MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Florida State, ranked 12th in the pre-season, is the unanimous selection for No. 1 in the final regular-season USA Today coaches' football poll.
The Seminoles ascended to the top spot last week after Alabama's loss to Auburn, receiving 58 of the 62 first-place votes then. It was the first time since the end of the 1999 season, which culminated with the Seminoles winning the Bowl Championship Series championship, that Florida State was No. 1.
This week, after completing a 13-0 season by defeating Duke in the ACC title game, Florida State pulls in all 62 first-place mentions.
Auburn (12-1), the Seminoles' opponent in this season's BCS finale, came two poll points short of being a unanimous No. 2 selection. Alabama (11-1), the BCS champion the last two seasons, is third.
Related
Michigan State (12-1) jumps five places to fourth after taking Saturday's Big Ten championship and handing Ohio State its first loss since Jan. 2, 2011, and Baylor (11-1), goes from seventh to fifth as the Big 12 titlist.
Michigan State and Oklahoma each move up five places this week as the biggest gainers and idle Texas A&M is up four to a tie for 21st. Oklahoma State takes the biggest rankings hit, plummeting seven places to 13th while Northern Illinois, after its first defeat of the year, is down five to 23rd. Ohio State, Missouri and Arizona State, all losers in conference title games, are each off four places.
Ohio State (12-1) is voted sixth, with Stanford (11-2) up from 10th to No. 7. South Carolina (10-2) comes in eighth ahead of No. 9 Missouri (11-2) and 10th-ranked Oklahoma (10-2).
Clemson (10-2) and Oregon (10-2) remain 11th and 12th, respectively. Oklahoma State (10-2) settles in at 13th while Louisiana State (9-3) is again 14th and Central Florida (11-1) takes over the No. 15 spot.
Louisville (11-1) is 16th and Arizona State (10-3) slips from 13th to No. 17. No. 18 UCLA (9-3) improves one spot and 19th-ranked Wisconsin (9-3) and No. 20 Fresno State (11-1) are both up two places.
Duke (10-3) and Texas A&M (8-4) tie for 21st followed by No. 23 Northern Illinois (12-1), 24th-ranked Georgia (8-4) and No. 25 Miami (Fla.).
Georgia and Miami weren't ranked last week. Cincinnati and Texas fall from the Top 25.
