Texas Moves Up to No. 2 Before Showdown Against 1 Ohio State

[redlegsfan21]

By RALPH D. RUSSO

As if Ohio State at Texas wasn't already a big enough game, now it's No. 1 vs. No. 2.

The Longhorns moved up one spot to No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, right behind the top-ranked Buckeyes.

The two powerhouses will square off in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, a much-anticipated rematch of last year's 25-22 victory by Texas in Columbus, Ohio.

It'll be the first time since 1996 that the top two teams in the AP poll will meet in a regular-season game. That year, No. 2 Florida State beat No. 1 Florida 24-21 in mid-November. The Gators and Seminoles met in a rematch in the Sugar Bowl about a month and a half later, and Florida won 52-20 to earn its only national championship.

Southern California moved up three spots to No. 3 in this week's first regular-season media poll, and Notre Dame slipped two places to No. 4 after a 14-10 victory at Georgia Tech. The Fighting Irish share the fourth spot with Auburn.

Ohio State received 39 first-place votes and 1,568 points in the poll after opening its season with a 35-12 win over Northern Illinois. Texas, which began its season with a 56-7 win over North Texas, received seven first-place votes and 1,453 points.

Southern California and Auburn each received three first-place votes; Notre Dame got eight; and No. 6 West Virginia had five. The rest of the Top 10 is Florida, LSU, Florida State - up two spots after a 13-10 win over Miami on Monday night - and Michigan.

No. 11 Tennessee made the biggest jump, rising 12 spots after a 35-18 victory over California. Cal, which had its best preseason ranking in more than 50 years, fell from No. 9 to No. 22 after the meltdown in Knoxville.
Miami slipped five spots to No. 17.

Last year's meeting between Texas and Ohio State was the first between the two storied programs. The Longhorns' comeback victory, led by Vince Young, allowed them to clear a major hurdle on the way to their first outright national title since 1969.

That was also the year Texas was last involved in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 regular-season matchup. Texas beat Arkansas in 1969 in one of the most famous games in that rivalry.

The Longhorns are 4-0 in No. 1 against No. 2 games, the latest coming last season when they beat USC in the Rose Bowl for the national title as the second-ranked team.

Ohio State is 2-0 in 1-2 games, the last coming in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl. The No. 2 Buckeyes beat top-ranked Miami in that game to win their last national title.

There were no new teams in the Top 25. The only ranked teams to lose on the opening weekend were Cal and Miami.
Georgia came in at No. 12, followed by Louisville, Iowa, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, Miami, Clemson, Penn State and Oregon. The 19th-ranked Nittany Lions play at Notre Dame in Saturday's other marquee game.
The final five in the rankings were Nebraska, Cal, TCU, Texas Tech and Arizona State.

http://sports.myway.com/news/09052006/v9554.html

[Brady Quinn]

I'm kinda mad. Why did Notre Dame fall back? They won. They still have more 1st place votes than Texas, Auburn, and USC anyway so it's ok and they'll probably move back up to 2 or 3 anyway because someone has to lose the Ohio State-Texas game.

[brady_branch]

Notre Dame fell back because of their less-than-#2-worthy performance at Georgia Tech.

[redbuck]

Why is Ohio State still #1?

I don't know how it looks from an outsider's perspective, but does anybody really believe OSU is the best team in the country, let alone anywhere near as good as Texas?

[Brady Quinn]

I don't really see why people think Notre Dame played that badly. Georgia Tech has a history of upsetting highly ranked teams early. They were playing a solid team in a prime time game on the road to start the season. And with all the hype surrounding the game I'm sure Notre Dame had some jitterbugs. Everyone has been saying ND's defense is bad but it played extremely well. The offesne didn't play to its potential but I wouldn't at all be worried about it. We won the game and that's all that matters. Last year USC was ranked #1 and they had scares worse than this all throughout the season, Notre Dame and Fresno State come to mind. Notre Dame outplayed USC for the whole game and USC won at the last second. Yesterday Notre Dame only won by 4 points but they led Georgia Tech in every statistical category. Total yards, first downs, etc. Now we have home games against Penn State and Michigan coming up and we should cruise.

in response the notre dame playing less than 2 worthy comment copied from another thread

[brady_branch]

Notre Dame did not play like a team that deserves to be ranked #2. I was talking about how they played, not the score. USC-Fresno last year isn't a good comparison, because USC played like a #1-ranked team (or at least Reggie Bush did), and Fresno played better than they had all season. ND-USC isn't a fair comparison because both teams played their hearts out and both performed brilliantly. ND in this one against Tech played horribly.

[Brady Quinn]

They certainly did not play horribly. Their defense shut Georiga Tech down and their offense did not commit any turnovers and scored enough points to win. You obviously did not even watch the game. You just looked at the final score and said "gee since Notre Dame's #2 they should beat Georgia Tech by more than 4 points." They had 7 more first downs, 109 more total yards, 10:50 more time of possession. They did not "perform horribly." You sir are wrong. They were also only favored by 6 points in the spread so yeah. It was also a road game against a team who has a history of pulling off upsets early in the season, see Auburn from last year.

[redlegsfan21]

It's because people will be more excited about a #1 vs. #2 than a #1 vs. #3 or #2 vs. #3.

[Brady Quinn]

Hmm so all the voters conspired against Notre Dame and voted Texas ahead of them just for this week so that there's a 1 vs 2 matchup? I like that theory. So Notre Dame better be back at #2 after next week :mad:

[brady_branch]

They certainly did not play horribly. Their defense shut Georiga Tech down and their offense did not commit any turnovers and scored enough points to win. You obviously did not even watch the game. You just looked at the final score and said "gee since Notre Dame's #2 they should beat Georgia Tech by more than 4 points." They had 7 more first downs, 109 more total yards, 10:50 more time of possession. They did not "perform horribly." You sir are wrong. They were also only favored by 6 points in the spread so yeah. It was also a road game against a team who has a history of pulling off upsets early in the season, see Auburn from last year.

The defense was good, however, the offense was not. Despite doing so much more with the ball, they onlly scored two TDs. That to me has "red zone choke" written all over it. True, I didn't watch the game, but I read coverage of it. GT was leading 10-0 at one point, and the offense barely snapped out of it in time to pull out a win. Look what all the other Top-5 teams did. Each scored well over 14 points.

[Snake]

Lol.."Red Zone Choke"? That's funny. Notre Dame ran into a team with a great defense, that is capable of beating any team in the country; they also played in front of a hostile crowd, on a nationally televised first game of the season. Texas beat up on some poor whipping post, that they brought into their stadium. You really shouldn't judge games by the final score alone. If you would have actually watched the Georgia Tech - Notre Dame game, you mighta felt a little bit different about your comments.

BTW, the only reason Texas was put up to #2 was to get the TV ratings even higher. Obviously, one of the teams will drop down after the game, so no foul done in TV Land's eyes.

The other teams' scores from the top 5:

#1 Ohio St. def N. Illinois, 35-12
#2 Notre Dame def. Georgia Tech, 14-10
#3 Texas def. North Texas, 56-7
#4 Auburn def. Washington St., 40-14
#5 West Virginia def. Marshall, 42-10

yep, the other 4 teams played against some stiff competition :rolleyes: At least Notre Dame has the balls to play tough games right out of the gate.

[redlegsfan21]

SN's 12.5
1. Notre Dame
2. Ohio St.
3. Auburn
4. USC
5. LSU
6. Texas
7. West Virginia
8. Florida
9. Florida St. (pending Mon. game)
10. Iowa
11. Georgia
12. Miami (pending Mon. game)
12.5 Montana St.

[CCN]

Lol.."Red Zone Choke"? That's funny. Notre Dame ran into a team with a great defense, that is capable of beating any team in the country; they also played in front of a hostile crowd, on a nationally televised first game of the season. Texas beat up on some poor whipping post, that they brought into their stadium. You really shouldn't judge games by the final score alone. If you would have actually watched the Georgia Tech - Notre Dame game, you mighta felt a little bit different about your comments.

BTW, the only reason Texas was put up to #2 was to get the TV ratings even higher. Obviously, one of the teams will drop down after the game, so no foul done in TV Land's eyes.

The other teams' scores from the top 5:

#1 Ohio St. def N. Illinois, 35-12
#2 Notre Dame def. Georgia Tech, 14-10
#3 Texas def. North Texas, 56-7
#4 Auburn def. Washington St., 40-14
#5 West Virginia def. Marshall, 42-10

yep, the other 4 teams played against some stiff competition :rolleyes: At least Notre Dame has the balls to play tough games right out of the gate.
Don't go there about schedule. Considering how tough most conference play is, something the Irish conveniently avoid, it's not a good argument, let alone one to roll your eyes over. As long as they play the service academies year-in, year-out, there is zero room to complain about other teams scheduling weak games.

[Snake]

Who is complaining? I was simply stating facts. Of the Top 5 teams, Notre Dame had the most difficult opponent, yet were penalized the most in rankings even though they won.

To my knowledge, none of those other top 5 teams were playing "tough conference foes". All looked like cupcake teams to me, which was my point; how can these so called "big time programs" beat up on weaker teams, and move ahead of somebody playing a tough team, that also won? Anybody else think any of those 4 other teams woulda put up 40+ points playing GT in Atlanta on prime time TV?

Notre Dame may not have a tough conference schedule, but are you arguing that playing the likes of USC, Michigan, Michigan St, Purdue year in and year out is easy? Throw in games against teams like Tennessee, Georgia Tech, BC and I believe their overall schedule is not one that most teams would like to play.

Another point I was trying to make: These teams with the tough conference play tend to play cupcakes to build themselves up to tougher games. I was saying that at least Notre Dame was willing to go up against a tough opponent right out of the gate, without building themselves up, so to speak. No reason you should be penalized for that.

[brady_branch]

Well, #6 USC beat Arkansas 50-14. Arkansas plays in the best conference in football, the SEC. Georgia Tech plays in the ACC, the most overrated conference in college football (and half my favorite teams play in it!). Neither are expected to be particularly strong this year, and the Trojans played in Arkansas. USC probably could have beaten GT by more than four points. True, at least ND has the guts to go play a solid team, but so did USC, and USC completely killed the team they played. Hence their move to #3.

[Snake]

Not sure why you brought USC into the picture. I wasn't even talking about them. I agree with their moving up. They also had enough guts to go into hostile territory and play a tough game early in the season. I was talking about the other top 5 teams from the preseason rankings: OSU, Texas, Aubern, and West Virginia.

[brady_branch]

I personally don't agree with Texas moving up, I think it should be:

1. OSU
2. USC
3. ND
4. UT
5. WVU

So ND moves down, and USC moves up a place. Anyway, I'll be watching today in the ND-PSU game.