Notre Dame, USC Each Gain a Nod From Polls

A grin flashed across the face of Notre Dame football Coach Lou Holtz Tuesday when he learned his Fighting Irish had earned a national ranking in the Associated Press weekly college football poll.

But just as quickly, he turned off his smile and took the pose that most polls don’t matter.

“Only the last one,” he said. “I just want to be better than Michigan State.”

Michigan State is both Notre Dame’s next opponent and the team the Irish displaced for the No. 20 spot in the weekly AP poll.

Notre Dame edged into the national rankings after a strong performance in a 24-23 loss to No. 3 Michigan. It was the first time the Irish appeared in the rankings since the second week of last year, when Gerry Faust was the coach.

It was also the first time since the current AP poll format began in 1950 that an unranked team had lost its opener and moved into the rankings. From 1936 through 1949, the poll began after the season had started. In 1948, Purdue was 15th in the first rankings despite an 0-2 record, and in 1949, Missouri was 20th after an 0-2 start.

While Notre Dame was cracking the Top 20, Oklahoma, the defending national champion, retained the No. 1 spot, despite being idle last Saturday. But the Sooners’ margin over No. 2 Miami shrunk.

The Sooners received 55 of a possible 59 first-place votes and 1,175 of a possible 1,180 points from a nationwide panel of sports writers and broadcasters.

Miami, which raised its record to 3-0 with a 61-11 rout over Texas Tech last Saturday, collected one first-place vote and 1,099 points. Last week’s first-place votes also were 55-1, but the point differential was 1,175-1,050.

Miami also made up some ground in the United Press International Board of Coaches poll, picking up two additional first place votes, for a total of three, to Oklahoma’s 49.

The UPI coaches couldn’t find a spot in their Top 20 for Notre Dame, but they did give the 20th spot to USC, a 31-16 winner over Illinois last Saturday. It was the Trojans’ first appearance in the polls since early last season. In the AP poll, Michigan remained a distant third with 1,000 points, and was followed by the same three teams as a week ago--Alabama with 992 points, Penn State with 938 and Nebraska with 924.

Washington, a 40-7 winner over Ohio State, vaulted from 17th to seventh and knocked the Buckeyes out of the rankings. Penn State, Nebraska and Washington each received one first-place vote. AP POLL

No. Team Record Pts 1. Oklahoma (55) 1-0-0 1,175 2. Miami (Fla.) (1) 3-0-0 1,099 3. Michigan 1-0-0 1,000 4. Alabama 3-0-0 992 5. Penn State (1) 1-0-0 938 6. Nebraska (1) 1-0-0 924 7. Washington (1) 1-0-0 751 8. LSU 1-0-0 747 9. Baylor 2-0-0 629 10. Auburn 1-0-0 615 11. BYU 2-0-0 441 12. Arkansas 1-0-0 402 13. Florida 1-1-0 396 14. Georgia 1-0-0 383 15. Florida State 1-1-0 298 16. Texas A&M; 0-1-0 218 17. Arizona 2-0-0 199 18. Arizona State 1-0-0 187 19. UCLA 0-1-0 169 20. Notre Dame 0-1-0 143

UPI POLL

No. Team Record Pts 1. Oklahoma (43) 1-0-0 725 2. Miami (Fla.) (3) 3-0-0 681 3. Michigan (1) 1-0-0 596 4. Alabama (1) 3-0-0 558 5. Nebraska 1-0-0 531 6. Penn State (2) 1-0-0 501 7. Washington 1-0-0 352 8. LSU 1-0-0 347 9. Baylor 2-0-0 239 10. Georgia 1-0-0 197 11. Auburn 1-0-0 184 12. Arkansas 1-0-0 158 13. BYU 2-0-0 146 14. Iowa 1-0-0 113 15. Arizona 2-0-0 111 16. Maryland 2-0-0 81 17. Arizona State 1-0-0 68 18. Florida State 1-1-0 67 19. Texas A&M; 0-1-0 56 20. USC 1-0-0 44