Alabama still No. 1; Stanford and Auburn join top-10

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Alabama remained atop the latest Associated Press college football poll following a narrow victory over Arkansas, while Stanford and Auburn vaulted themselves into the top-10 with big wins.

The Crimson Tide (4-0) had to rally from a 13-point third-quarter deficit on the road to defeat then 10th-ranked Arkansas by a 24-20 final. Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram ran for 157 yards and two touchdowns, including the game- winner with 3:18 left to cap a stretch of 17 unanswered points and extend Alabama’s regular season unbeaten streak to 28 games.

The Tide picked up four first-place votes with the tough win to get to 57 and received a total of 1,496 points from a nationwide media panel.

Next week’s marquee matchup features a heavyweight SEC bout with the seventh- ranked Florida Gators invading Tuscaloosa for a chance at dethroning the nation’s top team. Florida jumped two spots via a 48-14 throttling of Kentucky, taking the spot vacated by Texas, which tumbled 14 spots to 21st after being handled, 34-12, at home by UCLA.

No. 2 Ohio State (4-0) was stripped of three first-place votes despite a thorough 73-20 pounding of Eastern Michigan and now has two with 1,431 points.

Boise State (3-0) remained third with one first-place vote after surviving one of its toughest tests of the season in a 37-24 triumph over then 24th-ranked Oregon State.

Oregon and TCU switched spots, as the Ducks moved up to No. 4 after a hard- fought road win, 42-31, over Arizona State, and TCU fell one spot to fifth following a 41-24 triumph over SMU.

Oregon and a newly minted No. 9 Stanford will square off in Eugene on Saturday in a second matchup of top-10 teams. The Cardinal are off to their best start since 1986 and blasted Notre Dame, 37-14, to vault seven spots in the poll.

Auburn also advanced seven places to 10th, knocking off then-No. 12 South Carolina, 35-27, thanks to Cameron Newton’s two fourth-quarter touchdown passes and three rushing scores.

Nebraska remained in sixth place despite a less than convincing 17-3 win over FCS program South Dakota State, and Oklahoma held down the eighth spot for another week after surviving a late charge from Cincinnati in a 31-29 final.

Wisconsin, LSU, Utah, Arizona and Arkansas made up the next five, and Miami- Florida, Iowa, USC, South Carolina and Michigan rounded out the top 20.

LSU advanced three spots with its 20-14 win over then-No. 22 West Virginia, while the Gamecocks fell seven places and Arkansas five. The Hurricanes used a 31-3 romp of Pittsburgh to jump three spots.

Texas, Penn State, North Carolina State, Michigan State and Nevada completed the poll.

NC State and Nevada are new to the poll, with the former rattling Georgia Tech in a 45-28 final on Saturday and the latter defeating BYU, 27-13, in Provo.

Dropping out of the standings were West Virginia and Oregon State.

In addition to the Alabama/Florida and Oregon/Stanford games, a key Big 12 tussle is on the docket with Oklahoma and Texas set to do battle at the Cotton Bowl.

A pair of ranked Big 10 matchups also highlight the weekend, with Wisconsin heading to East Lansing to face Michigan State and Penn State traveling to take on Iowa.