Florida State continues hold on No. 1 in 2019 USA Today/NFCA DI Top 25 Coaches Poll
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Florida State cruised to six more wins to maintain the No. 1 ranking in this week’s USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Seminoles (17-0) captured 28 first-place votes and 794 points.
After knocking off South Alabama, 4-1, in a mid-week matchup, FSU scored at least 13 runs over the course of five run-rule wins over Elon, Lipscomb and Samford, marking the first time it has scored 10-plus runs in five consecutive games. The Seminoles extended their winning streak to 23 games and with the 13-1 triumph on Feb. 24, head coach Lonni Alameda collected her 500thwin as the FSU skipper.
Florida State is joined by No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Alabama and No. 16 Indiana as the remaining undefeated teams in the top-25 as the top eight remained the same. No. 9 Texas joins the top-10 for the first time since the 2014 preseason poll.
The Bruins (14-0), who received the four other first-place votes, went 5-0 at the Mary Nutter Classic with wins over No. 4 Oklahoma (7-1), then-RV Missouri (11-3), then-RV Nebraska (9-1), then-No. 16 Kentucky (12-4) and Colorado State (3-0).
The Gators (18-0) posted seven wins last week. Following a 5-0 road win at Jacksonville, Florida marched through the competition at the Bubly Invitational. The hosts also blanked Illinois State (7-0), Florida A&M (4-0) and Syracuse (8-0) and went on to defeat that trio again by a 25-5 margin.
No. 4 Oklahoma left Cathedral City with a 4-1 mark. The Sooners (13-2) topped then-No. 14 Arizona (2-1), BYU (5-0), Cal State Fullerton (9-1) and UC Santa Barbara (8-0) with their only setback coming at the hands of the No. 2 Bruins.
No. 5 Washington enjoyed an undefeated weekend at the Nutter, but it didn’t come easily. All six of the Huskies’ (14-1) wins were by three runs or less. UW topped Cal Poly (4-2), then-No. 16 Kentucky (4-2), Cal State Fullerton (1-0), then-RV Missouri (6-3), RV Northwestern (3-1) and new-No. 18 Texas Tech (4-1).
The Crimson Tide (15-0) knocked off then-No. 24 Minnesota twice (1-0 / 7-2), Missouri State twice (11-1 / 7-5) and Louisiana Monroe (5-1) at their annual Easton Bama Bash.
No. 7 Tennessee (11-2) picked up three home wins over Kansas (9-0), Virginia (11-1) and Bradley (8-0) in a weather-shortened weekend. No. 8 Georgia (14-1) recorded four shutouts as it went 5-0 hosting the Georgia Classic.
The Longhorns (12-1) entered the top-10 after sweeping the Texas Invitational. Texas knocked off then-RV Ole Miss (3-2 / 7-0), Sam Houston State (9-1) and Tulsa (9-1 / 2-0). The Longhorns last appearance during
LSU dropped a spot to No. 10. The Tigers (13-3) rebounded from a home loss to Stanford (5-7) with wins in the final four games of the LSU Invitational. LSU defeated RV Michigan twice (2-0 / 2-1), Memphis (4-0) and CSUN (8-0).
Oregon State (12-2) joins the poll this week at No. 25, taking over the spot held by Illinois (10-3).
The 2019 USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches, one representing each conference. The records reflect games played through Feb. 24, 2019.
2019 USA Today / NFCA Division I
Top 25 Coaches Poll – February 26 (Week 3)
Rank
School
Totals
2019
Record
Prev. Ranking
1
Florida State (28)
794
17-0
1
2
UCLA (4)
771
14-0
2
3
Florida
732
18-0
3
4
Oklahoma
689
13-2
4
5
Washington
681
14-1
5
6
Alabama
648
15-0
6
7
Tennessee
582
11-2
7
8
Georgia
568
14-1
8
9
Texas
528
12-1
11
10
LSU
501
13-3
9
11
Louisiana
449
14-2
10
12
Arizona
417
9-5
14
13
South Carolina
374
11-2
15
14
Arkansas
367
12-3
12
15
Arizona State
348
12-4
13
16
Indiana
308
14-0
19
17
Kentucky
267
9-7
16
18
Texas Tech
238
13-1
23
19
James Madison
223
5-2
18
20
Oregon
179
11-4
17
21
Oklahoma State
170
10-5
20
22
Auburn
145
13-3
22
23
Minnesota
84
7-5
24
24
Baylor
75
9-7
21
25
Oregon State
65
12-2
RV
New to Poll: No. 25 Oregon State.
Dropped Out: No. 25 Illinois (10-3).
Receiving Votes: Illinois (49), Northwestern (41), Mississippi State (24), Wisconsin (14), Ohio State (13), Boise State (12), Texas A&M (11), Stanford (10), Drake (9), Louisiana Tech (5), Notre Dame (4), Michigan (2), Southern Illinois (2), North Texas (1).
The 2019 USA Today / NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches with one representing each of the NCAA’s Division I Conferences. Record reflect games played through Feb. 24, 2019.