Rankings similar for top teams

Mississippi, California and North Carolina, teams that started the season with lofty expectations before stumbling, have surged back into the AP Top 25 college football poll.

There was little change, however, at the top of the Associated Press rankings Sunday.

No. 1 Florida was followed by fellow unbeatens Alabama, Texas, TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State.

Also holding their places were No. 7 Georgia Tech, No. 8 Pittsburgh and No. 9 Ohio State.

The Gators received 36 first-place votes, Alabama had 13 and Texas 11.

The only change in the top 10 came at No. 10. Oregon moved up a spot after LSU slipped seven places to No. 17 following a 25-23 loss at Ole Miss.

In the BCS standings, Iowa and Penn State ended their seasons eligible for an at-large BCS bid, and Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech are also in position to be eligible for invites to the four big-money bowl games even though they have no shot to win their conferences.

The top seven teams in the Bowl Championship Series standings released Sunday were unchanged from last week, with Florida, Alabama and Texas still in control of the national championship race.

Barring any major upsets over the next two weeks, the winner of the Florida-Alabama Southeastern Conference title game will face Texas in the BCS title game on Jan. 7 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

Complete polls can be found on Scoreboard, B4