The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Clemson keeps No. 1 ranking in AP poll as UGA slips to No. 4
Clemson easily held off Alabama on Sunday to retain the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press college football poll, extending its longest run atop the poll to seven weeks.
The Crimson Tide ran away from Georgia on Saturday night to make the case to be No. 1, but it wasn’t enough to topple the Tigers.
Clemson defended its turf with a historic blowout against Georgia Tech. The 66-point rout was the largest ever in an Atlantic Coast Conference football game. Clemson received 54 first-place votes out of 62 from the panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.
The Crimson Tide got the remaining eight first-place votes. Notre Dame moved up to a season-high No. 3, No. 4 Georgia dropped one spot and Ohio State moved up to No. 5 a week before the Big Ten starts playing.
Clemson has been No. 1 since the preseason. The Tigers have been top-ranked 23 times in school history but never more than five times in a season before this year.
North Carolina took a big fall, dropping nine spots to No. 14 after losing at Florida State.
Oklahoma State is No. 6, with Texas A&M, Penn State, Cincinnati and Florida rounding out the top 10.
PURDUE: Head coach Jeff Brohm has tested positive for the coronavirus, the school announced Sunday.
Brohm is awaiting a second test to confirm the initial result and is isolating at his home, Purdue’s athletic department said in a statement.
He is expected to speak with reporters during his regularly scheduled Zoom call today.
The Boilermakers are scheduled to host Iowa in their season opener Saturday when the Big Ten begins its virus-delayed, eight-game, conference-only season.
Other major-college football coaches known to have tested positive for COVID-19 include Florida’s Dan Mullen, Alabama’s Nick Saban, Florida State’s Mike Norvell, Arizona’s Kevin Sumlin and Kansas’ Les Miles. Saban was cleared to coach the Crimson Tide on Saturday, three days after a false positive test.
N.C. STATE: Starting quarterback Devin Leary could miss the rest of the regular season after having surgery Sunday for a leg injury suffered in a win against Duke.
The school said Leary had surgery a day after breaking the fibula bone in his left leg. He is expected to miss four to eight weeks.
N.C. State (4-1, 4-1 ACC) is halfway through its league schedule, with a nonconference game against Liberty and an open week still ahead.
Entering the Duke game, Leary had won two consecutive road games since retaking his starting job lost due to missed preseason workouts from COVID-19 contact tracing. But he was knocked from Saturday’s game after taking a hard hit on a keeper from Duke’s Lummie Young IV — who was ejected for targeting — and Leary’s leg bent awkwardly. Leary offered a thumbs-up while being carted off in the third quarter. He returned to the sideline on crutches and wearing a protective boot.