PSU Falls In Poll After Upset

Penn State's loss became Virginia Tech's gain. Tennessee, Florida and Kansas State made out pretty well, too, in this week's Associated Press Top 25 college football poll.

While Florida State (9-0), idle on Saturday, strengthened its hold on the No. 1 spot, the Nittany Lions' national championship hopes were dashed in a 24-23 loss to Minnesota. The result dropped Penn State (9-1) from No. 2 to No. 6, and moved the Golden Gophers (6-3) into the Top 25 at No. 20.

The Hokies (8-0), who pulled out a 22-20 win over West Virginia on a last-play field goal, moved up a notch to No. 2, with the Volunteers (7-1) and Gators (8-1) also moving up one place, to Nos. 3-4, respectively.

The defending national champion Vols beat Notre Dame 38-14; the Gators defeated Vanderbilt 13-6.

Kansas State (9-0) also went ahead of Penn State, moving to No. 5 after a 20-14 win over Colorado.

The Seminoles received season-highs of 66 first-place votes and 1,746 points Sunday from the 70 sports writers and broadcasters on the AP panel. The Hokies had the remaining four first-place votes and 1,656 points. Tennessee had 1,599 points, 57 behind Virginia Tech.

In the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll, the top 5 matched the AP's: Florida State, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Florida and Kansas State. Penn State was eighth in the coaches' poll.

The updated Bowl Championship Series standings, which determine the teams for its designated national title game (this year, it's The Sugar Bowl on Jan. 4), will be released on Monday. The BCS standings use the media poll and coaches' poll, eight computer ratings, strength-of-schedule and losses to ranked teams.

Following the sixth-ranked Nittany Lions in the AP poll were No. 7 Nebraska, No. 8 Mississippi Stte, No. 9 Wisconsin, No. 10 Texas, No. 11Alabama, No. 12 Marshall, No. 13 Georgia Tech, No. 14 Georgia and No. 15 BYU.

The Cornhuskers (8-1), 37-0 winners over Texas A&M, moved up two places; the Yellow Jackets (6-2) fell six spots after a 45-38 loss to Virginia.

Michigan remained No. 16, followed by No. 17 Michigan State, No. 18 Mississippi, No. 19 Miami, No. 20 Minnesota, No. 21 Southern Mississippi, No. 22 Purdue, No. 23 Washington, No. 24 East Carolina and No. 25 Ohio State.

The Golden Gophers (6-3) returned to the poll after a one-week appearance last month. Also, the Huskies (6-3), under its new coach Rick Neuheisel, cracked the Top 25 for the first time this season.

Texas A&M and Notre Dame dropped out of the rankings.

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