Seminoles Take Poll Lead
College football
Florida State is a Sugar Bowl victory away from the national championship. For now, the Seminoles are enjoying their first day of the season as the No. 1 team in The Associated Press’ Top 25 college football poll.
With a 24-21 victory over Florida in the 31st meeting between teams ranked 1-2, the undefeated Seminoles (11-0) replaced the Gators (10-1) atop the poll on Sunday. Florida, which held the No. 1 ranking for 10 weeks, fell to No. 4 behind undefeated Arizona State (11-0) and Nebraska (10-1).
The Seminoles received 61 first-place votes and 1,669 points, while the Sun Devils had five first-place votes and 1,609 points in nationwide balloting from 67 sports writers and broadcasters.
The Cornhuskers (10-1), who would play Florida State in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2 with a win over Texas in Saturday’s Big 12 title game, had one first-place vote and 1,526 points. The Gators, who play Alabama in the SEC title game with an Orange Bowl - and possibly Sugar Bowl - game on the line, had 1,484 points, with Ohio State (10-1) moving up to No. 5 with 1,383 points.
Brigham Young (12-1), which plays Wyoming for the WAC title and a possible alliance bowl berth, moved up a spot to No. 6, followed by Colorado, Penn State, Tennessee and Northwestern.
“It’s feeling real good to be No. 1 at this time,” Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. “So many times we’ve been No. 1 and weren’t able to hold it all year.”
In the past nine years, the Seminoles were preseason No. 1 four times and won their only national title in 1993.
Great Dayne
While the Wisconsin Badgers await the bowl selection committees to make up their minds, everyone else is talking about 260-pound Ron Dayne.
“It was like trying to stop a Mack truck with a peashooter,” Hawaii defensive coordinator Don Lindsey said Saturday night, after Dayne had capped a sensational freshman season by setting several NCAA and schools records in Wisconsin’s 59-10 victory over the Rainbows.
Dayne, who didn’t become a starter until the fifth game, set single-season freshman records for rushing yards (1,863) and carries (295). He also tied Herschel Walker’s freshman record of four 200-yard games.
Illinois picks Bears aide
Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner was hired as the new head coach at the University of Illinois, WBBM-TV reported in Chicago.
Illinois has scheduled a news conference today to announce the successor to Lou Tepper, who was fired last month.
Turner was head coach at San Jose State in 1992, leading the Spartans to a 7-4 record.
Terps consider Lubick
Sonny Lubick, who led the Colorado State University Rams to consecutive Western Athletic Conference titles, will interview this week for the head coaching job at the University of Maryland.
Lubick said he was contacted Saturday morning by Maryland athletic director Deborah Yow and expects to interview Tuesday or Wednesday on the College Park, Md., campus.
Lubick, who coached at Montana State from 1978-81, has expressed interest in possible job overtures and has been mentioned as a candidate at several schools, including Illinois and Oregon State. Maryland, however, is the first school to make official contact.
The University of Kentucky has scheduled a news conference today to announce a new head coach.
Reports have speculated for weeks that the job will be given to Hal Mumme of Division II Valdosta State.