Ohio State passes test, eyes No. 16
For the third consecutive week, the top five teams in The Associated Press Top 25 were unchanged. No. 1 Alabama received 55 first place votes from the media panel. No. 2 Oregon received the other five. Clemson is No. 3 followed by Ohio State and Stanford.
All five won Saturday, with only Ohio State getting challenged. The Buckeyes, in their first test of the season, beat Wisconsin 31-24 in Columbus. The Badgers dropped out of the rankings.
Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes bring their 17-game winning streak to No. 16 Northwestern on Saturday.
“That’s what we love about the Big Ten,” Buckeyes offensive lineman Jack Mewhort said. “Week in and week out it’s a physical challenge.”
Alabama may have finally eased the fears of its anxious fans with a 25-0 victory against No. 24 Mississippi.
The Tide had shown some flaws during a 3-0 start. Now Alabama settles into the softest part of its schedule with about a month to smooth things over before No. 10 LSU comes to Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Nov. 9.
No Notre Dame
The team Alabama beat in last year’s BCS championship game has real problems.
Notre Dame is not ranked for the first time this season, following a 35-21 loss at home to No.
11 Oklahoma. The Sooners moved up three spots and are now the highest-ranked Big 12 team.
The Fighting Irish (3-2) look a long way from last year’s team that was so stingy on defense and balanced offensively. The offense misses quarterback Everett Golson, who is sitting out this season after an academic suspension, and the defense has regressed.
Next up for the Irish is a trip to Texas, where they’ll play Arizona State at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
Moving up
Georgia moved up three spots to No. 6, but don’t blame Bulldog fans if they’re feeling their team is still underappreciated.
No team has played a more difficult September schedule and the Bulldogs (3-1) emerged with two wins against three teams (Clemson, South Carolina and LSU) that were ranked in the top 10 at the time they played.
Sports, Pages 18 on 09/30/2013