NEW YORK — Hit the reset button on the college football season.
There’s a new No. 1 team in Ohio State and uncertainty at the top of the rankings for the first time all season after Alabama’s 19-game winning streak ended at South Carolina.
The Southeastern Conference, which has won the last four national championships, has some catching up to do in the 2010 title chase. The Buckeyes and No. 2 Oregon have a couple of BCS busters in No. 3 Boise State and No. 4 TCU on their tails. And for the first time in about a decade, Nebraska is a legitimate national championship contender.
The Buckeyes moved up one spot in The Associated Press poll after preseason No. 1 Alabama lost for the first time since the 2009 Sugar Bowl. The Crimson Tide fell 35-21 on Saturday.
Ohio State received 34 first-place votes. Oregon got 15, Boise State eight and TCU one, and No. 6 Oklahoma received two first-place votes from the media panel Sunday.
Auburn is the highest- ranked SEC team at No. 7. An SEC team, either Florida or Alabama, had held the top spot in the last 29 AP polls, dating to Nov. 2, 2008. The most recent time the highest-ranked SEC team was this far away from No. 1 was Oct. 22, 2006, when Auburn was ranked seventh.
The last time Ohio State was No. 1 was the final regular-season poll of 2007.
UK’s Locke questionable
LEXINGTON, Ky. — University of Kentucky running back Derrick Locke is questionable for Saturday’s game against 10th-ranked South Carolina with stingers in both shoulders.
Locke, a senior and Kentucky’s leading rusher, was injured on the Wildcats’ first second-half drive in Saturday’s 37-34 loss to No. 7 Auburn.
Barner leaves hospital
PULLMAN, Wash. — Oregon running back Kenjon Barner was released from Pullman Regional Hospital after spending the night there after a scary collision against Washington State.
The Associated Press
