Johnson, Chiefs run all over Raiders

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12/24/2006 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Larry Johnson ran for 135 yards and scored a touchdown to lead the Kansas City Chiefs over the Oakland Raiders, 20-9, at McAfee Coliseum.

Trent Green ended 12-of-24 for 148 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Chiefs (8-7), who ended a three-game slide and kept their slim playoff hopes alive.

Justin Fargas ran for 90 yards and Andrew Walter threw for 226 yards for Oakland (2-13), which has lost eight straight games in a single season for the first time in 34 years. Walter, however, also threw two picks and committed four turnovers, as the Raiders' horrid season continues.

The last time the Raiders dropped eight straight in a single season was in 1962 when the club lost 12 in a row to end that year 1-12. Oakland also went winless in the division for a second straight year with this setback. The Raiders' last win against an AFC West foe was on November 28, 2004 at San Diego.

The Raiders started out strong, scoring in the first quarter when Sebastian Janikowski capped a 57-yard, nine-play drive with a 25-yard field goal.

That, however, was the only time the Raiders would lead in the game as Kansas City took its ensuing possession in for a score. Green ended an 11-play, 60- yard march with a six-yard pass to Eddie Kennison for a 7-3 lead. The key play of the drive was a 4th-and-eight 24-yard completion from Green to Samie Parker. The Chiefs also converted a pair of third downs on the drive, including the touchdown play.

Lawrence Tynes later increased the Chiefs' lead to 10-3 when he converted a 29-yard field goal. The possession started after Walter lost a fumble at the Oakland 48-yard line.

The Raiders cut the deficit to 10-6 early in the second quarter when Janikowski nailed a 37-yard field goal, but that would be as close as Oakland would get the rest of the way.

Later in the quarter, after Walter lost his second fumble of the contest, Johnson ended a short five-play drive with a one-yard TD run for a 17-6 halftime advantage. The score came with just 40 seconds left in the stanza.

The second half went by with very little excitement. Janikowski kicked a 53- yard field goal at the 8:49 mark of the third quarter and Tynes answered with a 28-yarder with 1:20 gone in the fourth.

Ronald Curry had 106 yards on 11 catches for the Raiders.

Game Notes

Oakland's troubled wide receiver tandem of Randy Moss and Jerry Porter were both inactive...Raiders QB Aaron Brooks missed the game with a stinger...Johnson has scored the Chiefs' last 30 rushing TDs, an NFL record...Kennison ended with the one catch. He also had a rush for five yards...Tony Gonzalez remains one TD catch shy of tying Shannon Sharpe (62) for the all-time lead for a tight end. Gonzalez finished with a team leading 67 yards on five catches..The Chiefs ended with four sacks.

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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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