SHAKEUP IN POLL
Here is new top five the AP poll, with first-place votes in parentheses. The coaches’ poll has same top five.
Team;Last week
1. Mississippi St. (45);3rd
2. Florida State (12);1st
3. Mississippi (3);3rd
4. Baylor;5th
5. Notre Dame;6th
After holding onto the No. 1 spot in the last 10 Associated Press polls, Florida State dropped to No. 2 behind Mississippi State on Sunday, despite running its winning streak to 22 games, best in the nation.
The Seminoles also were jumped by the Bulldogs in the coaches’ poll.
But this week's polls are not as much about the Seminoles, 6-0 after a 38-20 victory at Syracuse, as they are about the feel-good stories coming out of the state of Mississippi.
The Bulldogs (6-0) jumped from a third-place tie with Mississippi into the top spot after a 38-23 victory over No. 2 Auburn.
Mississippi (6-0) remains No. 3 in both polls after a 35-20 win at Texas A&M. Both polls agree on the top five with Baylor and Notre Dame following Mississippi. All of the top five teams are 6-0 and the only remaining unbeaten teams from the power 5 conferences.
The polls set up a top-five matchup Saturday in Tallahassee when Notre Dame meets the Seminoles at 8 p.m. The game will be televised by ABC and the ESPN GameDay crew will return to campus for the second time this season.
“I’m looking forward to it,” FSU quarterback Jameis Winston said after completing a career high 30 passes (30 of 36) and throwing for 317 yards and three touchdowns against Syracuse.
“This is one of those games where people ask you questions, ‘Are you ready for this game?’ It’s finally here. Notre Dame has a great team.”
The Irish, playing in an opponent’s home stadium for the first time this season, realize this represents their biggest game since they were routed 42-14 by No. 2 Alabama in the national title game two seasons ago. Two of their wins (Purdue in Indianapolis and Syracuse in the Meadowlands) came at neutral sites, but there was no shortage of Notre Dame fans at either stadium.
“These are the kind of teams we want to challenge ourselves against, whether it’s Alabama, Florida State,” coach Brian Kelly said Sunday. “We want to be challenged nationally against the very, very best. I think that’s probably more significant than anything else. These are the games we want to play. We want to be relevant playing the very best at this time of the season.”
Of course, they almost blew the top five matchup, narrowly defeating 2-4 North Carolina 50-43 on Saturday. North Carolina’s 184 yards rushing and 326 yards passing were the most this season against the Irish, and the 43 points were the most scored by an opponent in a Notre Dame victory. The previous record was a 48-42 victory over Hawaii in 1991.
The previous week, Notre Dame needed a last-minute, fourth-down touchdown pass by Everett Golson to beat Stanford 17-14.
“I just think fundamentally we need to improve,” Notre Dame linebacker Joe Schmidt said. “So this week will be big.”
The Seminoles had held the No. 1 spot in the AP poll since defeating Florida Nov. 30, a streak of 10 consecutive polls and the program’s longest since going wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in 1999.
FSU was No. 1 in the coaches’ poll for all but one week, when Alabama held the spot before losing to Mississippi.
The Notre Dame game is FSU’s fourth against a top-five team since Jimbo Fisher took over in 2010.
No. 1 FSU won the national championship with a 34-31 victory over No. 2 Auburn in the Rose Bowl in January. Earlier in the season, No. 5 FSU won 51-14 at No. 3 Clemson.
Florida State had 20 such matchups under Bowden in which it was 10-10. Overall, the Seminoles are 12-11 in games in which both teams were ranked in the top five.
The lone top-five matchup against Notre Dame was Nov. 13, 1993, when the No. 2 Irish defeated No. 1 FSU, 31-24, in South Bend. The Seminoles regained the top spot the next week and finished the season by winning their first national championship.
Noteworthy: FSU became bowl eligible with Saturday's win, extending its streak to 33 consecutive years, longest in the nation.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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