Carolina climbs back into poll with solid win

Saturday's football game between Georgia and South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium will be between two nationally ranked teams.

That's because the Gamecocks, coming off a 49-15 season-opening victory over Coastal Carolina last week, moved into the first Associated Press poll of the regular season released on Tuesday at No. 24.

Georgia, the defending Southeastern Conference champion and national runner-up, held its preseason spot at No. 3. The Bulldogs defeated Austin Peay 45-0 in their season opener.

The teams play at 3:30 p.m. in a nationally televised game on CBS.

South Carolina is ranked for the first time under head coach Will Muschamp. The last time the Gamecocks were ranked was on Sept. 21, 2014.

USC also moved into the Amway Coaches Poll at No. 24 as well.

No. 11 LSU and No. 12 Virginia Tech made the biggest jumps in the poll while No. 4 Ohio State leapfrogged No. 5 Wisconsin after a week in which most off the top teams were unchallenged.

Alabama remained No. 1 with a blowout of Louisville, and No. 2 Clemson and Georgia held their spots. The Crimson Tide received 48 first-place votes, Clemson, which is No. 2 in the coaches poll, had 12 and Wisconsin had one. The Buckeyes are just four points ahead of the Badgers and only nine points ahead of No. 6 Oklahoma.

LSU, which was ranked No. 25 in the preseason, moved up 14 spots after beating Miami 33-17 in one of four games that matched ranked teams. The Hurricanes dropped from No. 8 to No. 22. Virginia Tech won 24-3 at Florida State and moved up eight spots.

The Seminoles fell out of the rankings after being 19th. Texas, which was No. 23 in the preseason poll, didn't receive any votes in the latest poll.

No. 4 Ohio State moved up a spot after scoring 77 points against Oregon State. Auburn jumped two spots to No. 7 after beating Washington.

The ninth-ranked Huskies dropped three places. No. 8 Notre Dame moved up four spots after beating Michigan, which fell from 14 to No. 21.

POLL POINTS

Alabama tied Ohio State for most appearances at No. 1 in the history of the AP college football poll, which started in 1936. Barring an historic upset, Alabama should break the record Sunday after playing Arkansas State on Saturday in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama - 105 weeks at No. 1

Ohio State - 105

Oklahoma - 101

Notre Dame - 98

Southern California - 91

Florida State - 72

Nebraska - 70

CONFERENCE CALL

Week 1 was good for the SEC, which went 13-1 including two victories against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents, one versus the Pac-12 and one against the Big 12. The SEC has seven teams ranked this week, the most for the conference since Oct. 16, 2016, when eight were ranked.

SEC - 7

Big Ten - 5

Pac-12 - 4

ACC - 3

Big 12 - 3

American - 1

Mountain West - 1

Independent - 1

MORE RANKED VS. RANKED

No. 17 Southern California at No. 10 Stanford. The Cardinal have been in control of this rivalry for most of the past decade, but the Trojans swept Stanford last season - including a victory in the Pac-12 championship game.