Ohio State drops four spots in latest AP poll

 

Ohio State (3-0, 0-0 B1G) remained unblemished Saturday afternoon with a 35-28 win over the Pac-12′s Cal Golden Bears (1-2, 0-0 Pac-12) and yet they dropped four spots in the latest Associated Press rankings from 12th to 16th in the nation.

With the Buckeyes not playing the part of their traditional powerhouse selves, coming off a 6-7 record from a year ago, their just not in a position to catch a break from voters – apparently.

USC, who were shut out in the second half of their 21-14 loss to #21 Stanford yesterday, dropped from second to thirteenth, three spots ahead of Ohio State. The Stanford upset vaulted the Cardinal from 21st up to 9th.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the week-three AP Poll release is the fact that Notre Dame found a way to jump from 20th in the country up to 11th by beating the #10 Michigan State Spartans last night 20-3 in East Lansing.

All told, the Buckeyes were jumped (or fell behind) by five different programs this week who were previously ranked behind them a week ago, including Notre Dame and Stanford as well as Kansas State (15), Florida (15) and Texas (12).

Just as they did for eight weeks last year before meeting in the BCS National Championship Game, Alabama and LSU now hold the top two spots in the poll.

With USC’s loss, Oregon and Florida State each moved up a spot to third and fourth, respectively. The SEC’s Georgia Bulldogs leaped ahead of Oklahoma for the 5th spot this week.

Michigan fell a spot to 18th, Michigan State dropped eleven spots to 21st and Nebraska jumped back into the pol at 25th to round out the ranked Big Ten teams.

Here is the full release by the Associated Press:

NEW YORK — Alabama and LSU are back atop The Associated Press college football poll, holding down Nos. 1 and 2 the way they did most of last season.

The Crimson Tide is No. 1 for the third straight week, and it was almost unanimous. Alabama received 58 of 60 first-place votes. LSU got the other two.

The Southeastern Conference rivals were ranked first and second for eight weeks during last season before eventually meeting in the BCS title game. The difference last year was LSU was first and Alabama second — until the Tide won the national championship game.

LSU moved up to No. 2 this week after Southern California’s first loss of the season. USC slipped 11 spots to 13th after losing 21-14 at Stanford.

Stanford jumped from 21st to ninth.

_____________

Prior Polls | Ohio State

Pre-season   |   Week 1   |   Week 2