Florida, Nebraska Surge in Poll

Don’t look back Florida State and Virginia Tech.

Nebraska--and others--are moving up in the Top 25.

The Seminoles and Hokies remained 1-2 in the Associated Press’ Top 25 poll Sunday, but the Cornhuskers (9-1) leapfrogged three spots to No. 4 with a victory over previously undefeated Kansas State (9-1).

With four of last week’s Top 10 teams losing, there was a huge shakeup in this week’s poll as Florida (9-1) moved up to No. 3, Wisconsin (9-2) to No. 5 and Texas (9-2) to No. 6.

Among those tumbling was Tennessee (7-2), a loser to Arkansas on Saturday. The Volunteers fell four spots to No. 7.

Kansas State (9-1), big losers to Nebraska, also dropped four places, to No. 9; Penn State (9-2) fell seven places to No. 13 after a loss to Michigan; and Mississippi State (8-1) plummeted four spots, to No. 12.

Florida State (10-0) received 63 first-place votes and 1,719 points from 69 of the 70 sportswriters and broadcasters on the AP panel. Florida State is at Florida (9-1) next Saturday.

Virginia Tech (9-0), which routed Miami, got six first-places votes--up two from a week ago--and 1,658 points.

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Jonathan Smith threw three touchdown passes and ran for a score as Oregon State, 7-3 overall and 4-3 in the Pac-10, defeated Arizona (6-5, 3-4), 28-20, in Corvallis, Ore., late Saturday. . . . Hawaii completed an improbable one-year transformation to champs with a 31-24 double-overtime victory over Fresno State at Honolulu. Dan Robinson’s third touchdown pass, a nine-yarder to Craig Stutzmann, gave Hawaii (7-3, 5-3) at least a share of the Western Athletic Conference title and a berth in either the Las Vegas or Oahu bowls. Hawaii was 0-12 last season. Fresno State fell to 7-4, 4-2. . . . Nevada Coach Jeff Tisdel resigned under pressure after guiding the Wolf Pack--3-7 overall and 2-3 in the Big West--to its worst season since 1975. . . . Cliff Hysell resigned as coach at Montana State, the day after his 3-7 Bobcats suffered their fifth consecutive loss. Hysell is 41-46 in eight seasons at the school.