Tag: Associated Press Top 25

Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin (10) hands the ball off to Ohio State Buckeyes running back James Peoples (20) in the first half at Ohio Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio.

Ohio State moves to No. 1, rest of Top 25 in chaos in poll

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Ohio State’s season-opening victory over Texas sent the Buckeyes to No. 1 and the Longhorns plummeting in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, released Tuesday.

Ranked No. 3 in the preseason poll, Ohio State received 55 of the 66 first-place votes. Texas, No. 1 last week, fell to No. 7.

Losses by Clemson, Notre Dame and Alabama jostled the rest of the Top 10. Only Penn State held its spot at No. 2, earning seven first-place votes after its 46-11 defeat of Nevada.

LSU climbed six spots to No. 3 after its 17-10 win over Clemson, which dropped four places to No. 8. Miami won 27-24 against Notre Dame to move from No. 10 to No. 5, while the Irish fell three rungs to No. 9.

And Alabama, which entered its game against Florida State at No. 8, plunged to No. 21 after the Seminoles’ convincing 31-17 upset win.

Florida State, unranked last week, entered the poll at No. 14, and No. 25 Utah also joined. Dropping out were Kansas State and Boise State.

The full top 10 consists of Ohio State, followed by Penn State, LSU, Georgia. Miami, Oregon, Texas, Clemson, Notre Dame and South Carolina, which rose three slots after defeating Virginia Tech 24-11.

The remaining teams are:
11. Illinois
12. Arizona State
13. Florida
14. Florida State
15. Michigan
16. Iowa State
17. SMU
18. Oklahoma
19. Texas A&M
20. Ole Miss
21. Alabama
22. Tennessee
23. Indiana
24. Texas Tech
25. Utah

–Field Level Media

Dec 3, 2022; Atlanta, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs players react after defeating the LSU Tigers in the SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Georgia a nearly unanimous No. 1 in AP Top 25

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Georgia was the No. 1 team in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll of the regular season released Sunday.

The Bulldogs (13-0) received 62 of the 63 first-place votes and lead the poll for the ninth straight week and 12th time this season.

No. 2 Michigan (13-0) received the other first-place vote, with TCU (12-1), Ohio State (12-1) and Alabama (10-2) rounding out the top five.

Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and TCU were also the top four teams in the final College Football Playoff rankings released Sunday.

The Bulldogs and Buckeyes will meet in the Dec. 31 Peach Bowl at Atlanta, while the Wolverines and Horned Frogs will play the same day in the Fiesta Bowl at Glendale, Ariz.

Tennessee (10-2), Pac-12 champion Utah (10-3), Southern California (11-2), Penn State (10-2) and ACC champion Clemson (11-2) make up the rest of the AP top 10.

Big 12 champion Kansas State (10-3) moved up two spots to No. 11.

Tulane (11-2) climbed to No. 14, a season high, after winning the American Athletic Conference.

Sun Belt champion Troy (11-2) made its debut in the poll at No. 23.

–Field Level Media

Nov 26, 2022; Columbus, OH, USA; Michigan Wolverines defensive back Mike Sainristil (0) celebrates after knocking the ball away from Ohio State Buckeyes tight end Cade Stover (8) on a play in the end zone in the fourth quarter of their game at Ohio Stadium. Osu22um Kwr 55

Michigan up to No. 2 behind Georgia in AP Top 25

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Michigan rose to No. 2 and Southern California cracked the top four in Sunday’s Associated Press Top 25 poll after big rivalry wins.

Georgia held on to the No. 1 spot for the eighth straight week and the 11th time this season, earning 58 of the 63 first-place votes.

The Wolverines got the other five votes following a 45-23 win Saturday at Ohio State, with the Buckeyes slipping three spots to No. 5.

No. 3 TCU and No. 4 USC both moved up one slot, staking out their spots ahead of the College Football Playoff rankings to be released on Tuesday.

The Horned Frogs hammered Iowa State 62-14, while the Trojans earned a 38-27 triumph over Notre Dame.

Following Ohio State, the rest of the Top 10 features Alabama, Tennessee, Penn State, Washington and Clemson.

LSU and Oregon each fell five places to Nos. 11 and 15, respectively. The Fighting Irish and North Carolina tumbled six spots each to Nos. 19 and 24, respectively.

No. 23 UTSA joined the Top 25 for the first time this season and No. 20 South Carolina and No. 25 Mississippi State both rejoined the poll.

Ole Miss, Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina dropped out of the rankings.

–Field Level Media

Nov 19, 2022; Pasadena, California, USA; Southern California Trojans running back Darwin Barlow (22) celebrates his touchdown scored against the UCLA Bruins with offensive lineman Bobby Haskins (70) during the second half at the Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

USC lands in Top 5 of AP poll; Georgia, Ohio State still 1-2

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Welcome back to the club, Southern California.

The Trojans reached No. 5 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll, released Sunday, marking their first appearance in the Top 5 since hitting No. 4 in September 2017. They jumped two spots after an epic 48-45 victory over crosstown rival UCLA on Saturday night.

The top four remained unchanged, with Georgia receiving 62 of 63 first-place votes to stay atop the poll. No. 2 Ohio State earned the other first-place vote and was followed by Michigan and TCU. All four programs are 11-0, but Michigan and TCU both needed last-minute field goals to stay undefeated.

Following USC were LSU, Clemson, Alabama, Tennessee and Oregon to round out the Top 10.

Tennessee dropped four spots after Saturday’s stunning 63-38 loss to South Carolina, in which the Gamecocks scored the most points by an unranked team against a Top 5 team in the history of the poll, according to the Associated Press.

The Volunteers weren’t alone with their precipitous fall.

With losses Saturday, UCF plunged eight spots to No. 25. Ole Miss slipped six spots to No. 20 and North Carolina fell five places to 18.

The week’s big climbers were Notre Dame, up five slots to No. 13, as well as two teams that rose four spots — Kansas State (No. 15) and Florida State (No. 16).

Out of the poll this week was Oklahoma State, replaced by Big 12 rival Texas at No. 24.

–Field Level Media

Oct 15, 2022; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines cheerleader celebrates after a touchdown in the second half against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Georgia No. 1 in AP Top 25 for ninth week; top 5 unchanged

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The top five teams in the Associated Press Top 25 poll remained unchanged from last week, with Georgia still a dominant No. 1 choice.

The Bulldogs received 62 of 63 votes in the latest poll released Sunday, with No. 2 Ohio State garnering the only other first-place vote. Defending champion Georgia sits atop the poll for the ninth time this season.

The four top teams — No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 TCU — all moved to 10-0 with victories on Saturday. No. 5 Tennessee is 9-1, its only loss to Georgia.

Rounding out the Top 10 are LSU, Southern California, Alabama, Clemson and Utah.

TCU squeaked out a 17-10 win at Texas, while Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan and Tennessee won their conference games by a combined margin of 201-60.

Pac-12 programs Oregon and UCLA, both in the Top 10 last week, plummeted following losses on Saturday. The Ducks fell six spots to No. 12 and the Bruins dropped seven places to No. 16 following upsets.

Washington, ranked No. 24 last week, climbed nine spots after its 37-34 defeat of Oregon.

Moving back into the Top 25 were No. 22 Cincinnati, No. 24 Oklahoma State and No. 25 Oregon State. Making its season debut on the list is No. 23 Coastal Carolina (9-1) following its 26-23 win over Southern Miss.

Dropping out of the poll were NC State, Texas, Liberty and Illinois.

The updated College Football Playoff rankings will be unveiled Tuesday night. Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan and TCU were the top four in last week’s rankings.

–Field Level Media

Purdue Boilermakers players celebrate during a NCAA Big Ten Conference football game Iowa, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa.211016 Purdue Iowa Fb 050 Jpg

Georgia stays No. 1, Purdue enters Top 25 after 14 years

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Georgia stayed atop the Associated Press Top 25 poll and No. 2 Iowa plummeted out of the Top 10 in the latest poll, released Sunday.

Georgia (7-0) received all 63 first-place votes following its 30-13 win over No. 11 Kentucky. Iowa, with its surprising 24-7 loss to Purdue, fell nine places to No. 11 in a topsy-turvy week that saw five teams tumble out of the Top 25.

Cincinnati (6-0) moved to No. 2 for the first time in program history, followed by Oklahoma (7-0), Alabama (6-1) and Ohio State (5-1).

Rounding out the Top 10 were Michigan (6-0), Penn State (5-1), Oklahoma State (6-0), Michigan State (7-0) and Oregon (5-1).

Besides Iowa and Kentucky, which slipped to No. 15, five other teams that entered the weekend ranked also lost: Arkansas, Arizona State, BYU, Florida and Texas.

All five fell out of the top 25. Just three weeks ago, Arkansas and Florida were in the top 10, and BYU was there two weeks ago.

Replacing them were No. 19 Auburn (5-2), No. 20 Baylor (6-1), No. 23 Pitt (5-1), No 24 UTSA (7-0) and No. 25 Purdue (4-2).

This marks UTSA’s first-ever appearance in the poll. Purdue last showed up on the list on Sept. 30, 2007, the longest stretch without a Top 25 appearance among Power Five teams. That distinction now belongs to Kansas, which was last ranked in 2009.

–Field Level Media

Jan 11, 2021; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Mac Jones (10) celebrates with the CFP National Championship trophy after beating the Ohio State Buckeyes in the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship Game. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Alabama finishes atop AP Top 25 poll for 11th time

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Alabama was the unanimous No. 1 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll of the season after its 52-24 drubbing of Ohio State in the College Football Playoff championship game Monday night.

The Crimson Tide (13-0) were followed by the Buckeyes (7-1), with Clemson (10-2), Texas A&M (9-1) and Notre Dame (10-2) rounding out the top five.

Alabama now has finished in the No. 1 spot 11 times in its storied history. The Crimson Tide have won six of the past 12 national championships.

After the game, Alabama quarterback Mac Jones said his team deserves the highest accolades.

“We set this as a goal, to potentially be the greatest team to ever play,” Jones said. “I think we made a valid statement in winning the national championship tonight.”

The rest of the top 10 was led by Oklahoma (9-2), followed by Georgia (8-2), Cincinnati (9-1), Iowa State (9-3) and Northwestern (7-2).

The Southeastern Conference wound up with three of the top seven teams in the nation — Alabama, Texas A&M and Georgia. The No. 4 spot was the highest final ranking for the Aggies since 1939.

The SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference each had four teams in the Top 25.

Cincinnati led the group of eight non-Power Five conference teams to make the Top 25, followed by independent BYU (No. 11), Coastal Carolina (No. 14) and Louisiana (No. 15) of the Sun Belt Conference, independent Liberty (No. 17), Mid-American Conference schools Ball State (No. 23) and Buffalo (No. 25), and No. 24 San Jose State of the Mountain West Conference.

–Field Level Media

Oct 3, 2020; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; LSU Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron before the game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Defending champion LSU falls out of Top 25

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Clemson, Alabama and Georgia held on to the top three spots in the Associated Press Top 25 while defending national champion LSU fell out of the poll for the first time since 2017.

Clemson (4-0) received 59 of the 62 first-place ballots after a 42-17 win against Miami (Fla.). Alabama (3-0) got two votes and Georgia (3-0) received one, with the No. 2 Crimson Tide set to host the No. 3 Bulldogs this Saturday.

Notre Dame (3-0) climbed one spot to No. 4 and North Carolina (3-0) moved up three places to round out the top five.

LSU, ranked No. 17 in last week’s poll, fell to 1-2 with a 45-41 loss against previously winless Missouri. The Tigers had been ranked in 43 consecutive polls. This is the first time in nine years a defending champ has dropped out of the rankings.

No. 6 Ohio State, which plays its first game on Oct. 24, is followed in the top 10 by Oklahoma State (3-0), Cincinnati (3-0), Penn State (0-0) and Florida (2-1).

The Gators fell six spots after a 41-38 loss to Texas A&M (2-1), who jumped from 21st to 11th — the biggest climb in this week’s poll.

The Hurricanes (3-1) also plummeted six places to No. 13 after the loss to Clemson.

Texas (2-2) also dropped out of the Top 25 following a 53-45, four-overtime loss against Oklahoma.

No. 22 Kansas State (3-1) is ranked for the first time this season, and the Pac-12’s Southern California (0-0) joined the poll at No. 25.

–Field Level Media

Oct 3, 2020; Clemson, SC, USA; Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) throws during the second quarter of the game with Virginia on Saturday, October 3, 2020 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C. Mandatory Credit: Ken Ruinard-USA TODAY NETWORK

Clemson, Alabama still 1-2; Oklahoma out of Top 25

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Clemson and Alabama retained the top two spots in the Associated Press Top 25 while Oklahoma and four other teams dropped out of the poll released Sunday.

Clemson (3-0) received 52 first-place votes and Alabama (2-0) got eight. No. 3 Georgia (2-0) switched places with No. 4 Florida (2-0) and Notre Dame (2-0) held steady at No. 5.

No. 6 Ohio State (0-0) earned two first-place votes. Miami (3-0) moved up one spot to No. 7, North Carolina (2-0) climbed four places to No. 8. No. 9 Penn State (0-0) rose one rung and No. 10 Oklahoma State (3-0) jumped seven spots after a 47-7 win at Kansas.

Other big movers included No. 14 Tennessee (2-0) and No. 15 BYU (3-0), who also climbed seven spots.

No. 13 Auburn (1-1) fell six spots after Saturday’s 27-6 loss to Georgia. No. 21 Texas A&M (1-1) dropped eight places after its 52-24 defeat at Alabama. No. 22 Texas (2-1) plummeted 13 spots after a 33-31 setback at home against TCU.

Oklahoma (1-2) tumbled all the way from No. 18 to out of the poll after a 37-30 loss at Iowa State. It’s the first time since September 2016 that the Sooners haven’t been ranked.

Also falling out of the poll were UCF, Mississippi State, Pittsburgh and Memphis.

No. 18 SMU, the only 4-0 team in the country, joined the poll, along with No. 19 Virginia Tech (2-0), No. 23 Louisiana (3-0), No. 24 Iowa State (2-1) and No. 25 Minnesota (0-0).

–Field Level Media

Sep 19, 2020; Clemson, SC, USA; Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence(16) and other players walk off the field after warmups before their game against The Citadel on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2020. Mandatory Credit: Ken Ruinard/Greenville News-USA TODAY NETWORK

Ohio State rejoins Top 25 at No. 6, LSU falls to No. 20

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Clemson and Alabama retained the top two spots in the Associated Press Top 25 as Big Ten and Pac-12 schools rejoined the poll released on Sunday.

The top-ranked Tigers (2-0) received 55 of 62 first-place votes, with three votes going to the No. 2 Crimson Tide (1-0) and four to No. 6 Ohio State (0-0).

No. 3 Florida (1-0) moved up two spots, No. 4 Georgia (1-0) held steady and No. 5 Notre Dame (2-0) also climbed two positions.

After the Buckeyes, the rest of the top 10 features Auburn (1-0), Miami (Fla.) (3-0), Texas (2-0) and Penn State (0-0).

Also rejoining the poll were No. 14 Oregon (0-0), the only Pac-12 team in the Top 25, and two more from the Big Ten: No. 19 Wisconsin (0-0) and No. 23 Michigan (0-0).

Mike Leach and No. 16 Mississippi State (1-0) joined the poll after Saturday’s 44-34 win against LSU. The defending national champion Tigers (0-1) plummeted from No. 6 to No. 20.

The week’s biggest drop, however, belonged to No. 18 Oklahoma (1-1), which fell 15 spots after a 38-35 loss to Kansas State.

Six schools fell out of the Top 25: Marshall, Louisville, Army, Louisiana, Virginia Tech and Kentucky.

–Field Level Media