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Interim President Jeff Ettinger inside Morrill Hall on Sept. 20, 2023. Ettinger gets deep with the Daily: “It’s bittersweet.”
Ettinger reflects on his presidency
Published April 22, 2024

No change for a change at No. 1 spot

>(AP) – Ohio State was No. 1 with Boston College second and LSU third, which is how they lined up last week. It’s just the second time this season the top three was unchanged, the other being week one, when the preseason top three held their spots in the first regular season poll.

The only changes in the top seven this week were minor with No. 4 Oregon and No. 5 Oklahoma switching places and No. 6 Arizona State and No. 7 West Virginia flip-flopping.

Ohio State received 59 of 65 first-place votes. BC got one first-place vote, LSU had three and Arizona State received two.

Stability at last? Not quite.

The remainder of the media poll received a major shake-up, with five teams falling out and Connecticut moving into the ranking for the first time in school history.

The Big East-leading Huskies, who became a full-fledged member of Division I-A in 2002, were No. 16 after beating South Florida 22-15 on Saturday. Division I-A is now called the Bowl Subdivision.

For the past month, the top of the poll has been scrambled weekly.

LSU and Southern California flip-flopped at Nos. 1 and 2 on Sept. 30 with the Tigers taking the top ranking for the first time this season. Also, three new teams moved into the top five.

On Oct. 6, No. 2 USC lost, starting a run of three straight weeks in which the second-ranked team fell.

The next week, Nos. 1 and 2 lost on the same day for the first time in 11 years and the entire top 10 was shuffled.

Last week, only two teams in the top 10 held their spots, and Boston College became the fifth team this season to hold the No. 2 spot.

This week, the entire top seven either won or was off.

So the scrambling started at No. 8, where unbeaten Kansas landed after moving up four spots. No. 9 Missouri also moved up four and Georgia jumped 10 places to No. 10 after beating Florida 42-30.

The Bulldogs roller-coaster ride through the rankings exemplifies what an odd season it’s been for the Top 25. Georgia has gone from 13 to 23 to 12 to 20 to 10, with a few other stops in between.

No. 11 Virginia Tech fell three spots after losing in the final seconds 14-10 to Boston College on Thursday night.

No. 12 and unbeaten Hawaii moved up four spots and No. 13 Southern California dropped four spots after losing 24-17 to Oregon.

No. 14 Texas was up three from last week. Michigan was up to No. 15 as the Wolverines continue their climb back from the Appalachian State upset in week one.

No. 16 UConn was followed by three Southeastern Conference teams – Alabama, Florida and Auburn. The Crimson Tide and coach Nick Saban are preparing to face LSU, Saban’s former employer.

South Florida, which was No. 2 two weeks ago, is down to No. 20 after losing its second consecutive road game.

The final five includes four teams that were unranked last week.

Boise Staten and Wake Forest were tied at No. 21. The Broncos have won six straight and are back in the poll for the first time since falling out in week two.

Wake Forest, the defending Atlantic Coast Conference champions, is ranked for the first time this season and riding a six-game winning streak.

No. 23 South Carolina dropped eight spots after losing 27-24 in overtime to Tennessee on Saturday night. The Gamecocks have lost two straight.

The Volunteers moved in to the rankings for the third time this season at No. 24 and Clemson also returns at No. 25.

Dropping out were California, which was No. 2 three weeks ago but has lost three in a row, Kentucky, Virginia and Penn State.

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