Skip to main content

FSU finishes No. 1 after starting season outside of the top 10

The top six teams in both major polls were the same Tuesday morning when the 2013 season's final top 25s were released.

Unbeaten Florida State won the national title Monday night, and the Seminoles are followed in both The Associated Press and coaches' polls by Auburn, Michigan State, South Carolina, Missouri and Oklahoma.

The rest of the AP top 10 included Alabama seventh, Clemson eighth, Oregon ninth and UCF 10th. The rest of the coaches' top 10 included Clemson seventh, Alabama eighth, Oregon ninth and Ohio State and three-loss Stanford tied for 10th. UCF was 12th in the coaches' poll, and Stanford and Ohio State were 11th and 12th, respectively, in the AP poll.

Florida State was 11th in the preseason AP poll and 12th in the preseason coaches' poll.

The top five was the same in both preseason polls: Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, Stanford and Georgia. Georgia was unranked in both final polls. Florida was 10th in both preseason polls but finished 4-8 and unranked.

Auburn, Michigan State, Missouri and UCF were unraked in both preseason polls. Auburn, Missouri and UCF received zero votes in the AP poll; Auburn and Mizzou also received no votes in the coaches' poll while UCF got two.

The rest of the final AP poll: Baylor was 13th, followed by LSU, Louisville, UCLA, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, USC, Notre Dame, Arizona State, Wisconsin, Duke, Vanderbilt and Washington.

The rest of the final coaches' poll: Baylor was 13th, followed by LSU, Louisville, UCLA, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, USC, Arizona State, Wisconsin, Duke, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame and Nebraska.

Michigan State's final No. 3 ranking is the Spartans' highest since 1966, when they finished second, and it's just the school's third top-10 finish since '66. It's the first time since 1962 that Duke has been ranked in a final poll. It's the second season in a row but just the third time in school history Vanderbilt has been ranked in a season-ending poll. And this is the second time UCF has finished in the top 25.

Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.