Oklahoma remains No. 1 in USA Today/ESPN coaches poll
September 7, 2003
MCLEAN, Virginia (Ticker) - Miami, which nearly saw its 34-game regular-season winning streak end, moved up one spot to second and Oklahoma remained No. 1 in the USA Today/ESPN football coaches poll released Sunday.
Miami (2-0) rallied from a 23-point deficit to post a 38-33 victory over Florida on Saturday to extend its winning streak at the Orange Bowl to 23 games. The Hurricanes switched places with defending national champion Ohio State (2-0), which was unimpressive in a 16-13 victory over San Diego State.
Oklahoma (2-0) became the first No. 1 ranked team ever to play Alabama on Saturday and came away with a 20-13 victory. The Sooners received 41 first-place votes and 1,543 points. Miami received eight first-place votes, five less than Ohio State, but its 1,477 points are 48 more than the Buckeyes.
Southern California (2-0) received the other first-place vote and with a total of 1,333 points jumped up one spot to fourth, while idle Texas (1-0) dropped a spot to fifth.
Kansas State, the only ranked team with three wins, remained sixth after a 55-14 romp over Division I-AA McNeese State. Michigan (2-0), Georgia (2-0), Virginia Tech (2-0) and Florida State (2-0) remained Nos. 6-10.
Louisiana State (2-0) moved up two spots to No. 11 after a 59-13 rout of Arizona. Pittsburgh (1-0) remained No. 12 after a romp over Kent State, while Tennessee (2-0) moved up a spot after defeating Marshall.
Notre Dame (1-0) moved up two spots to 14th after a dramatic overtime victory over Washington State and Wisconsin (2-0) also gained two places.
Arizona State (1-0), Colorado (2-0), Nebraska (2-0), Iowa (2-0) and Florida (1-1) complete the top 20.
Wake Forest (2-0) moves into the rankings at No. 21 after defeating North Carolina State (1-1), which drops from 11th to 22nd.
Texas Christian (2-0), Washington (1-1) and Texas A&M (2-0) make their debuts in the poll and complete the list.
