USC women end fall No. 1 in coaches' poll

By Ryan Herrington

Somebody's turkey is going to taste a little extra tender tomorrow.

In the final Golf World/WGCA women's coaches' polls, USC, Nova Southeastern and Methodist retain the top spots for Division I, II and III respectively.

The Trojans appealed to those who like quality over quantity, finishing no worse than third in all three of their fall starts and claiming the team title at the Stanford Intercollegiate to close out the fall.

The Sharks and Monarch had three wins in four starts, looking like the same dominant teams that claimed NCAA titles last fall.

Here's a look at all three polls.

Four different school earned first-place votes in the Division I poll with No. 2 Washington and No. 5 Oklahoma ranking higher than they ever have since the poll was resumed in 2001-02.

Arguably more historic, however, was the fact that two perennial powers were missing from the top 25. Auburn fell out of the poll for the first time ever, leaving only three schools now who have been ranked every week since the polls returned in 2001-02 (Duke, Georgia and USC). UCLA also was missing from the top 25 for only the second time ever, and the first since November 2001.

Eight schools that failed to be ranked in the Golf World/WGCA preseason poll were in the top 25 in the final fall poll: No. 2 Washington, No. 11 UC Davis, No. 13 Michigan State, No. 19 Stanford, No. 21 Notre Dame, No. 22 Texas Tech, No. 24 Northwestern and No. 25 Iowa State.