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| Sunday, December 3 AP Poll: Sooners finishes at No. 1 Associated Press | |||
| Oklahoma is back in familiar territory -- headed to the Orange
Bowl with the No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press' final
regular-season poll.
With a 27-24 victory over Kansas State in the Big 12 Conference
title game Saturday night, the Sooners (12-0) take a perfect record
into their Jan. 3 matchup against No. 3 Florida State (11-1).
The Sooners were unbeaten and No. 1 in 1987, but lost to Miami
20-14. A win over Florida State could give Oklahoma its sixth AP
national title and first since 1985.
This will be Oklahoma's 17th Orange Bowl; it's record there is
11-5.
The final AP media poll will be released following the game.
Oklahoma, the nation's only major unbeaten team, received 67
first-place votes and 1,768 points Sunday from the 71 sports
writers and broadcasters on the AP panel.
Big East Conference champion Miami (10-1) remained No. 2 with
three first-place votes and 1,693 points. Florida State (11-1), the
Atlantic Coast Conference winners, was third with the other
first-place vote and 1,640 points.
Oklahoma received three more first-place votes than it did a
week ago, while Miami, which completed its season Nov. 25, lost two
first-place votes.
The Hurricanes will play No. 7 Florida (10-2), the Southeastern
Conference champions, in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2. The Gators beat
Auburn 28-6 in the SEC title game on Saturday.
The ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll had the same top 3 as the AP
media poll -- Oklahoma, Miami and Florida State. In the coaches'
poll, the Sooners picked up seven more first-place votes than they
had a week ago -- three from Miami and five from Florida State.
Because the Orange Bowl matchup is based on the top two teams in
the final Bowl Championship Series standings, there is the
possibility of split national champions if Florida State beats
Oklahoma, and Miami, which defeated Florida State on Oct. 7, beats
Florida. In the final AP media poll, the sports writers and
broadcasters vote independently of the BCS, while the coaches' poll
crowns the Orange Bowl winner as its champion.
The BCS standings consider the AP media poll and coaches poll,
eight computer rankings, schedule strength and number of losses.
The final standings listed Oklahoma first with 3.30 points, Florida
State second with 5.37 points and Miami third 5.69 points.
Washington (10-1), the Pac-10 Conference champion headed to the
Rose Bowl to play Purdue, remained No. 4 in the AP poll, followed
by No. 5 Oregon State (10-1), No. 6 Virginia Tech (10-1), No. 7
Florida, No. 8 Oregon (9-2), No. 9 Nebraska (9-2) and No. 10 Notre
Dame (9-2).
Kansas State (10-3), fell three spots to No. 11, followed by No.
12 Texas, No. 13 TCU, No. 14 Purdue, No. 15 Georgia Tech, No. 16
Clemson, No. 17 Michigan, No. 18 Northwestern, No. 19 Ohio State
and No. 20 Auburn. The Tigers (9-3) dropped two spots after their
loss to the Gators.
Tennessee was No. 21, followed by No. 22 Louisville, No. 23
Colorado State, No. 24 Georgia and No. 25 Toledo.
No teams dropped out of the Top 25 from last week.
| ALSO SEE
Associated Press pollESPN/USA Today coaches' poll Sooners win Big 12 title, will play for national championship | ||
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