Longhorns landslide: Texas unanimous No. 1 in poll

[October 20, 2008]  NEW YORK (AP) -- It's the Longhorns in a landslide. Texas, coming off a runaway victory against Missouri, was a unanimous No. 1 in the AP Top 25 released Sunday.

The Longhorns received all 65 first-place votes from the media panel, the first team to do that in the regular season since Ohio State during the last four weeks of the 2007 season.

Last week, Texas had 39 first-place votes and Alabama received 26.

But Texas jumped out to a 35-point, first-half lead on its way to a 56-31 rout of Missouri on Saturday night, and the Crimson Tide hung on to beat Mississippi 24-21. The voters rewarded the Longhorns for their dominance and Alabama remained No. 2.

Texas had grabbed the No. 1 ranking a week earlier with a 45-35 victory against previously top-ranked Oklahoma.

"We told them that everybody questioned if they could win two weeks in a row," Texas coach Mack Brown said after the Missouri game. "I'm really proud of the way they responded and now we have to do it again next week."

Last weekend was a good one for most highly ranked teams as only one top-10 team lost. The rankings reflected the results. The top six remained the same.

Penn State is No. 3, followed by Oklahoma, Florida and Southern California.

Big 12 rivals Oklahoma State and Texas Tech swapped spots. The Cowboys moved up to No. 7, heading into their big game against the Longhorns. The Red Raiders dropped to eighth.

Georgia moved up one spot to No. 9 and No. 10 Ohio State is back in the top 10 for the first time since its lopsided loss to USC in September. The Buckeyes beat Michigan State 45-7 to set up a Big Ten showdown with Penn State in Columbus on Saturday.

BYU was the lone top-10 team to lose, falling 32-7 on Thursday night at TCU. The previously unbeaten Cougars dropped nine spots to No. 18. TCU jumped back into the poll for the second time this season, all the way to No. 15.

LSU was No. 11, followed by unbeaten Utah, Boise State, South Florida. Missouri dropped five spots to No. 16 after its second consecutive loss. Pittsburgh is No. 17, followed by BYU, Kansas and Ball State.

There was a serious shake up at the bottom of the rankings, with five new teams moving into the final five spots.

No. 21 Georgia Tech is ranked for the first time since early last season. No. 22 Tulsa (7-0) is ranked for the first time since 1991. The Golden Hurricane's move into the Top 25 means Tulsa, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are all ranked for the first time in 63 years.

On Nov. 12, 1945, Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) was No. 8, Oklahoma (5-3) was tied for 14th and Tulsa (4-2) was No. 19.

No. 23 is Boston College. No. 24 Florida State moved back into the rankings for the second time this season and No. 25 Minnesota is in the AP poll for the first time since Oct. 9, 2005.

Dropping out were three Atlantic Coast Conference teams -- Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and North Carolina -- along with Vanderbilt, Michigan State and California.

[Associated Press; By RALPH D. RUSSO]

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