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Gators return to No. 1 in AP

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 8, 2001

Florida is No. 1 again.

The Gators grabbed the top spot from rival Miami in the Associated Press poll on the strength of overpowering victories the past two weeks.

While Miami defeated Troy State 38-7 at home, Florida beat LSU 44-15 on the road after its 52-0 home victory against Mississippi State the week before.

Florida (5-0) moved ahead of Miami in the Top 25 poll with 30 first-place votes and 1,739 points from the 72 sports writers and broadcasters on the AP panel. The Hurricanes (4-0) had 23 first-place votes and 1,719 points.

Last week, Miami led Florida in first-place votes, 34-22, and points, 1,744-1,725.

The Hurricanes lost ground to Florida because of their less-than-impressive win over the Trojans, a 50-point underdog in their first Division I season, and because the Gators beat then-No. 18 LSU in an SEC matchup. Miami is 4-0 against teams with a combined record of 3-14. Penn State is 0-4, Rutgers 1-4, Pittsburgh 1-3 and Troy State 1-3.

"We need to keep winning games. In our conference and with our schedule, if we win everything will fall into place," Florida defensive coordinator Jon Hoke said.

"Our biggest goal right now is to win the SEC East. We don't talk too much about polls. On a week-to-week basis, most people associated with the football program, especially the coaches, don't mention the polls at all."

Florida was No. 1 in the AP preseason poll despite receiving fewer first-place votes than Miami. But the Hurricanes moved to the top spot in the second regular-season rankings after opening with a win at Penn State on Sept. 1.

Florida's return to No. 1 is the first time the Gators have had more first-place votes than Miami.

RUSHING RECORD: Maurice Hicks ran for 416 yards Saturday, the fourth highest total in NCAA history in Division I, in North Carolina A&T's 52-42 loss to Morgan State.

Hicks, who had 32 carries and scored four touchdowns, broke the Division I-AA record of 409 yards set by Charles Roberts of Sacramento State in 1999 against Idaho State.

Dante Brown of Division III Marietta set the NCAA record in 1996 with a 441-yard game against Baldwin-Wallace.

OKLAHOMA: Coach Bob Stoops remained silent about quarterback Nate Hybl's left side injury, saying only that Hybl would start Saturday against Kansas if he is healthy. Hybl was injured in the second quarter of the Sooners' 14-3 win over Texas.

Saturday's late games

NO. 5 OREGON 63, ARIZONA 28: Joey Harrington threw for three touchdowns and ran for three as the Ducks improved to 5-0 on the road and matched their best start in 37 years.

"It was fun. We had fun for the first time in a long time," Harrington said. "We didn't worry about what people were saying. People were talking in the papers about how we didn't deserved to be ranked where we were. We just went out and had fun and put a game together."

Harrington completed 15 of 24 passes for 279 yards, then sat out the fourth. Onterrio Smith rushed for 131 yards in 15 carries and scored two touchdowns for Oregon. Maurice Morris gained 110 yards in 21 attempts and scored once as the Ducks rolled up 607 yards, 472 in the first three quarters.

"Embarrassing," Arizona coach Bobby Wade said. "We expected to give Oregon a way better game that we did." Arizona has lost seven straight Pac-10 games.

The Ducks tied their team record for points in a Pac-10 game. They scored 63 against Stanford in 1998. It was the most points given up by Arizona in a Pac-10 game.

Jason Johnson was 7-of-18 for 132 yards and two touchdowns for Arizona before being pulled from the game after throwing an interception, the first of three third-quarter turnovers by the Wildcats.

ARIZONA ST. 63, LA.-LAFAYETTE 27: Jeff Krohn passed for 290 yards and four touchdowns to Shaun McDonald in three quarters for the home victory. Krohn had 250 yards at halftime. Krohn, who was 12-of-23, reached 1,000 yards in four games, the fastest in school history. McDonald tied a school record for scoring catches set by John Allen against San Jose State in 1953. McDonald had 154 yards on five catches.

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