state teams were ranked in the latest poll, including No. 14 Miami, No. 18 USF and No. 21 Florida. Here is the full top 25: 1. Alabama 2. Clemson 3. Oklahoma 4. Penn State 5. USC 6. Washington 7. Georgia 8. Michigan 9. TCU 10. Wisconsin 11. Ohio State 12. Virginia Tech 13. Auburn 14. Miami 15. Oklahoma State 16. Washington State 17. Louisville 18. USF 19. San Diego State 20. Utah 21. Florida 22. NotreDame 23. West Virginia 24. Mississipp­i State 25. LSU Others receiving votes: NC State 87, Duke 79, Texas Tech 40, Florida State 35, Memphis 26, Iowa 16, Stanford 8, California 7, Colorado 5, UCF 4, Minnesota 3, Kansas State 3, Oregon 3, Tennessee 1, Wake Forest 1

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