Edwards wins pole at Homestead, Stewart starts 15th

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11/19/2011 - Homestead, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carl Edwards gained a huge advantage over Tony Stewart in their battle for the Sprint Cup Series championship by winning the pole for Sunday's season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Tony Stewart qualified 15th with his lap at 173.332 mph. Stewart enters the season-finale just three points behind Edwards.

Edwards, who was the second-to-last driver to make his qualifying run in the 48-car field, posted a lap at 175.467 mph for his third pole of the season and the 10th of his Sprint Cup career. He also won the pole at this track in 2005.

With the pole victory, Edwards' No.99 team claimed the first pit selection, which could play in favor for Edwards during his pit stops.

"That's huge," Edwards said. "That's just one lap, but that's a great start for us. We were great in practice. My guys did a great job today. That's what it's about, being able to come here and perform the best we can and not leave anything on the table. This is a great Saturday for us."

Edwards is the defending race winner at Homestead.

In the Chase for the Sprint Cup era (2004-present), three eventual champions have won the pole at Homestead. Kurt Busch did it '04, and Jimmie Johnson did so in 2007 and '09.

Stewart is attempting to win his third championship in the series. He is also trying to become the first driver/owner to win the title since Alan Kulwicki accomplished the feat first in 1992.

"The qualifying deal isn't how a race is going to play out, so this is one lap of 400 miles that we've got to go," Stewart said. "I'm glad that we spent more time on race trim than qualifying trim. We'll see how it plays out."

Martin Truex Jr. earned the outside pole after turning a lap at 174.808 mph.

Kasey Kahne, who won last weekend at Phoenix, qualified third, while Kurt Busch and his Penske Racing teammate, Brad Keselowski, rounded out the top- five.

Matt Kenseth took the sixth spot, followed by Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin.

Scott Speed, Reed Sorenson, Mike Skinner, Scott Riggs and Grant Enfinger failed to qualify.

The 400-mile race at Homestead is scheduled to start just after 3:00 p.m. (et).

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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