Nebraska is No. 1 again, but look who’s No. 2 Kansas State.
The Cornhuskers regained the top spot in a big way on Sunday, while one week at No. 1 was too much for Florida State, which tumbled to No. 7 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll following Saturday’s 27-24 loss at Miami.
K-State made a power move, too, jumping ahead of Virginia Tech into the No. 2 slot and allowing the Big 12 Conference to become the first league to boast 1-2 teams since 1987.
In the 11th poll of the ’87 season, Nebraska and Oklahoma of the Big Eight Conference were 1-2.
With its first win over Florida State since 1994, Miami moved up three spots to No. 4, just behind No. 3 Virginia Tech, and gave the Big East Conference the third and fourth spots in the poll.
The Huskers (5-0), who beat Iowa State 49-27, received 67 first-place votes and 1,771 points from the 71 sports writers and broadcasters on the AP panel. Last week, Nebraska had 28 first-place votes to Florida State’s 42.
The Wildcats (6-0), who beat Kansas 52-13, had three first-place votes and 1,640 points, while Virginia Tech (5-0) had one first-place vote and 1,627 points. The Hokies beat Temple 35-13.
“There’s only about half of the season gone. We’ve got a lot of football to play,” Nebraska coach Frank Solich said. “There’s a lot of them dropping by the wayside as far as undefeated teams go.”
Just seven of the 115 I-A teams are unbeaten and all are ranked within the top 12.
Miami is the highest ranked team with one loss.
Following No. 4 Miami is No. 5 Clemson (6-0), No. 6 Ohio State (5-0), No. 7 Florida State, No. 8 Oklahoma (5-0), No. 9 Oregon and No. 10 Florida.
While the polls give fans a good idea of the best teams, it’s the Bowl Championship Series standings that determine who plays in the national title game this year in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 3. The first BCS standings will be released Oct. 26.
There may be no unbeatens left when it comes time to pick the top two teams. Nebraska, Kansas State and Oklahoma still have to go head-to-head in the Big 12.
The Sooners visit the Wildcats on Saturday; the Huskers are at Oklahoma on Oct. 28, then travel to Kansas State on Nov. 11. After the Big 12 division champs are decided, two of these three teams likely will meet for the conference crown on Dec. 2.
