Oregon State Starts Season in the Top 10

The Oregon State football team will begin the season ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll for the first time since 1968.

The Beavers moved up one spot to No. 10 in the rankings released Monday. They swapped spots with Georgia Tech, which fell from 10th to 11th after struggling to beat Syracuse, 13-7, Sunday.

Oregon State, which opens at Fresno State on Sunday, hasn’t started the season in the top 10 since it was ranked No. 8 in the preseason 33 years ago. The Beavers promptly lost at Iowa, 21-20, and they didn’t climb that high again until reaching No. 8 on Nov. 13, 2000.

After defeating No. 5 Oregon and No. 10 Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl to complete an 11-1 season, the Beavers were No. 4 in the final AP poll, the highest ranking in school history.

There were no other changes in the poll, with Florida a solid No. 1, followed by Miami, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas. UCLA, ranked 17th, opens at No. 25 Alabama on Saturday.

The top five in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll remained the same: Florida, Miami, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Florida State.

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Wisconsin quarterback Brooks Bollinger was released from a Madison, Wis., hospital two days after being knocked out of the Badgers’ opener with a bruised liver.

Coach Barry Alvarez was unsure if Bollinger will be ready to play Saturday when the No. 22 Badgers face seventh-ranked Oregon. Bollinger was hospitalized after he was tackled and fell on the ball in the second quarter of Wisconsin’s 26-17 win over Virginia.

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Rex Grossman, not Brock Berlin, will start at quarterback for No. 1 Florida.

Coach Steve Spurrier said the race was even at the end of spring practice, but Grossman out-played Berlin in the Gators’ scrimmage Aug. 18.

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Kansas Coach Terry Allen has suspended quarterback Mario Kinsey and running back Reggie Duncan for the opening game for unspecified violations of team rules.

Kinsey, a redshirt freshman, was in a tight battle for the starting job with sophomore Zach Dyer. Allen had said both would play in Saturday’s game against Southwest Missouri State. Duncan is the team’s starting running back.