The Associated Press

Bye-bye ‘Bama, hello Pac-10. And welcome back Mississippi State.

Alabama fell all the way out of The Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday while Pacific-10 teams UCLA, Washington and Southern California find themselves in the Top 10.

No. 25 Mississippi State, a 44-28 winner over BYU last Thursday night, moved into the rankings for the first time this season. The Bulldogs finished last season ranked 13th.

The Pac-10 ascent was led by UCLA, 23-20 winners over Michigan on Saturday. The Bruins (3-0), unranked in the preseason, jumped eight places to No. 6 after beating their second third-ranked team in three games. They also beat Alabama on Sept. 2.

Washington (3-0), a 17-14 winner at Colorado, moved up a spot to No. 8 and idle USC (2-0) also advanced a notch to No. 9. Not a bad start for a conference that finished the 1999 season with only one team – a No. 19 Oregon – ranked in the Top 25.

Alabama (1-2) took one of the more amazing journeys out of the poll. Ranked No. 3 in the preseason, the Crimson Tide dropped to No. 13 after its loss at UCLA. A win over to Vanderbilt saw ‘Bama drop to No. 15 and Saturday’s 21-0 loss to Southern Mississippi, now ranked at No. 22, knocked them out completely.

Last time something similar occurred was 1984, when Pittsburgh was No. 3 in the preseason, fell to No. 17 after opening with a loss and two polls later were out of the rankings.

Nebraska and Florida State were still 1-2 in balloting by the 71 sports writers and broadcasters on the AP panel. Florida (3-0), a 27-23 winner at Tennessee, moved up three places to No. 3.

The Cornhuskers (2-0), idle Saturday, had 43 first-place votes and 1,747 points, with the Seminoles (3-0) collecting 26 first-place votes and 1,723 points. Florida State beat North Carolina 63-14.