Crimson Tide remains No. 1 in both polls
The sun rose in the east this morning. In other news, Alabama is still No. 1 in the USA TODAY Amway Coaches Poll.
The Crimson Tide strengthened their hold on the top spot following their dominant performance against Southern California, picking up 62 of 64 first-place votes in the Amway poll. No. 2 Clemson got the other two No. 1 votes, though the Tigers had to work a bit harder to get past Auburn in their debut.
Florida State moved up a notch to No. 3 after its 45-34 Monday night comeback win against Ole Miss. Ohio State and Stanford round out the top five.
Tennessee (1-0) fell from No. 9 to No. 17 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll and from No. 10 to No. 14 in the USA Today coaches’ poll.
Tennessee needed a fumble recovery in the end zone to beat Appalachian State 20-13 in overtime Thursday night. Counting Alabama and Tennessee, six SEC teams are ranked in the AP poll — Georgia is No. 9, Ole Miss is No. 19, Texas A&M is No. 20 and LSU is No. 21. In the coaches’ poll, seven SEC teams are ranked, counting Alabama and Tennessee — Georgia is No. 9, Ole Miss is No. 18, LSU is No. 22, Texas A&M is No. 24 and Florida is No. 25.
DEVELOPMENTS
MSU puts loss behind: Mississippi State opens SEC play Saturday at home against South Carolina on the heels of the Bulldogs’ 21-20 opening upset loss to South Alabama.
The Gamecocks began preparing for MSU last week after kicking off their season last Thursday with a win against Vanderbilt.
“They had that big advantage of opening up on a Thursday night, which I know is a big advantage for a lot of teams,” Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said.
Mullen has won four straight against SEC East opponents. South Carolina was the last team to beat him in 2013. The Gamecocks are the only SEC East opponent Mullen hasn’t defeated.
Vandy to keep swapping QBs: Coach Derek Mason made it clear that the Vanderbilt Commodores have a starting quarterback in Kyle Shurmur but plan to play backup Wade Freebeck as well.
Mason has been criticized since Vanderbilt failed to protect a 10-point lead in losing its opener 13-10 to South Carolina, with most of the questions over how the head coach and offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig handled their quarterbacks. Shurmur started and drove Vanderbilt to its lone touchdown within the first minute of the second quarter but was replaced by Freebeck on the next drive. Vanderbilt never scored again. “I don’t have any regrets about throwing (Freebeck) in there,” Mason said. “That was the thought. That was the game plan. You always look and evaluate. Hindsight’s 20-20. When those things arise in the future, maybe you attack them differently.”
Briefly: Auburn coach Gus Malzahn says Sean White will remain the starter at quarterback, John Franklin III is now No. 2 and Jeremy Johnson is No. 3. The Tigers played all three QBs, at times on the same series, in a 19-13 loss to No. 2 Clemson. ... LSU coach Les Miles said star running back Leonard Fournette is fine after initially being hobbled by a fourth-quarter hit to his lower leg in Saturday’s loss to Wisconsin . ... Coach Brian Kelly isn’t ready to declare the two-quarterback system dead yet at No. 18 Notre Dame after a 50-47 double-overtime loss to Texas. DeShone Kizer outplayed Malik Zaire, throwing for five touchdowns and running for one. Zaire was 2 of 5 passing for 23 yards. Kelly, though, said only that the Irish plan on “having two really good quarterbacks the rest of the year.” ... Iowa signed coach Kirk Ferentz to a six-year contract extension through the 2025 season. Ferentz, who is in his 18th season leading the Hawkeyes, will see his salary jump to $4.5 million per year under the new deal . ... Arkansas senior Deatrich Wise Jr. is the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week for his performance in the Razorbacks’ 21-20 seasonopening victory against Louisiana Tech. Wise tied for the team lead and equaled a career-high with seven tackles.