Notre Dame Strengthens Its Grip on No. 1 : Football poll: The Irish earn 44 first-place votes after their victory over Michigan.

Notre Dame strengthened its hold on the No. 1 ranking with a season-opening victory over Michigan, while struggling Colorado dropped 11 spots to No. 20 in today’s Associated Press college football poll.

The Fighting Irish, who rallied to beat the Wolverines 28-24 Saturday night, received 44 first-place votes and 1,480 points from a nationwide panel of sports writers and broadcasters. That’s an increase of seven first-place votes and 29 points over the previous week.

Colorado, which was ninth last week, fell out of the Top 10 after losing to Illinois 23-22. The Buffaloes also had problems in their first two games, a tie with Tennessee and a last-minute victory over Stanford.

Florida State moved past Auburn into second after routing Georgia Southern, 48-6. The Seminoles got 10 first-place votes and 1,385 points, while Auburn, which beat Mississippi 24-10, received four first-place votes and 1,382 points.

Brigham Young rose one spot to No. 4 after overcoming a 22-point halftime deficit to beat Washington State 50-36. BYU was listed as the top team on two ballots and received 1,236 points.

Also moving up a notch were USC, to No. 5, and Tennessee, to No. 6. USC beat Penn State 19-14 and Tennessee crushed Texas-El Paso 56-0.

Michigan fell from No. 4 to No. 7 after losing to Notre Dame for the fourth straight year. Nebraska, which had the week off, remained No. 8, just ahead of Miami and Virginia.

Miami, which rebounded from an opening loss to BYU with a 52-24 win over California, rose one place to No. 9. Virginia moved up a spot to No. 10 after routing Navy 56-14.

Oklahoma is 11th, followed by Texas A&M;, Arkansas, Houston, Illinois, Ohio State, Clemson, Arizona, Florida and Colorado. Rounding out the Top 25 are Washington, Texas, Arizona State, Michigan State and Pittsburgh.

Illinois made the biggest jump, moving up six spots to No. 15. Pitt took the biggest plunge, falling 12 places after getting clobbered by Oklahoma 52-10. The win moved the Sooners up three spots.

Florida’s 17-13 victory over Alabama pushed the Gators up five places to No. 19 and Houston’s 51-35 win over Texas Tech lifted the Cougars up four spots to No. 14. Michigan State dropped from 19th to 24th after tying Syracuse 23-23.

No teams dropped out of the Top 25, although Pittsburgh came close. The Panthers, with 70 points, edged Fresno State by one point for the last spot.

UCLA was among 16 schools that received votes but did not make the Top 25. The Bruins received 14 points, ranking them 34th.

THE TOP 25

The top 25 teams in the AP college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses. 1. Notre Dame (44): 1-0-0 2. Florida St. (10): 2-0-0 3. Auburn (4): 2-0-0 4. Brigham Young (2): 3-0-0 5. USC: 2-0-0 6. Tennessee: 3-0-1 7. Michigan: 0-1-0 8. Nebraska: 2-0-0 9. Miami, Fla.: 1-1-0 10. Virginia: 3-0-0 11. Oklahoma: 2-0-0 12. Texas A&M;: 2-0-0 13. Arkansas: 1-0-0 14. Houston: 2-0-0 15. Illinois: 1-1-0 16. Ohio St.: 2-0-0 17. Clemson: 2-1-0 18. Arizona: 2-0-0 19. Florida: 2-0-0 20. Colorado: 1-1-1 21. Washington: 2-0-0 22. Texas: 1-0-0 23. Arizona St.: 2-0-0 24. Michigan St.: 0-0-1 25. Pittsburgh: 2-1-0