Sep 16, 2007, 19:10 GMT
New York, NY - Southern California passed its first true test of the 2007 season on Saturday and remained the top-ranked team in the latest Associated Press college football poll.
The Trojans (2-0) went into Lincoln on Saturday night and rolled to a 49-31 victory over Nebraska. For the effort, a nationwide media panel rewarded USC with 46 first-place votes and a total of 1,605 points.
Last week, after an idle Saturday, Southern California received 40 first-place votes and 1,594 points.
Among the newcomers this week are Alabama and Kentucky from the SEC. Both teams earned last-minute victories on Saturday.
Alabama, in its first year under Nick Saban, rallied past Arkansas with a 41-38 victory on a touchdown pass with eight seconds left and enter this week's rankings at No. 16. Kentucky, now ranked 21st, pulled off a 40-34 win over Louisville on a 57-yard touchdown pass with 28 seconds to play.
The SEC has six teams in this week's rankings, led by second-ranked LSU and No. 3 Florida. The Tigers (3-0) received 19 first-place votes and 1,577 points after their 44-0 throttling of Middle Tennessee, while the Gators moved up two spots after their 59-20 mauling of Tennessee at the Swamp.
Oklahoma and West Virginia each dropped a spot this week to round out the top five. California moved up two spots to sixth and is followed by Texas, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State.
The second 10 consists of Rutgers, South Carolina, Oregon, Boston College, Clemson, Alabama, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Hawaii and Texas A&M.
Kentucky, Georgia, South Florida, Nebraska and Missouri complete this week's poll.
Nebraska had the biggest drop in the poll, falling 10 spots after the loss to Southern California, while Louisville fell nine places from ninth after its setback to Kentucky.
Boston College had the largest leap within the poll, moving up from 21st to 14th after its 24-10 win at Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets, Arkansas, Tennessee and UCLA all dropped out of the poll. UCLA was 11th, but suffered a 44-6 pounding at previously winless Utah.
In addition to Alabama and Kentucky, South Florida and Missouri joined the rankings for the first time this season.
South Florida was idle this past Saturday, but the Big East up-and-comer knocked off Auburn last week. The Bulls will play as a ranked team this coming week against North Carolina. Missouri pounded Western Michigan 52-24 and will get another small school in Illinois State before starting conference play on October 6 against Nebraska.
This coming week's schedule also includes a couple of top-25 matchups from the SEC, as South Carolina visits LSU and Alabama hosts Georgia.
© 2007 The Sports Network
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