Sooners Keep Grip on No. 1

Oklahoma finished its regular season where it started: No. 1 in the Associated Press college football poll.

The Sooners (12-0) remained the unanimous pick for the top spot in the rankings after a 56-25 victory over Texas Tech. Oklahoma received all 65 first-place votes in balloting by the panel of sportswriters and broadcasters Sunday.

USC remained second, followed by Louisiana State, Michigan and Georgia. Ohio State, which lost to Michigan, 35-21, fell from fourth to eighth.

The Sooners have been No. 1 every week since the preseason. If they defeat Kansas State in the Big 12 title game Dec. 6 and win the Sugar Bowl game Jan. 4, Oklahoma will join Florida State’s 1999 team as the only teams to go wire to wire since the advent of the preseason poll in 1950.

The USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll had the same top six teams as AP.

No teams dropped out of the poll this week. Texas Christian had the biggest fall, dropping from 10th to 19th after its first loss, 40-28 to Southern Mississippi on Thursday night.

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For the second year in a row, New Mexico (8-4) will represent the Mountain West Conference in the Las Vegas Bowl on Christmas Eve and will play the Pacific 10 Conference’s fifth-place team.

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Hawaii racked up a school-record 741 yards and tied a team single-game passing record with 543 yards in a 59-28 victory over Army on Saturday night at Honolulu.

The Warriors clinched a berth in the Hawaii Bowl and assured fifth-year Coach June Jones a winning season for the fourth time.

Timmy Chang threw for 356 yards and two touchdowns and became the seventh player in NCAA Division I-A history to break the 12,000-yard career passing mark.

Jason Whieldon played most of the second half and threw for 178 yards and a touchdown.

Chad Owens surpassed two season highs with 14 catches and 168 yards receiving. He was one of 12 Warriors who caught a pass against Army (0-12).