LSU is unanimous No. 1 after week of Top 25 upheaval | Rock Hill Herald

NEW YORK -- No doubt about it, LSU is No. 1.

As for the rest of the Top 25, five wild weeks of college football have taken quite a toll.

The Tigers were a unanimous choice for the top spot in The Associated Press rankings released Sunday, receiving all 65 first-place from the media panel. The last unanimous No. 1 during the regular season was Ohio State in December.

LSU is one of just four teams that started the season ranked in the top 10 and remain there. The others are No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 8 West Virginia and No. 10 Southern California, which became the latest team to take a tumble after a startling loss to an unranked opponent.

The Trojans fell to Stanford 24-23 on Saturday, then dropped eight spots in the rankings.

California is the new No. 2, with its best showing in the AP Top 25 since 1951, when the Golden Bears were No. 1.

Ohio State is No. 3 and No. 4 Boston College has its highest ranking since Doug Flutie had the Eagles fourth in 1984. South Florida, which entered the poll for the first time three weeks ago, is now No. 5.

A week before the first Bowl Championship Series standings are released, LSU is a unanimous No. 1 in all the major polls. In the coaches' poll, the rest of the top five is California, Ohio State, Boston College and Oklahoma and South Florida are tied for fifth.

• South Carolina rose to No. 7 in The Associated Press football poll, the program's highest ranking since 1984.

The Gamecocks (5-1, 3-1 SEC) are in the Top 10 for the first time since 2001, when they were No. 9 after beginning 5-0. The team's highest-ever ranking was No. 2 in 1984, before the 9-0 Gamecocks lost at Navy.

USC finished that regular season 10-1 and was ranked seventh going into the Gator Bowl. The current Gamecocks, also ranked 12th in the USA Today/coaches poll, travel to North Carolina at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

• RUNNING -- In a race run in scorching heat that left one man dead, Kenya's Patrick Ivuti won the Chicago Marathon by a fraction of a second. Another 250 runners were taken to hospitals because of heat-related ailments.

The 88-degree heat and sweltering humidity were so draining that organizers shut down the second half of the course four hours after the start.

Ivuti leaned at the finish line to edge Jaouad Gharib of Morocco by 0.05 seconds. Ethiopia's Berhane Adere rallied to successfully defend her women's title.

• OLYMPICS -- The U.S. Olympic Committee, a fixture in Colorado Springs for nearly three decades, is considering various proposals to relocate because of its aging, cramped facilities.

USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said Saturday that the committee's needs include training space for athletes, news headquarters and administrative space for the various sports' national governing bodies.

"We're looking at options. No decisions have been made," Seibel said. "We have not established a specific time line."

Seibel and city officials confirmed that one of the proposals for upgrading the training center came from Colorado Springs. Seibel declined to discuss any other proposals.

City officials said Thursday that they have talked to the USOC for the past several months about helping it find new space are prepared to make a commitment.

• TENNIS -- Second-seeded Fernando Gonzalez rallied to beat Italy's Filippo Volandri 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the first round of the BA-CA Tennis Trophy.

The sixth-ranked Chilean, who lost last year's final to Ivan Ljubicic, was broken once in the first set but held serve after that.

Also, 103rd-ranked Robin Haase of the Netherlands beat Argentina's Agustin Calleri 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

• WOMEN'S SOCCER -- In Clinton, the Winthrop women's soccer team tried hard, but couldn't manage to produce a goal as Presbyterian held on to a scoreless tie Saturday evening.

Winthrop is now 1-4-4 on the season, while the Lady Blue Hose are 3-5-1.

The Lady Eagles had a season-high 21 shots, while Presbyterian attempted 16 times.

Junior forward Chelsea White led the Lady Eagle strikers with five total shots with three of them going on target. Senior midfielder Michelle Buttler also provided three shots on goal in the game.

Winthrop now returns home for a non-conference matchup with South Carolina State on Monday at 7 p.m.