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11/12/2011 - Avondale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aric Almirola claimed the pole for Saturday's Wypall 200 Nationwide Series race after beating Carl Edwards by the slimmest of margins in qualifying at Phoenix International Raceway.
Almirola, who was the second-to-last driver to make a qualifying run in the 47-car field, turned a lap at 132.910 mph around the newly paved and reconfigured one-mile track. He edged Edwards by only 0.001 seconds for his fifth career Nationwide pole but his first since July 2007 at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.
Edwards has the most Nationwide race wins at Phoenix, including a victory one year ago.
Trevor Bayne, Edwards' teammate at Roush Fenway Racing, qualified third. Bayne won his first race in the series last Saturday at Texas.
Clint Bowyer took the fourth spot, followed by Sam Hornish Jr. and Elliott Sadler.
Justin Allgaier, Ryan Truex, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski completed the top-10.
Points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified 11th. Stenhouse holds a 17-point lead over Sadler heading into the penultimate race of the season. They are the only two drivers who remain in championship contention.
Jennifer Jo Cobb, Carl Long, Josh Wise and Daryl Harr failed to qualify.
The 200-mile race at Phoenix is scheduled to start just after at 3:30 p.m. (et).
<< Ducks' Visnovsky out with broken finger
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anaheim Ducks defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky is
expected to miss four weeks of action with a broken finger on his right hand.
Visnovsky suffered the injury during Friday's 4-3 victory over the Canucks. No
surge
<< Panthers QB Newton has sore shoulder, is probable
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Panthers added quarterback Cam
Newton to their injury report Saturday, but listed him as probable for
Sunday's game against Tennessee with a sore throwing shoulder.
Newton was not liste
<< Blue Hose battle Blue Devils, as Coack K eyes milestone
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Krzyzewski sets his sights on Bob Knight,
as the sixth-ranked Duke Blue Devils welcome the Presbyterian Blue Hose to
Durham for non-conference action at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
It is a quick turnaround for
<< Giants add Manningham to injury report
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants have added wide
receiver Mario Manningham to the injury report for Sunday's game against the
49ers.
Manningham is listed as questionable with a knee injury. He practiced in fu
Wisconsin routs Kennesaw State >>
Madison, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Gasser and Ben Brust each had 14 points as
No. 15 Wisconsin rolled to an 85-31 win over Kennesaw State.
Ryan Evans added 13 points and six rebounds while Jordan Taylor had 11 points
and seven assists for
Weeden throws 5 TD passses as Cowboys roll over Red Raiders >>
Lubbock, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Weeden completed 31-of-37 passes for
423 yards and five touchdowns, as the second-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys
stayed perfect with a 66-6 rout of the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
Joseph Randle carri
Mired in scandal, Penn State falls to Nebraska >>
University Park, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In the midst of everything, a game.
What began Saturday with dozens of players from both teams kneeling in silent
prayer at midfield, ended with Penn State losing on a luminous afternoon that
was sun
Clemson secures ACC's Atlantic Division title on late FG >>
Clemson, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chandler Catanzaro missed a field goal with
1:18 remaining, but redeemed himself by making the game-winning field goal as
time expired to give the ninth-ranked Clemson Tigers a 31-28 victory over the
Wake Fo
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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