Louisville surged to No. 3 in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday, matching the best ranking in school history, and Ohio State moved up to No. 2 behind Alabama.
The Crimson Tide received 50 first-place votes after coming from 21 points down to win 48-43 at Mississippi on Saturday. The Buckeyes moved up one spot after an emphatic 45-24 victory at Oklahoma.
No team made a bigger move than Louisville, which jumped seven spots and received six-first place votes after Lamar Jackson and the Cardinals beat Florida State 63-20. The Seminoles slid 11 spots to No. 13.
The Cardinals were No. 3 on Nov. 5, 2006, during Coach Bobby Petrino's first stint with Louisville.
North Dakota State didn't make the rankings, but received 74 points after upsetting Iowa -- the most points ever for a Football Championship Subdivision team. Iowa dropped out. The Bison, the five-time-defending FCS national champion, set a record for most AP poll points received by a team from Division I football's second tier. Ten FCS teams have received votes in the poll since 2007, after Appalachian State's victory against Michigan prompted the AP to declare that voters could include teams playing in what was once called I-AA.
North Dakota State, which is 5-0 against Power Five teams since 2010, received votes during each season from 2010-14.
Irish 'D' problems
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly is getting frustrated at explaining why his defense is struggling so mightily.
The Irish defense has missed far too many tackles in losses at Texas and at home against Michigan State, giving up more than 239 yards rushing and 500 yards total offense in each and a combined 86 points in those two games. The Spartans averaged 6.4 yards a play in a 36-28 victory Saturday night.
Kelly, who after the loss to Texas said critics of his defensive staff needed to "tap the brakes and relax," took a more urgent tone Saturday night after another disappointing defensive performance.
The Irish (1-2) had a chance to get the ball back twice in the final two minutes but gave up big plays on third down. The Irish rank 102nd in the nation in total defense, giving up 439.3 yards a game, 99th in rush defense and 103rd in pass efficiency defense. The Irish, who fell out of the AP poll , still don't have a sack this season.
Kelly said Sunday he and his staff have to do a better job of teaching and communicating and find ways to develop players more efficiently. He said he has confidence in defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder and his scheme. He said someone on his staff with access to his Twitter account had inadvertently liked a tweet that said it was time for him to shake up his staff because "Clearly it's not working #FireVangorder."
Gators going to Appleby
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida quarterback Austin Appleby has starting experience, even in hostile environments.
More valuable for the fifth-year senior: His defense leads the nation in points (4.7), yards (129.7) and sacks (16). So the 19th-ranked Gators might not need Appleby to do too much at No. 14 Tennessee on Saturday.
Nonetheless, Coach Jim McElwain insisted the game plan won't change without Luke Del Rio, who injured his left knee in a 32-0 victory against North Texas on Saturday night and likely won't play against the Volunteers.
"All our guys have good arms," McElwain said. "We'll stretch the field ... We're not going to change as far as throwing the ball down the field."
Appleby played in 17 games, with 11 starts, in four years at Purdue. He threw for 2,777 yards, with 19 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. He also ran for nine scores.
Although Appleby has done this before, including a start at Nebraska in 2014, he'll have to handle sold-out Neyland Stadium (102,455) on Saturday. It will be loud, obnoxious and arguably the most difficult place for anyone to make their first SEC start.
Sports on 09/19/2016