S. Carolina breaks into Top 25 poll

Steve Spurrier has South Carolina in the Top 25.

The Gamecocks made it to No. 19 in The Associated Press media poll Sunday, the first time they have been in the rankings under their new coach.

South Carolina (7-3) ended a 14-game losing streak to Spurrier's old school on Saturday, beating Florida 30-22 in Columbia, S.C.

"Well, that's wonderful," Spurrier said Sunday when told the Gamecocks broke into the AP rankings. "That was one of the goals, for the team to finish the regular season ranked."

No. 1 Southern California and No. 2 Texas remained at the top of the poll, as they have been since the preseason.

USC received 56 first-place votes and extended its record stay at No. 1 to 30 straight poll. Texas received the remaining nine first-place votes.

With Alabama losing to LSU 16-13 in overtime on Saturday, the Trojans and Longhorns are major college football's only unbeaten teams.

Miami was No. 3, followed by LSU and Penn State. Each has one loss.

"I think Miami's clearly playing the best of the three," said Neill Ostrout, of the Connecticut Post. "I've had them as top one-loss team for several weeks."

Ostrout said he moved LSU past Penn State this week, but said the Nittany Lions and Tigers are practically a tossup.

The USA Today coaches' poll had the same top five as the AP Top 25.

Notre Dame was No. 6 and Virginia Tech was seventh. The Crimson Tide dropped four spots to No. 8, and Ohio State and Oregon completed the top 10.

Auburn moved up four spots to No. 11 with a 31-30 victory over Georgia. UCLA was 12th and West Virginia was No. 13. Georgia dropped five spots to No. 14.

No. 15 TCU, the Mountain West Conference champion, finished its season 10-1 with a 51-3 victory over UNLV. Fresno State, leading the Western Athletic Conference, was No. 16.

Michigan, which has won four straight since a 3-3 start, was No. 17 heading into its rivalry game with Ohio State on Saturday.

No. 18 was Louisville, followed by South Carolina and Florida. The 20th-ranked Gators dropped eight spots after losing to the Gamecocks.

No. 21 Texas Tech fell eight spots after being upset 24-17 by Oklahoma State. No. 22 Florida State has its lowest ranking of the season after losing its second straight game, to Clemson.

The Seminoles were last unranked in 2001. The last time they were this low in the Top 25 was 2002 when they were 23rd.

Boston College and UTEP joined South Carolina in moving into the rankings this week.

South Carolina had been ranked for one week each of the past two seasons under coach Lou Holtz, who retired after last season. The Gamecocks have their highest ranking since 2001, when they ended the season No. 13 under Holtz.

For UTEP of Conference USA, its the first time this season the Miners have been ranked. Last season, coach Mike Price got UTEP in the rankings for the first time in school history.

No. 25 Wisconsin lost its second straight game and dropped six spots.

Falling out of the rankings were Georgia Tech, Colorado and Northwestern.