USC Remains Atop AP Poll, but Loses First-Place Votes

[Walter Cronkite]

Southern California's hold on No. 1 loosened after the Trojans struggled against Stanford.

USC received 46 first-place votes in the Associated Press poll released Sunday, eight fewer than last week.

The team that benefited most from Southern California's come-from-behind 31-28 victory on Saturday was idle Oklahoma. The second-ranked Sooners got 18 first-place votes and narrowed the gap between them and the Trojans to 35 points (1,605-1,570).

USC trailed 28-17 at the half to Stanford, but never panicked.

"It was fun," USC quarterback Matt Leinart said. "We haven't had too many close games."

The Trojans' defense came alive in the second half, shutting out the Cardinal and allowing just 36 yards. Meanwhile, Leinart and tailbacks Reggie Bush and LenDale White made key plays offensively to secure the Trojans' 13th straight victory.

"I know people wonder how you have games like this," Trojans coach Pete Carroll said. "It ain't going to be easy. It's hard to do this week after week."

And it's going to get harder for the Trojans.

USC is off next week before hosting California on Oct. 9. Cal was the last team to beat the Trojans, winning 34-31 in triple overtime last season.

USC's close call was part of another perfect weekend for ranked teams. The 19-0 performance -- 17-0 in Saturday's games -- left the Top 25 virtually unchanged.

Georgia was No. 3 followed by Miami, Texas, West Virginia and Ohio State. No. 8 Auburn and No. 9 Florida State flip-flopped -- the teams are separated by only 19 points -- and California and Tennessee tied for No. 10 with 1,033 points each.

No teams fell out of the rankings or moved more than two spots in either direction. No. 23 Boise State, which needed a late missed field goal by BYU to extend its winning streak to 15 games, fell two spots.

The coaches poll had the same top five teams as the AP.

The perfect weekend for poll members was the second this season.

On Sept. 4, the first full day of games this season, ranked teams also went 17-0. Before this season, the last time teams in the poll had a perfect record on a day in which 10 or more played was Aug. 31, 1996.

Don't plan on another perfect weekend from ranked teams this season. Conference play has begun and championship contenders will start going head to head more frequently. Next week, Auburn is at Tennessee and LSU goes to Georgia.

Virginia was No. 12 this week followed by LSU, Utah, Purdue, Florida, Fresno State, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin at No. 20.

Arizona State, Louisville, Boise State, Maryland and Oklahoma State round out the Top 25.

Source: AP

[Sodomy]

This game was a little too much like the Cal game and the reason I thank Stanford is that I'm thinking that perhaps two or three games is the amount of time it takes a good OC to figure out what the USC team is all about and to scheme against it. As Cal did last season, so did Stanford this season. Now the SC staff has something to review. Surely Tedford saw what Teevens saw, but hopefully now Carroll has seen it too.

What Stanford did yesterday is not the same as what Cal did last season for one really good reason. It lacked a balanced attack. The stats may say otherwise, but an 82 yd. run will do that. Truth is, the SC D was not allowing the running game to hurt them too much...(not counting that end of the half fiasco). It was dazzling passing by Edwards. The running game gave them some options by making 3rd down a shorter make, but then it was Edwards that closed the deal.

What was similar to the Cal game last season was the underneath passing game. The SC D secondary tightened up substantially in the second half, Carroll put more pressure on Edwards, and Stanford made a few critical mistakes to stall drives.

But what Teevens did, we can assume Tedford was thinking of doing. We can assume that the flaw that led to the fake field goal has now been exposed...and will not occur again. Holes in the KO coverage game have been exposed...and will not occur again.

All in all, I thought Stanford played a very good game and once again, I get the feeling that Carroll was outcoached in the first half...well, perhaps outcoached is not the appropriate description. Surely Carroll assumes a hot hand can beat his vanilla D. Give Edwards credit for that. But Teevens surely saw holes in the SC D and exploited them.