Miami, Oregon 1-2 In AP's Final Regular Season Top 25 Poll
Dec 9, 2001
With BC-FBC-AP Top 25 List
By RICHARD ROSENBLATT
AP Football Writer
Miami is No. 1 again in the AP media poll, but there’s a new No. 2 for thefourth consecutive week: Oregon.
The Ducks (10-1) rose to No. 2 in final The Associated Press regular-seasonpoll, ahead of No. 3 Colorado (10-2), No. 4 Nebraska (11-1) and No. 5 Florida(9-2).
Tennessee was second last week, but tumbled to No. 8 after a 31-20 loss toLSU in Saturday night’s Southeastern Conference title game.
Two polls ago, Florida was second but lost to Tennessee 34-32, and threepolls ago, a No. 2 Nebraska lost to Colorado 62-36. It’s just the second timesince the poll began in 1936 that the No. 2 team lost three weeks in a row.
The Hurricanes (11-0) are the only undefeated major college team after BYU’sbid for a perfect season ended with a 72-45 loss to Hawaii. The Cougars (12-1)dropped to No. 19 from No. 9.
Miami, which finished the season Dec. 1 with a 26-24 win over Virginia Tech,was the unanimous No. 1 pick by the 72 sports writers and broadcasters on theAP panel.
The USA Today/ESPN coaches poll matched the AP’s top five of Miami, Oregon,Colorado, Nebraska and Florida.
Colorado, however, was fourth in last week’s coaches poll and moved ahead ofNebraska this week. The Buffs were already ranked ahead of the Huskers in lastweek’s AP poll.
In the final Bowl Championship Series standings, Miami was first andNebraska second, setting up a Hurricanes-Huskers national title game in RoseBowl on Jan. 3 and creating a chance for split champions.
Miami, the Big East champion, had 72 first-place votes and 1,800 points forthe second week in a row. Oregon, the Pac-10 champs headed for the Fiesta Bowlagainst, had 1,698 points, with Colorado at 1,649 points and Nebraska at 1,556points.
The Ducks will play the Buffs in the Fiesta Bowl, with the winner having achance to finish No. 1 in the final AP poll if Nebraska beats Miami in the RoseBowl.
Miami’s last No. 1 finish in the final AP regular-season poll was 1991, andthe ‘Canes went on to win the national title with a 22-0 victory over Nebraskain the Orange Bowl. This time, Miami will play for a fifth national title inthe Rose Bowl on Jan. 3.
The Hurricanes are 1-2 in title games when playing as the No. 1 team. Thelosses were in 1986, to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl, and 1992, to Alabama inthe Sugar Bowl.
Florida was No. 5, followed by No. 6 Maryland, No. 7 Illinois, No. 8Tennessee, No. 9 Texas and No. 10 Oklahoma. The Gators will play the Terrapins(10-1) in the Orange Bowl and Illinois (10-1) goes against LSU (9-3) in theSugar Bowl.
Stanford was No. 11, followed by No. 12 LSU, No. 13 Washington State, No. 14South Carolina, No. 15 Virginia Tech, No. 16 Georgia, No. 17 Michigan, No. 18Syracuse, No. 19 BYU and No. 20 Fresno State.
Washington was No. 21, followed by No. 22 Ohio State, No. 23 Louisville, No.24 Florida State and No. 25 Toledo.
The last time No. 2 teams lost three weeks in a row was 1964 – Oklahoma toUSC on Sept. 26, USC to Michigan State on Oct. 3 and Illinois to Ohio State onOct. 10.
The final AP poll will be released hours after the Rose Bowl on Jan. 3.
