Georgia’s emphatic, 30-15, victory at No. 1 Texas on Saturday night will change the order at the top of the Associated Press Top poll when the newest version is published Sunday.
The No. 5 Bulldogs might even pick up some first-place votes, But it’s clear that No. 2 Oregon will move up to the top spot since the Ducks remained unbeaten with a 35-0 win at Purdue on Friday night.
Oregon (7-0), No. 3 Penn State (6-0), No. 6 Miami (7-0) and No. 9 Iowa State (7-0) are the lone remaining unbeaten teams that were ranked among the top 10 last week.
While Texas shouldn’t drop from the top 10 after losing to Georgia, Oregon and Penn State figure to jump past the Longhorns. Will Ohio State or Georgia be No. 3? Georgia now has the more impressive win on its resume, while Ohio State’s lone loss (32-31 at Oregon) is slightly more forgiving than Georgia’s 41-34 setback at Alabama last month.
Miami might, and probably should, enter the top five but it depends how far voters drop Texas.
With No. 7 Alabama (5-2) moving down after its loss to Tennessee on Saturday, the No. 11 Vols should move back into the top 10 while Iowa State, No. 8 LSU and No. 9 Clemson all move up a slot at least.
As for the rest of the poll, the only team likely to drop out will be No 24 Michigan (4-3), which lost 21-7 at No. 22 Illinois.
Perhaps Vanderbilt (5-2), which was off this weekend, will move into the rankings. The Commodores were the top team among teams that received votes but didn’t make the top 25 last week. Nebraska was next on that list, but after No. 16 Indiana routed the Huskers, 56-7, Nebraska will certainly fall off any ballots it was on last week.
Speaking of Indiana (7-0), the Hoosiers could jump past No. 15 Boise State (5-1) or even No. 14 Texas A&M (6-1) based on its manhandling of Nebraska.
The ACC will continue to have four teams ranked, with Miami and Clemson remaining in the top 10 and No. 20 Pittsburgh and No. 21 SMU (6-1) lower in the poll. Pitt was idle while SMU rolled over Stanford, 40-10.
Last week, for the first time since 1960, No. 23 Army and No. 25 Navy found themselves ranked in the same poll for the first time. Both posted impressive wins on Saturday, with Army routing East Carolina, 45-28, and Navy blowing out Charlotte, 51-17, so they’ll be ranked even higher in the new poll.
Last week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll
Rank |
Team |
1 |
Texas |
2 |
Oregon |
3 |
Penn State |
4 |
Ohio State |
5 |
Georgia |
6 |
Miami |
7 |
Alabama |
8 |
LSU |
9 |
Iowa State |
10 |
Clemson |
11 |
Tennessee |
12 |
Notre Dame |
13 |
BYU |
14 |
Texas A&M |
15 |
Boise State |
16 |
Indiana |
17 |
Kansas State |
18 |
Mississippi |
19 |
Missouri |
20 |
Pittsburgh |
21 |
SMU |
22 |
Illinois |
23 |
Army |
24 |
Michigan |
25 |
Navy |
This article will be updated when the new poll is announced Sunday afternoon.