UCLA Remains No. 3 in Polls

The media went with Tennessee, the coaches with Kansas State and UCLA remained No. 3 in both college football polls Sunday.

In the Associated Press poll, Tennessee remained No. 1 despite a last-minute, 28-24 victory over Arkansas. But Kansas State is alone at No. 1 in the USA Today/ESPN poll after being tied with Tennessee last week.

And the Wildcats also made up ground in the AP poll with a 40-30 victory over Nebraska on Saturday.

The Volunteers (9-0) received 37 first-place votes and 1,709 points, while the Wildcats (10-0) collected 29 first-place votes and 1,699 points from the 70 sportswriters and broadcasters on the AP panel.

UCLA got seven first-place votes in the coaches’ poll and four in the AP poll.

Last week, when the Volunteers became No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time in 42 years, they had 46 first-place votes and 1,718 points. Kansas State had 19 first-place votes and 1,677 points.

After Sunday, the Wildcats trailed the Volunteers by only eight first-place votes and 10 points.

Kansas State plays at Missouri and Tennessee plays host to Kentucky on Saturday.

UCLA (9-0) remained No. 3 after extending the nation’s longest major college winning streak to 19 games with a 36-24 victory over Washington.

Florida (9-1) and Florida State (10-1) were 4-5 in both polls heading into their showdown Saturday at Tallahassee, Fla.

Arkansas moved from No. 10 to No. 9 in the AP poll and remained No. 9 in the USA Today/ESPN poll.

But that was little consolation to Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt.

“I’ve never seen a dressing room that bad. That one, that hurt. You had everything, but you just couldn’t tie the knot. It’s like tying a shoestring--you had everything just in place. You had everything just right there. And they tasted it. They knew they were going to go down there and sing [the Arkansas fight song] to that crowd,” he said Sunday.

Arkansas led Tennessee, 21-3, late in the first half and was ahead, 24-22, with less than two minutes to play.

On second down, Arkansas quarterback Clint Stoerner tried to roll left but tripped over the feet of guard Brandon Burlsworth. Off-balance, Stoerner tried reaching for the ground with the ball in his right hand. The ball stayed on the ground and Stoerner stumbled to the grass. The Volunteers recovered and, five plays later, Travis Henry scored from the one.

“I really felt like our defense had it in their minds, once they stopped them with [under] two minutes left, it was over,” Nutt said. “In our minds, offensively, it was over. But it didn’t happen because of a little bitty thing that we talk about every single day: taking care of the football. And we didn’t do it. We gave them a gift.”

Kentucky Player Killed in Accident

A deer-hunting trip turned tragic when a truck carrying three men, including two Kentucky football players, flipped on a rural Kentucky highway Sunday, killing two of the occupants.

Dead were defensive lineman Arthur Steinmetz, 19, a transfer from Michigan State who was sitting out the season, and Scott Brock, 21, a passenger who was not on the team.

Starting center Jason Watts, the driver, was in fair condition after being airlifted to Lexington’s University of Kentucky Medical Center from Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital in Somerset.

Brock and Steinmetz were pronounced dead at the scene.

Pulaski County Sheriff Sam Catron said the accident happened just before 7 a.m. EST on southbound U.S. 27, about 60 miles south of Lexington.

Catron said the 1985 Chevy truck drifted onto the west shoulder of the road. Watts apparently steered back on the pavement but over-corrected, sending the truck across the two-lane highway and off the other side of the road, throwing all three men from the vehicle, Catron said.

“It’s a total shock. It’s awful. It’s just terrible,” Michigan State Coach Nick Saban said Sunday after informing his players of Steinmetz’s death. “Artie Steinmetz was a fine young man, very well respected around here as a worker and as a person.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. This is just a very tragic thing for a young man who had a very bright future not only as a football player but as a person,” Saban said.

Catron said the weather was clear at the time and police were investigating. He said blood samples were taken from Watts for alcohol testing, a routine step in such cases.

The Wildcats (7-3) were coming off a 55-17 home victory Saturday over Vanderbilt. They finish their regular season Saturday against undefeated and top-ranked Tennessee at Knoxville.

A 6-foot-3, 271-pounder from Oveido, Fla., Watts is known for his fondness for alligator wrestling. He had caught two passes this season, both off deflections.

Steinmetz would have had three years of eligibility remaining starting with the 1999 season.

Brock was a native of the same small eastern Kentucky mountain town where Tim Couch grew up.