NEW YORK — After a season of chasing, USC is again the team being chased. That is exactly the way coach Pete Carroll and the Trojans like it. For the third time in the past four years, USC begins the season No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25. "It's exactly where we hope and expect to be," Carroll said. "It's a symbol of what we're all about." USC received 62 of 65 first-place votes and 1,622 points from a panel of media members to easily outdistance No. 2 Louisiana State in the poll released Saturday. The Tigers received two first-place votes and 1,511 points. They haven't started a season ranked so high since 1959, when they were preseason No. 1. No. 3 West Virginia received the other first-place vote. The Mountaineers have never been ranked higher in the preseason.
No. 4 Texas and Michigan round out the top five, and defending national champion Florida is sixth. In the USA Today coaches poll released earlier this month, USC and LSU were 1-2, ahead of, in order, Florida, Texas, Michigan and West Virginia. The Southeastern Conference leads the way with six ranked teams in the AP poll. The Big Ten and Big 12 are next with four each and the Pac-10 and Big East have three apiece. Pac-10 teams joining USC in the Top 25 are No. 12 California and No. 14 UCLA.
Unranked Washington opens its season Aug. 31 at Syracuse before playing four ranked teams in September — No. 24 Boise State (Sept. 8), No. 11 Ohio State (Sept. 15), at UCLA (Sept. 22) and USC (Sept. 29).
USC has been the country's top program since 2002, going 59-6 with two national titles and a near-miss. This season, the Trojans sound as if they expect to walk away from the BCS National Championship Game on Jan. 7 in New Orleans with the crystal football. "That's what we're here for. We're here to do it better than anybody has ever done it before," Carroll said. "That's the single thought."
Notes
• California fullback Will Ta'ufo'ou will miss from three to six weeks after spraining a knee ligament during a scrimmage Thursday.
| AP preseason Top 25 | |||
| First-place votes in parentheses. Total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote: | |||
| Team | 2006 | Pts | Pvs |
| 1. USC (62) | 11-2 | 1,622 | 4 |
| 2. Louisiana St. (2) | 11-2 | 1,511 | 3 |
| 3. West Virginia (1) | 11-2 | 1,396 | 10 |
| 4. Texas | 10-3 | 1,375 | 13 |
| 5. Michigan | 11-2 | 1,371 | 8 |
| 6. Florida | 13-1 | 1,276 | 1 |
| 7. Wisconsin | 12-1 | 1,192 | 7 |
| 8. Oklahoma | 11-3 | 1,166 | 11 |
| 9. Virginia Tech | 10-3 | 1,148 | 19 |
| 10. Louisville | 12-1 | 1,031 | 6 |
| 11. Ohio St. | 12-1 | 876 | 2 |
| 12. California | 10-3 | 790 | 14 |
| 13. Georgia | 9-4 | 782 | 23 |
| 14. UCLA | 7-6 | 605 | — |
| 15. Tennessee | 9-4 | 571 | 25 |
| 16. Rutgers | 11-2 | 560 | 12 |
| 17. Penn St. | 9-4 | 542 | — |
| 18. Auburn | 11-2 | 519 | 9 |
| 19. Florida St. | 7-6 | 392 | — |
| 20. Nebraska | 9-5 | 377 | — |
| 21. Arkansas | 10-4 | 376 | 15 |
| 22. Texas Christian | 11-2 | 283 | 22 |
| 23. Hawaii | 11-3 | 256 | — |
| 24. Boise St. | 13-0 | 187 | 5 |
| 25. Texas A&M | 9-4 | 162 | — |
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