Football | Auburn moves to No. 2 in poll

NEW YORK — Auburn is the new No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25, and Miami is out of the rankings for the first time since 1999.

Ohio State remained No. 1 for the fourth straight week.

The Buckeyes received 59 first-place votes from a panel of 65 media members.

Notre Dame's first loss of the season vacated a spot immediately behind Ohio State, and Auburn took advantage.

The Tigers, who beat Louisiana State 7-3 Saturday, have their highest ranking since tying for No. 2 with Oklahoma on Nov. 13, 2004. Auburn is the third team to hold the No. 2 poll spot this season, along with Notre Dame and Texas.

USC is third, West Virginia is fourth and Florida is fifth. Notre Dame plunged to 12th after its 47-21 home loss to then-No. 11 Michigan, which jumped to sixth.

In the USA Today coaches poll, Ohio State is followed by, in order, USC, Auburn, West Virginia, Florida and Michigan.

Meanwhile, Miami's latest loss — a 31-7 debacle at Louisville — ended a streak of 107 consecutive AP poll appearances that had been the nation's longest current streak.

"That doesn't really change anything," Miami coach Larry Coker said Sunday. "The poll didn't help us yesterday and the poll won't help us tomorrow. Doesn't change anything."

No. 7 Texas, the defending national champion, has the longest current streak of poll appearances at 96, dating to Oct. 15, 2000.

USC leads four Pac-10 teams in the poll. The others are No. 13 Oregon, Arizona State (tied for 20th with Boston College of the Atlantic Coast Conference) and No. 22 California.