Kansas Football Moves To Third In BCS Poll

Nov. 11, 2007

LAWRENCE, Kan. — A nationally-televised 43-28 win at Oklahoma State on Saturday, coupled with a loss by former number-one Ohio State, helped the Kansas football team move up in all four of the nation’s major polls on Sunday.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

Kansas, 10-0 overall and 6-0 in the Big 12, moved up to third place in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings and up to fourth in the Associated Press, USA Today and Harris Interactive polls.

In the BCS poll, KU has a 0.9094 average behind number one LSU (0.9802) and second-place <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Oregon (0.9383). Oklahoma is fourth at 0.8540 and Missouri fifth at 0.8096.

“We have been able to win 10 games to this point because our team stays focused on the task at hand,” said Kansas head coach Mark Mangino. “Any rankings are a by-product of playing well week to week. Our primary task is to continue to focus on the opponent coming up and we will be more interested in the rankings at the end of the season.”

Not only have the Jayhawks moved up in the polls, but Kansas received first-place votes in the three polls which use voters. KU received eight first-place votes in the Harris, seven in the USA Today and one in the AP polls.

The last time Kansas received first-place votes in the AP poll was Nov. 4, 1968, when the Jayhawks received 10 first-place votes and were ranked third in the nation behind USC and OhioState.

Kansas’ highest ranking in history was third in the AP poll for three weeks during the 1968 season.

Kansas, which remains as one of only two undefeated teams at the Football Bowl Series (FBS) level with 9-0 Hawai’i, is listed behind LSU, Oregon and Oklahoma in all of the listings.

KU will host IowaState on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in a game that will be televised nationally on ABC.