With the school year starting fresh, who's No. 1?

By Andy Gray

School is back, and so are the All-Sports Rankings. While USC may have lost Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and more, the Trojans are back in the top spot not only because of their No. 3-ranked football squad, but the women's soccer (No. 17) and volleyball  (No. 10) teams as well as men's water polo (No. 2). Notre Dame came in second, followed by UCLA, Penn State and Santa Clara.

After throwing three touchdown against Arkansas on Saturday, John David Booty is picking up where Matt Leinart left off. Nelson Chenault/US Presswire

These rankings are calculated by taking the Top 25 in all winter sports except for cross country (as of press time, there were still no fall rankings) and awarding points based on the standings (a No. 1 ranking gets 25 points, a No. 25 gets one point, etc.). We give a little more weight to football (No. 1 gets 37.5 points; No. 25 gets 1.5 ) and come up with our final tally.

1. USC (82.2 points) - The questions surrounding the Trojans with new quarterback John David Booty were answered by his 24-of-36, 260-yard, three-touchdown performance against Arkansas in USC's 50-14 victory. "I thought he handled himself beautifully," coach Pete Carroll said after the game. "He got us off to a terrific start."  The Trojans have now won 46 of their last 48 games and will host Nebraska a week from Saturday.

2. Notre Dame (77.5) - Junior forward Amanda Cinalli and senior midfielder Jill Krivacek received Big East Conference offensive and defensive player-of-the-week honors respectively after leading the top-ranked Fighting Irish women's soccer team over No. 17 USC (2-0) and No. 3 Santa Clara (3-1). Cinalli picked up three goals in the victories and Krivacek added one. The Irish hit the road this week for matchups against Texas Christian on Friday and SMU on Sunday. 

3. UCLA (69) - Senior middle blocker Nana Meriwether racked up awards last week as the No. 3 women's volleyball team picked up wins against Colorado, then-No. 5 Florida and then-No. 7 Hawaii to win the Hawaiian Airlines Classic. Merriweather was named Pac-10 Volleyball and Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week honors. The Bruins head to Denver for the Pioneer Classic this weekend.

4. Penn State (66.5) - Nana Merriwether wasn't the only player on the women's volleyball circuit who turned some heads. Sophomore outside hitter Nicole Fawcett was named the Big Ten Player of the Week for the fourth time in her career after averaging 4.89 kills per game on .500 hitting through the weekend's nine games. The Nittany Lions face No. 13 Missouri on Thursday and No. 8 Texas on Friday.

5. Santa Clara (65) - The No. 12  men's soccer team captured the UC Irvine College Classic title with a pair of wins over Northwestern and Niagara University last weekend. Freshman Jeff Cosgriff netted two goals and was named tournament MVP. Senior Erik Ustruck recorded two assists in Monday's 4-1 win over Niagara. For the third time in the last four seasons, the Broncos (3-0-1) are unbeaten through their first four games. They host the University of St. Louis on Friday night.