Irish Overwhelming Choice for 1 in Poll : Miami, Fla. 2; Colorado Gets 2 1st-Place Votes

Notre Dame is still No. 1, but the explosive Colorado Buffaloes are winning supporters on and off the field.

The Irish, who beat Stanford 27-17 Saturday, received 54 first-place votes from a nationwide panel of 60 sports writers and broadcasters, accumulating 1,494 out of a possible 1,500 points.

Notre Dame has topped the Associated Press college football poll since supplanting Michigan the first week of the season.

The third-ranked Buffaloes blew out Missouri 49-3 in their first home game since the death of quarterback Sal Aunese and picked up a pair of first-place votes. Colorado, which moved from fifth to third last week, received 1,371 points.

Miami, Fla., which pounded Cincinnati 56-0, remained No. 2 with the other four first-place votes and 1,428 points.

Missouri cornerback Otis Smith, whose team fell 38-7 to the Hurricanes two weeks ago, was more impressed by the Buffaloes.

“My own belief is that Colorado is way better than Miami,” Smith said after Saturday’s game. “They’re faster, bigger, stronger and a better team overall.”

The top three teams are each 5-0, as is Nebraska, which stayed at No. 4 after racking up 723 yards of offense in rolling over Kansas St. 58-7. The Cornhuskers collected 1,298 points.

No. 5 Michigan (3-1), No. 6 Tennessee (5-0) and No. 7 Arkansas (4-0) all held position.

The Wolverines, the top-ranked preseason team, shut down Wisconsin 24-0 and received 1,232 points. Tennessee, which collected 1,205 points, edged Georgia 17-14. Arkansas got a pair of touchdowns each from fullbacks Barry Foster and JuJu Harshaw in beating Texas Christian 41-9 and got 1,108 points.

Houston (4-0) got six touchdown passes from quarterback Andre Ware in a 66-10 victory over Baylor and made the biggest jump in the poll, from No. 12 to eighth. The Cougars have 1,002 points, eight more than Pittsburgh (4-0-1), which dropped one place to ninth after beating Temple 27-3.

West Virginia, tied with Southern Cal last week at No. 9, had the biggest drop, falling to 20th thanks to its first regular-season defeat since 1987, a 12-10 upset at the hands of Virginia Tech.

USC (4-1) rounded out the Top Ten. The Trojans beat Washington 24-16 and picked up 951 points.

The Second Ten is made up of Alabama, Auburn, North Carolina State, Clemson, Oklahoma, Illinois, Air Force and Washington State at 17th, Florida State and West Virginia.

Michigan State, ranked 21st, and UCLA, No. 22, each moved up three spots.

THE TOP 25

The top 25 teams in the AP college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses.

1. Notre Dame (54) 5-0-0 2. Miami, Fla. (4) 5-0-0 3. Colorado (2) 5-0-0 4. Nebraska 5-0-0 5. Michigan 3-1-0 6. Tennessee 5-0-0 7. Arkansas 4-0-0 8. Houston 4-0-0 9. Pittsburgh 4-0-1 10. USC 4-1-0 11. Alabama 4-0-0 12. Auburn 3-1-0 13. N. Carolina St. 6-0-0 14. Clemson 5-1-0 15. Oklahoma 4-1-0 16. Illinois 3-1-0 17. Air Force 6-0-0 (Tie) Washington St. 5-1-0 19. Florida St. 3-2-0 20. West Virginia 4-1-1 21. Michigan St. 2-2-0 22. UCLA 3-2-0 23. Penn St. 4-1-0 24. South Carolina 4-1-1 25. Brigham Young 4-1-0 (Tie) Florida 4-1-0