The Latest: 19 teams in the AP Top 25 take new spots
A month before the playoff matchups are set and things are unsettled: The latest AP Top 25 college football poll has 19 teams in new spots, including Texas at No. 10.
The Longhorns, ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll, jumped three spots to return to the top 10 just in time for an SEC showdown at No. 5 Georgia.
The top five — No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Indiana, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Georgia — were unchanged. No. 11 Oklahoma was the only other team that stayed put.
No. 6 Ole Miss swapped spots with No. 7 Oregon, while No. 8 Texas Tech and No. 9 Notre Dame both moved up.
Here's the latest:
Predicting the playoff based on this week’s Top 25
By ERIC OLSON
James Madison of the Sun Belt Conference would represent the Group of Five in the College Football Playoff on a bracket based on this week’s Top 25 rankings. Georgia Tech and Texas also would be among the 12 teams.
James Madison, at No. 24, is the highest-ranked G5 team in the AP poll. Memphis, which had been the highest-ranked, lost at home to Tulane on Friday and dropped off the bracket.
Georgia Tech was idle and returned to the bracket as the highest-ranked Atlantic Coast Conference team following Virginia’s home loss to Wake Forest. Texas moved up to No. 10 in the AP poll after BYU and Virginia lost.
The CFP committee will release its second rankings of the season Tuesday night.
The SEC’s biggest questions will be answered in Week 12
By MAURA CAREY
Week 12 is a pivotal one in the playoff race, especially in the SEC.
No. 10 Texas has revived its season with a four-game winning streak and heads to Athens to face Georgia, ranked No. 5 in both the AP Top 25 and the CFP rankings. The Longhorns likely need to win out to keep their playoff hopes intact.
Meanwhile, No. 11 Oklahoma heads to Tuscaloosa to take on No. 4 Alabama. It’s a must-win for Alabama to retain a top-four ranking and first-round bye. Georgia is on Alabama’s heels, ready to take over if the Crimson Tide stumbles.
Oklahoma needs the win to stay in the playoff conversation. As of now, the Sooners would be knocked out of the bracket by a Group of Five team entitled to an automatic bid.
Mizzou falls out of Top 25
Missouri struggled to get momentum rolling on offense without quarterback Beau Pribula on Saturday, falling 38-17 to an undefeated Texas A&M team.
Matt Zollers, the first true freshman quarterback to start for Missouri since Drew Lock, felt pressure all game long. By halftime, he had completed 3 of 11 passes for 31 yards, was sacked twice and fumbled once.
Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed looked sharp, completing 20 of 29 passes for 221 yards and hitting KC Concepcion and Ashton Bethel-Roman for touchdowns. Reed ran the ball five times for 29 yards.
Louisville and Virginia drop after a pair of ACC upsets
Louisville dropped from No. 14 to No. 19 after a 29-26 overtime loss to California.
Virginia fell from No. 12 to No. 20 after failing to find the end zone for four quarters in a 16-9 loss against Wake Forest.
Georgia Tech benefitted, moving up two spots to No. 14 despite being idle this week. The Yellow Jackets are now the highest ranked ACC team in the AP Top 25.
Miami also jumped over Louisville and Virginia, coming in at No. 16.
Hear from a voter: Thoughts on expanding the College Football Playoff?
I don’t have a problem with another expansion.
I’ve covered Division III football for many years, and the lower divisions have had a playoff system for decades. Why not make all the divisions consistent?
I would like to see all the Division I conferences receive an automatic bid, as is done in D-II and D-III. If conferences like the MAC have no path to the playoff, they should have a separate playoff.
David Jablonski is a sports reporter for the Dayton Daily News and has been an AP Top 25 college football voter for six years. You can follow him on X: @davidpjablonski.
Who benefits from losses by Louisville, Virginia and Missouri?
By MAURA CAREY
A handful of teams moved up two or three spots in this week’s rankings thanks to losses by Louisville and Virginia.
No. 13 Vanderbilt, No. 14 Georgia Tech, No. 15 Utah and No. 16 Miami each moved up two spots. No. 17 USC and No. 18 Michigan jumped three spots over Virginia, Louisville and Missouri, which lost 38-17 to Texas A&M on Saturday.
AP Top 25 temperature check
Heating up: Ole Miss (6), Texas Tech (8), Notre Dame (9), Texas (10), Vanderbilt (13), Georgia Tech (14), Utah (15), Miami (16), USC (17), Michigan (18), Tennessee (21), Cincinnati (22), Pitt (23), JMU (24), USF (25).
Cooling down: Oregon (7), BYU (12), Louisville (19), Virginia (20).
Steady: Ohio State (1), Indiana (2), Texas A&M (3), Alabama (4), Georgia (5), Oklahoma (11).
Ole Miss and Oregon swap spots
Ole Miss and Oregon swapped places in the poll this week.
Ole Miss improved to No. 6 after a 49-0 victory over Citadel. The Week 11 matchup offered a break from SEC action for the Rebels before their final two games against Florida and Mississippi State.
The Ducks just barely escaped Iowa with a win on Saturday, coming out on top 18-16 thanks to a 39-yard field goal in the final three seconds of the game. Oregon fell to No. 7 as a result.
Texas and Notre Dame benefit from Big 12 reshuffling
Texas Tech’s 29-7 win against BYU reshuffled the top 10 this week.
The Red Raiders moved from No. 9 to No. 8 as BYU dropped four spots to No. 12. The results paved the way for the Texas Longhorns to crack the top 10 for the first time since Week 5, coming in at No. 10.
Notre Dame moved up one spot to No. 9.
Hear from a voter: Does No. 1 Ohio State have any weaknesses?
By DAVID JABLONSKI
If we’re nitpicking Ohio State, its weakness is the run game.
It’s 10th in the Big Ten in rushing yards per game, but second in passing. I’m sure Ryan Day would like to be a bit more balanced.
Indiana might pose the biggest challenge to the Buckeyes. The Hoosiers look like a team of destiny after that victory against Penn State. On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine Indiana beating Ohio State because they haven’t done so since 1988.
USF, James Madison enter rankings in Group of Five CFP race
By MAURA CAREY
South Florida re-entered the rankings this week, coming in at No. 25 after a 55-23 win over UTSA on Thursday night.
USF has been in and out of the rankings this season and was unranked the past two weeks.
No. 24 James Madison cracked the AP Top 25 for the first time this season after a 35-23 win against Marshall. The Dukes are 8-1 and have a real shot at the Group of Five CFP spot given that Memphis lost over the weekend.
USF, Tulane and North Texas are other contenders.
AP Top 25 poll rankings
1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Ole Miss
7. Oregon
8. Texas Tech
9. Notre Dame
10. Texas
11. Oklahoma
12. BYU
13. Vanderbilt
14. Georgia Tech
15. Utah
16. Miami (Fla.)
17. USC
18. Michigan
19. Louisville
20. Virginia
21. Tennessee
22. Cincinnati
23. Pittsburgh
24. James Madison
25. South Florida
Inside a voter’s ballot: Ranking the American Conference
By DAVID JABLONSKI
There were tough calls at the bottom of my ballot, too.
The American Conference has two eight-win teams and three seven-win teams. I decided to rank South Florida, which has been dominant in conference play outside of a loss to Memphis, and Tulane, which won at Memphis on Friday.
Memphis might deserve to be ranked ahead of South Florida, except it has a loss to a 3-6 UAB. One-loss North Texas is another deserving team, but it lost 63-36 at home to South Florida.
Texas Tech hands BYU its first loss and takes the Big 12 lead
By MAURA CAREY
No. 9 Texas Tech improved to first place in the Big 12 after a 29-7 win against No. 8 BYU on Saturday.
Texas Tech kicker Stone Harrington led the team to the win with a school-record of five field goals. The Red Raiders’ defense held the Cougars scoreless until midway through the fourth quarter, when BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier found Chase Roberts in the end zone.
If both teams win out, they’ll meet again in the Big 12 Championship game, but BYU’s late November matchup against Cincinnati could be a challenge.
Inside a voter’s ballot: Ranking Notre Dame and Miami
By DAVID JABLONSKI
Another big question for me was what to do with Notre Dame and Miami. Miami beat Notre Dame in Week 1. They’re both 7-2.
I’ve kept Miami ahead of Notre Dame (unlike the College Football Playoff committee), but that has limited my ability to move Notre Dame up in the poll. With Virginia and Louisville losing this week, Miami and Notre Dame both rose on my ballot.
Hear from a voter: Will Texas Tech land in the top 5?
By DAVID JABLONSKI
I ranked Texas Tech seventh.
It’s having a great season but is just behind Georgia and Ole Miss in my poll. It will need those teams, or others, to stumble to move into the top five.
ACC front-runners lose in Week 11
By MAURA CAREY
No. 12 Virginia and No. 14 Louisville both lost in Week 11, improving an idle Georgia Tech team’s chances at the ACC Championship game.
Virginia lost 16-9 to Wake Forest on Saturday. Cavaliers’ quarterback Chandler Morris went down with an injury early in the game and Virginia failed to find the end zone under backup quarterback Daniel Kaelin.
Louisville fell 29-26 in an overtime thriller against California, marking the Cardinals’ second conference loss this season.
Who might rise and fall in this week’s poll
Stock up: Texas Tech, Miami, Notre Dame, USC, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt.
Stock down: BYU, Memphis, Missouri, Washington, Virginia, Louisville.
Knocking on the door
James Madison is chasing the Group of Five spot in the College Football Playoff, with this weekend’s 35-23 win against Marshall strengthening its resume.
The Dukes are on a seven-game winning streak and top the Sun Belt with a perfect 6-0 conference record. They’re 8-1 overall. The team’s only loss was early in the season against Louisville, which went on to crack the rankings.
Inside a voter’s ballot: Ranking the top 3
By DAVID JABLONSKI
It was a busy day in the top 25 with six teams losing, including one defeated team and some close calls involving top-10 teams.
Fortunately, my dog Fergus woke me up at 6 a.m., so I had plenty of time to analyze the results. I had to balance that with attending to my 7-year-old son’s needs. That’s the challenge every Sunday morning.
I moved Texas A&M up a spot on my ballot, past Indiana, to reward the Aggies for their victory against Missouri. Anyone putting Texas A&M at No. 1, ahead of Ohio State, wouldn’t be wrong.
Ohio State, Texas A&M and Indiana should all receive first-place votes this week. I like to mix it up with my poll, especially with the top spot, but I wasn’t ready to drop the Buckeyes.
Vanderbilt, Oregon and Indiana escape close ones
Indiana, Oregon and Vanderbilt narrowly avoided losses on Saturday.
The Hoosier’s Fernando Mendoza found Omar Cooper Jr. in the back of the end zone for a touchdown with 36 seconds remaining in the fourth against Penn State, turning a 26-24 deficit into a 27-24 lead. The Nittany Lions couldn’t answer and Indiana improved to 10-0.
Oregon’s 18-16 win against Iowa also came down to the final whistle. Iowa scored a touchdown to take a late one-point lead, but Oregon responded with a game-winning field goal in the final three seconds.
Vanderbilt allowed an Auburn touchdown and two-point conversion late in the fourth to force overtime, but Diego Pavia and Co. came out on top with a game-winning touchdown in OT.
Who votes in the poll, and how does it work?
No organization has been ranking teams and naming a major college football national champion longer than The Associated Press, since 1936.
AP employees don’t vote themselves, but they do choose the voters. AP Top 25 voters comprise around 60 writers and broadcasters who cover college football for AP members and other select outlets. The goal is to have every state with a Football Bowl Subdivision school represented by at least one voter.
There is a 1-to-25 point system, with a team voted No. 1 receiving 25 points down to 1 point for a 25th-place vote. After that, it’s simple: The poll lists the teams with the most points from 1 to 25, and others receiving votes are also noted.
Voting is done online, and the tabulation is automated.
