FWAA > News > Grantland Rice Super 16 Poll

DALLAS (FWAA) – The Southern California Trojans have gone wire to wire as the top-ranked team in the regular season in the 2005 Grantland Rice Super 16 Poll. The Trojans, the two-time defending Football Writers Association of America national champions, began the season at No. 1 and have finished the regular season that way with a 12-0 record that runs their winning streak to 34 games. USC added a first-place vote after its 66-19 thrashing of UCLA this past Saturday.

Texas (12-0), equally impressive with a 70-3 rout of Colorado in the Big 12 title game, won its 19th straight game and, in turn, has also finished the regular season where it started, at No. 2 in the Super 16. The Longhorns held on the six first-place votes.

Big Ten champion Penn State entrenched itself at No. 3, while Ohio State and Notre Dame moved up as the beneficiaries of conference championship losses by LSU and Virginia Tech. The Buckeyes are No. 4 and the Fighting Irish are ranked fifth in the final regular-season poll. Virginia Tech fell into a tie with LSU at No. 10 in the rankings.

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 selected the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week, which was announced each Monday this 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 ballots 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 Grantland Rice Trophy, which USC has won a record six times.

Among seven conferences represented in this week's poll, the SEC has four teams among the Super 16. The Pacific-10 has three teams in the final regular-season poll.

FWAA GRANTLAND RICE SUPER 16 POLL (DEC. 5, 2005)
Rk.	School [1st]	Conference	W-L	Pts.	Pvs.	Next Game
1.	USC [10]	Pacific-10	12-0	250	1	1/4 vs. No. 2 Texas
2.	Texas [6]	Big 12	12-0	246	2	1/4 vs. No. 1 USC
3.	Penn State	Big Ten	10-1	222	3	1/3 vs. Florida State
4.	Ohio State	Big Ten	9-2	195	7	1/2 vs. No. 5 Notre Dame
5.	Notre Dame	Independent	9-2	180	6	1/2 vs. No. 4 Ohio State
6.	Oregon	Pacific-10	10-1	169	t8	12/29 vs. Oklahoma
7.	Georgia	Southeastern	10-2	154	11	1/2 vs. No. 12 West Virginia
8.	Auburn	Southeastern	9-2	141	t8	1/2 vs. Wisconsin
9.	Miami	Atlantic Coast	9-2	126	10	12/30 vs. No. 11 LSU
t10.	LSU	Southeastern	10-2	108	4	12/30 vs. No. 9 Miami
t10.	Virginia Tech	Atlantic Coast	10-2	108	5	1/2 vs. No 15 Louisville
12.	West Virginia	Big East	10-1	87	13	1/2 vs. No. 7 Georgia
13.	Alabama	Southeastern	9-2	58	14	1/2 vs. Texas Tech
14.	TCU	Mountain West	10-1	47	15	12/31 vs. Iowa State
t15.	UCLA	Pacific-10	9-2	15	12	12/30 vs. Northwestern
t15.	Louisville	Big East	9-2	15	-	1/2 vs. No. 10 Virginia Tech
First-place votes: USC 10 (Bagnato, Condotta, Curtis, Davis, Dodd, Greenstein, Hartley, Hayes, Koonz, Robbins); Texas 6 (Burchette, Coyle, Fiutak, Griffith, Higgins, Shain).
Also receiving votes: Florida State (8-4) 14, Michigan (7-4) 13, Florida (8-3) 12, Texas Tech (9-2) 11, Wisconsin (9-3) 2, Boston College (8-3) 2, Georgia Tech (7-4) 1.
Dropped out: Florida (16).
By conference: SEC 4, Pac-10 3, ACC 2, Big East 2, Big Ten 2, Big 12 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.