NEWS » Forbath in favor of Lutz this past week after the undrafte

It has been 15 years since Muffet McGraw and Notre Dame were No. 1 in the poll.The Irish hold the preseason top spot in The Associated Press womens basketball poll Tuesday, receiving 14 first-place votes from a 33-member national media panel. Notre Dame last held the No. 1 ranking on March 5, 2001. McGraw returns most of the core from a team that went 33-2 last season.She was happy for the compliment, but said she found the ranking a little high considering her team was coming off one of its most disappointing seasons in a few years.Id rather we earned it, McGraw said. Were coming off the worst season weve had in six years; it seems odd that were preseason No. 1.McGraw has had very good teams over the last 15 seasons that never reached the top spot. There always seemed to be someone just a little bit better.Other teams have had good teams too. Connecticut has had some pretty good teams in there, McGraw said. There was a year when yeah maybe, Stanford beat Connecticut, but then South Carolina went to No. 1.Baylor was a close second, four points behind the Irish. The Lady Bears garnered 12 first place votes.UConn, which has won 75 consecutive games and four straight national championships, was third. South Carolina and Louisville round out the top five teams.Maryland, Ohio State, Texas, UCLA and Mississippi State are next.Tennessee, which saw its run of 565 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 end last season, is back in at No. 13. The Lady Vols have been in every one of the preseason polls except for the first one. They are one of four teams to not be ranked in the final poll, who are in the Top 25 now.National runner-up Syracuse was 14th while Final Four participants Washington and Oregon State were 17th and 25th.The SEC leads the way with six teams in the top 25. The Pac-12 and ACC each have five. UConn and 21st-ranked DePaul are the only two schools from non-Power 5 conferences to be ranked.The first regular-season poll will be Nov. 14 with two big games that night. Baylor hosts UCLA while UConn visits Florida State.Here are a few other poll tidbits:ITS BEEN A WHILE: Missouri is ranked in the preseason for the first time since 1984. The Tigers reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in a decade and return star Sophia Cunningham. Unfortunately they already lost second-leading scorer and top rebounder Jordan Frericks and reserve Bri Porter for the season with knee injuries.MISSING TRIANGLE: Duke is not ranked in the preseason for the first time since 1994-95. The Blue Devils arent the only member of Tobacco Road absent from the poll. North Carolina and NC State both are unranked, marking only the second time in the 41-year history of the poll that none of the three are in the preseason rankings. It also happened in 1986.HIGH HOOSIER HOPES: Indiana is ranked for only the third time in the programs history. The No. 23 Hoosiers matched a school record with 21 victories in 2015-16 and won the teams first NCAA tournament game. Indiana is led by junior Tyra Buss, who averaged 18.8 points last season.Football Jerseys Outlet . LOUIS -- Lance Lynn was one of the more enthusiastic participants as the St. Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap . 9. Price, heading to the 2014 Olympics for Canada, was named the First Star after posting wins in three starts with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .971 save percentage. http://www.cheapnfljerseyswholesale.com/ .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals. Stitched Jerseys Wholesale . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Cheap Authentic Jerseys . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from.NEW ORLEANS -- For Oakland coach Jack Del Rio, calling for a do-or-die, 2-point conversion was less a gamble than a philosophical declaration.Del Rio had no interest in a conservative point-after kick, and let his offense know it well before the decision had to be made. So when Derek Carr hit Seth Roberts for a 10-yard touchdown to cut New Orleans lead to a single point with 47 seconds left, kicker Sebastian Janikowski stood far from the action, helmet at his side, watching as Carr delivered a decisive fade pass to Michael Crabtree for a 35-34, season opening victory Sunday.Everyone knew about our strategy, said Del Rio, now in his second season with Oakland. I didnt really ask for any feedback there. I said, `When we score here, we are going to go for 2 and win it right here.His Raiders had already demonstrated considerable resolve just to get to that point.Oakland had to overcome a 14-point, second-half deficit and a 424-yard, four-touchdown performance by Drew Brees.The belief and trust that coach has in us gives us so much confidence, Carr said.Brees called the late 2-point try gutsy, but not surprising.Youll see that from time to time. You feel like you have the momentum, and lets dial it up and lets win the game, Brees said. I could see us doing that.FURIOUS FINISH: After the Raiders took their late lead, they still had to sweat out rookie kicker Wil Lutzs last-second field goal attempt from 61 yards, which narrowly missed wide left as the Superdome crowd briefly erupted before realizing the kick was no good.I thought it was good off my foot, Lutz said. The ball moved on me.Jalen Richard ran 75 yards for a touchdown on his first NFL carry and Amari Cooper caught Carrs pass for a 2-point conversion to briefly tie the game at 27 in the middle of the fourth quarter.But Brees marched New Orleans for another score, highlighted by a 57-yard completion that receiver Willie Snead fumbled and rookie wideout Michael Thomas recovered and advanced to the Oakland 2. That set up Travaris Cadets short touchdown catch, giving New Orleans a 34-27 lead.New Orleans nearly held on, but Saints linebacker Craig Robertson was flagged for interference on a fourth-down pass that sailed out of bounds.Im not going to start the season off complaining about the officials. We have to play better, Saints coach Sean Payton said. That was just one play.BIG NUMBERS: Brees eclipsed 400 yards passing for the 14th time in his career, tying Peyton Manning for the most ssuch performances in NFL history.dddddddddddd. Snead finished with nine catches for 172 yards, including fourth-down, 1-yard TD catch in the first half.Carr finished with 319 yards and one touchdown passing against a Saints defense coached by his former Raiders head coach, Dennis Allen. The Raiders rushed for 167 yards, including touchdown runs of 6 yards by Latavius Murray and 2 yards by Jamize Olawale.RECORD TD: Brees touchdowns included a franchise-record 98-yarder to Brandin Cooks, who beat Sean Smith in single coverage and raced away from free safety Reggie Nelson. It was a career-long passing play for Brees as well.Brandin got a great release, I threw it up to him and he did the rest, Brees said. He looked like Usain Bolt running down the sideline there.Previously, Billy Joe Hobert and Eddie Kennison owned the Saints longest scoring play -- a 90-yard connection against Atlanta on Oct. 10, 1999. The Saints previous longest play from scrimmage was as 96-yard passing play from Billy Kilmer to Walter Roberts on Nov. 19, 1967, the franchises inaugural season.COOPED UP: Cooper, familiar to fans in the Gulf South from his college days at Alabama, elicited cheers of, Cooop! from an audible contingent of Raiders fans in the Superdome with a couple receptions for long gains. He finished with six catches for 137 yards.CAREER KICKOFF: Lutz made two of four field goal attempts -- missing twice from 50 or more yards -- in his NFL debut. Payton made the surprising move of cutting veteran incumbent kicker Kai Forbath in favor of Lutz this past week after the undrafted rookie out of Georgia State had been waived by Baltimore. Lutz hit his first field goal from 42 yards. He also handled kickoffs and hit a 20-yard field goal that was tipped.I like this guy a lot, Payton said of Lutz. Hes going to be kicking long after I am coaching here. Hes really talented. There are obviously going to be some bumps along the way.INJURIES: Raiders right tackle Menelik Watson left the game late in the first half with what team officials said was a groin pull. Saints starting cornerback Delvin Breaux left the game with an undisclosed lower left leg injury. He was replaced by undrafted rookie Ken Crawley, who was covering Crabtree on the decisive 2-point play.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '