Sunday, December 3
AP Poll: Sooners finishes at No. 1



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 poll

ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll

Sooners win Big 12 title, will play for national championship






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