Iron Bowl win keeps Alabama atop AP poll

Alabama is the unanimous No. 1 again in The AP college football poll as the top eight teams in the rankings held steady for the fourth week in a row.

The Crimson Tide got 62 firstplace votes for the second consecutive week, followed by No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Clemson.

SEC teams Texas A& M and Florida are fifth and sixth, respectively. Unbeaten Cincinnati is seventh, with BYU eighth.

The changes in the poll came after that, with Miami inching up to No. 9 and Indiana returning to the top 10.

Oregon’s first loss of the season knocked the Ducks out of the top 10, dropping them 12 spots to No. 21.

POLL POINTS

The Crimson Tide have been ranked for 209 consecutive polls, matching Florida’s run from 19902002 under Steve Spurrier for the third- longest streak in history.

Florida State is second at 211 straight appearances from 19892001. With two games against losing teams left, the Tide are likely to catch Bobby Bowden’s Seminoles before the SEC championship game on Dec. 19.

Texas, Auburn and North Carolina dropped out of the rankings after each lost for the third time this season. All three started the season ranked and at some point spent time in the top 10.

The replacements were two teams returning to the poll and one making its season debut:

• No. 23 Washington is ranked for the first time this season after it improved to 3- 0 with a 21- point comeback against Utah.

• No. 24 Iowa was 24th in the preseason. The Hawkeyes disappeared from the rankings when it did not look as if the Big Ten would play in the fall. When the it returned, Iowa didn’t quite make the cut, but four victories in a row have the Hawkeyes back where they started.

• No. 25 Liberty is back after a week out.

CONFERENCE CALL

BIG TEN » 5 ( Nos. 3, 10, 16, 18, 24) SEC » 4 ( Nos. 1, 5, 6, 11) ACC » 3 ( Nos. 2, 4, 9) BIG 12 » 3 ( Nos. 12, 13, 19) PAC- 12 » 3 ( Nos. 17, 21, 23)

AMERICAN » 2 ( Nos. 7, 22) SUN BELT » 2 ( Nos. 14, 20) C- USA » 1 ( No. 15) INDEPENDENTS » 2 ( No. 8, 25)

RANKED vs. RANKED NO. 10 INDIANA AT NO. 18 WISCONSIN »

The Badgers have had three games canceled, virtually eliminating them from the Big Ten West race. Indiana could be in line to take the East if Ohio State misses the league’s minimum games requirement. NO. 25 LIBERTY AT NO. 14 COASTAL CAROLINA » Who had Flames- Chanticleers as a matchup of ranked teams when the game was scheduled in August?