Top-ranked Gators hit the SEC road

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01/27/2007 - Auburn, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-ranked Florida Gators continue their feverish run through the SEC, as they travel to Alabama this weekend to battle the Auburn Tigers from the Beard-Eaves Coliseum.

This is the third straight SEC West foe for Florida, which moved to 5-0 in league play with this week's 70-67 win over Mississippi State. Since a loss to Florida State on December 3rd, the Gators have strung together 11 straight victories to move to 18-2 overall.

The Tigers are facing their seventh top-10 team this season and their second ranked opponent in a row, after routing 12th-ranked Alabama this week, 81-57. The victory evened Auburn's league mark at 3-3 and pushed the team to 13-8 overall.

Auburn leads the all-time series with Florida, 86-65, but the Gators have closed the gap a bit with seven straight wins over the Tigers coming into this matchup.

Florida struggled to get a three-point win over Mississippi State this week, as the team shot just .417 from the floor and turned the ball over 15 times. Corey Brewer led the team to victory with a game-high 20 points. Florida trailed at the break by four points, but went on an early run in the second stanza to regain the momentum and earn the win. Taurean Green and Joakim Noah added 11 and 10 points, respectively, while Al Horford just missed a double- double with nine points and 14 rebounds. The Gators have been a much more potent offensive squad on the season, averaging 82.3 ppg, while leading the nation in field-goal percentage (.542). All five starters are averaging double digits, led by Green's 13.5 ppg. Brewer and Noah follow at 12.8 ppg each, with Horford (11.8 ppg) and Lee Humphrey (10.4 ppg) getting into the act as well. Noah and Horford provide the muscle on the glass, combining for just over 17 rebounds per game.

The Tigers are a decent offensive team as well, averaging 73.3 ppg, on a steady .452 shooting. The team also boasts of five double-digit averages, proof of serious scoring depth. Quan Prowell and Rasheem Barrett lead the way with 12.4 ppg each. They are followed closely by Frank Tolbert (12.2 ppg), Korvotney Barber (12.0 ppg) and Josh Dollard (11.6 ppg). Dollard leads the team on the boards at 7.3 rpg, but gets plenty of help from Prowell (7.0 rpg) and Barber (6.3 rpg). Auburn dispensed of Alabama this week thanks to a crushing 25-7 run to open up the second half. The victory halted a seven-game win streak for Alabama in the series, as four Tigers finished in double figures. Barber led the way with 18 points, Tolbert came off the bench to tally 17, followed by Dollard, who had 16. Prowell notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, as Auburn shot .576 from the floor in the game, including a ridiculous .679 in the second half (19-of-28).

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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