DALLAS (FWAA) – The Southern California Trojans are the top-ranked team in the first 2005 regular-season Grantland Rice Super 16 Poll. USC (5-0), the two-time defending Football Writers Association of America national champs, received 12 of the 16 first-place votes after extending their winning streak to 27 games with a win over Arizona. The USC win streak is the longest in the nation and the Trojans have won a record six FWAA national titles after winning each of the last two.

The Grantland Rice Trophy

Texas (5-0), second in the poll, won its 12th straight game by snapping a five-game losing streak to arch-rival Oklahoma, 45-12, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The Longhorns were No. 2 in the preseason poll, but only eight of the teams ranked in the preseason remain in the poll.

Virginia Tech (6-0) moved up from eighth to third with its unbeaten start. No. 4 Georgia (5-0) and No. 5 Florida State (5-0) are each ten places higher than they started to round out the top five. Each of the top seven teams are unbeaten as previously unranked Alabama (5-0) and Penn State (6-0) are ranked sixth and seventh. Miami, Notre Dame and UCLA round out the FWAA's first regular-season top ten.

The Grantland Rice Super 16 Poll, introduced prior to the 2002 season, ranks the nation's top 16 Division I-A football teams. A regionally-balanced group of 16 selectors votes in the poll. The pollsters also select the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week, which is announced each Monday during the regular season.

In addition, the 16 voters representing four regions, have cast a ballot each week, while giving a synopsis of their ballot. Unlike other college football polls, the FWAA makes each of its pollster's ballot public, along with the weekly synopsis. At the conclusion of the Bowl Championship Series, the FWAA will release its final poll and the top-ranked team will be awarded the 2005 Grantland Rice Trophy.

Among five conferences represented in the initial regular-season poll, the ACC and SEC each feature four teams among the Top 16, while the Pac-10 has three.

• Click here to see how and why each pollster voted

The complete poll for Oct. 10 is as follows:

The FWAA has presented the Grantland Rice Trophy, named in honor of the legendary sportswriter, to college football's national champion each year since 1954. When introduced, it was the first national championship trophy to be awarded after college football's postseason. This is the fourth season that a season-long poll is concurrent with the award.

For further information contact Steve Richardson, Executive Director of the FWAA (972-713-6198, tiger@sportswriters.net) or Ted Gangi, FWAA webmaster (214-823-7992, webmaster@sportswriters.net).