Football Writers Association of America Nov. 14, 2005
For Immediate Release
Contact: Ted Gangi
214-823-7992
Once-beaten Miami moves up to No. 3
USC, TEXAS KEEP LOCK ON TOP TWO
SPOTS IN GRANTLAND RICE SUPER 16 POLL

DALLAS (FWAA) – The Southern California Trojans remain the top-ranked team in the Grantland Rice Super 16 Poll. USC (10-0), the two-time defending Football Writers Association of America national champs, received 11 of the 16 first-place votes after extending their winning streak to 32 games with a 35-10 win at California. 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 (10-0), still No. 2 in the poll with five first-place votes, won its 17th straight game by routing Kansas, 66-14. While LSU topped previously unbeaten Alabama, 16-13 in overtime to move to No. 4 in the poll, Miami rose to No. 3 after its 47-17 humbling of Wake Forest. Penn State, idle this past week, moved up to No. 5. Alabama dropped to No. 8.

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 seven conferences represented in this week's poll, the SEC now features four teams among the Top 16. The Pacific-10 and Big Ten each boast three.

Click here to see how and why each pollster voted

The complete poll for Nov. 14 is as follows:

FWAA GRANTLAND RICE SUPER 16 POLL (Nov. 14, 2005)
Rk. School [1st] Conference W-L Pts. Pvs. Next Game
1. USC [11] Pacific-10 10-0 251 1 11/19 vs. Fresno State
2. Texas [5] Big 12 10-0 245 2 11/25 at Texas A&M
3. Miami Atlantic Coast 8-1 219 4 11/19 vs. Georgia Tech
4. LSU Southeastern 8-1 198 6 11/19 at Ole Miss
5. Penn State Big Ten 9-1 194 5 11/19 at Michigan State
6. Notre Dame Independent 7-2 160 t7 11/19 vs. Syracuse
7. Virginia Tech Atlantic Coast 8-1 158 t7 11/19 at Virginia
8. Alabama Southeastern 9-1 140 3 11/19 at No. 10 Auburn
9. Ohio State Big Ten 8-2 139 10 11/19 at No. 16 Michigan
10. Auburn Southeastern 8-2 103 16 11/19 vs. No. 8 Alabama
11. Oregon Pacific-10 9-1 102 11 11/19 vs. Oregon State
12. UCLA Pacific-10 9-1 77 12 12/3 at No. 1 USC
13. Georgia Southeastern 8-2 66 9 11/19 vs. Kentucky
14. West Virginia Big East 8-1 62 15 11/24 vs. Pittsburgh
15. TCU Mountain West 10-1 20 - Reg. season complete
16. Michigan Big Ten  7-3 16 - 11/19 vs. No. 9 Ohio State
First-place votes: USC 11 (Bagnato, Condotta, Curtis, Davis, Dodd, Fiutak, Greenstein, Hartley, Hayes, Koonz, Robbins); Texas 5 (Burchette, Coyle, Griffith, Higgins, Shain).
Also receiving votes: Fresno State (8-1) 14, South Carolina (7-3) 6, Louisville (7-2) 3, Texas Tech (8-2) 2, Minnesota (7-3) 1.
Dropped out: Florida (13), Texas Tech (14).
By conference: SEC 4, Pac-10 3, Big Ten 3, ACC 2, Big 12 1, Big East 1, Mountain West 1, Independent 1.

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).

2005 Grantland Rice Super 16 Polls (No. 1 team)
Aug. 29 (USC)
Oct. 10 (USC)
Oct. 17 (USC)
Oct. 24 (USC)
Oct. 31 (USC)
Nov. 7 (USC)
Nov. 14 (USC)
Nov. 21 (USC)
Nov. 28 (USC)
Dec. 5 (USC)
Jan. 5 (Texas)

2005 FWAA/GRANTLAND RICE SUPER 16 POLLSTERS
Andy Bagnato
Arizona Republic
Jordan Burchette
Maxim Online
Bob Condotta
Seattle Times
Frank Coyle
MSNBC | draftinsiders.com
Brian Curtis
College Sports TV
Brian Davis
The Dallas Morning News
Dennis Dodd
CBS SportsLine
Pete Fiutak
College Football News
Teddy Greenstein
Chicago Tribune
Mike Griffith
Knoxville News-Sentinel
Chad Hartley
Reno Gazette-Journal
Matt Hayes
The Sporting News
Ron Higgins
The Commercial Appeal
Brian Koonz
Danbury News-Times
Lenn Robbins
New York Post
Jeff Shain
Miami Herald