Oklahoma climbs to second in coach poll

Nov 23, 2008 - 6:54 PM MCLEAN, Virginia (Ticker) -- After its stunningly easy win over Texas Tech, Oklahoma has put itself in a very favorable position.

The Sooners, who routed then-No. 2 Texas Tech, 65-21, on Saturday night, climbed four spots to second in the latest USA Today coaches' poll released Sunday.

Oklahoma, which closes the regular season next week at Oklahoma State, collected 1,412 points and four of 61 first-place votes from a nationwide panel of coaches.

Oklahoma (10-1) is only behind idle Alabama (11-0), which held on to the top spot with 1,518 points and 56 first-place votes.

However, the Sooners surged ahead of No. 3 Florida (10-1) and No. 4 Texas (10-1), possibly putting Oklahoma in the driver's seat to win the Big 12 South title and play in the conference's championship game.

Florida, which will face Alabama in the Southeastern Conference title game, garnered the final first-place vote.

The Sooners' win Saturday night created a three-way tie in the Big 12 South with Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech all at 7-1 in conference play.

If the three tie for the Big 12 South crown, the tiebreaker will be the team with the highest ranking in the final BCS standings.

Oklahoma is now ahead of Texas in the coaches' poll despite suffering a 45-35 loss to the Longhorns on a neutral site.

Southern California (9-1) is fifth, followed by Penn State (11-1), which is headed to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1995 following its 49-18 win over Michigan State on Saturday.

Utah (12-0), which secured a BCS bowl berth with a 48-24 win over Brigham Young, is seventh, with Texas Tech (10-1), Boise State (11-0) and Ohio State (10-2) completing the top 10.

Missouri (9-2), which already has clinched a spot in the Big 12 title game, starts the second 10. The Tigers are followed by Oklahoma State (9-2), Georgia (9-2), TCU (10-2), Ball State (11-0), Cincinnati (9-2), Oregon State (8-3), Oregon (8-3), BYU (10-2) and Northwestern (9-3).

Michigan State (9-3) dropped six spots to No. 21 after its loss to Penn State. Boston College 8-3) is 22nd, followed by three teams that were not ranked last week - Georgia Tech (8-3), Florida State (8-3) and West Virginia (7-3).

Dropping out were No. 18 Louisiana State, No. 19 Pittsburgh and No. 23 Maryland.