Auburn edges Alabama to remain No. 1 in AP poll

Auburn barely edged out rival Alabama to remain No. 1 and Florida jumped three places to give the Southeastern Conference the top three spots in the Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday. Auburn (21-2) earned 34 first-place votes to remain ahead of Alabama (20-3), which received 23 first-place votes. The Gators (20-3), who beat Auburn last week, climbed to No. 3 behind three first-place votes. Duke (20-3) and Tennessee (20-4) round out the top 5. Houston (19-4), Purdue (19-5), Texas A&M (18-5), St. John's (21-3) and Iowa State (18-5) comprise the remainder of the top 10. Arizona (17-6) was the week's big jumper, moving up seven spots to No. 13, while No. 18 Marquette (18-6) and No. 25 Maryland (18-6) both dropped seven spots. Clemson (No. 23) returned to the poll after upsetting Duke, and Creighton (No. 24) is back after two wins last week, including a victory over Marquette. Illinois and UConn fell out of the poll. The rest of the Top 25: 11. Michigan State (19-4) 12. Texas Tech (18-5) 13. Arizona (17-6) 14. Memphis (20-4) 15. Kentucky (16-7) 16. Wisconsin (19-5) 17. Kansas (16-7) 18. Marquette (18-6) 19. Ole Miss (18-6) 20. Michigan (18-5) 21. Missouri (17-6) 22. Mississippi State (17-6) 23. Clemson (19-5) 24. Creighton (18-6) 25. Maryland (18-6) --Field Level Media