The Associated Press released its Top 25 college football poll on Tuesday, following a Week 1 full of thrilling action across the sport.
Georgia moved up one spot to No.2 in the poll after dominating preseason No.11 Oregon in a 49-3 thrashing on Saturday. It is a familiar spot in the poll for the defending national champion Georgia, who has been ranked No.1 or No.2 in 15 of the last 17 polls, with the other two weeks at No.3.
Oregon’s humbling loss sent them tumbling all the way out of the rankings. It is the first time Oregon has been unranked in a poll since the last regular-season AP Top 25 of 2020.
Alabama remained No.1 in the Top 25, receiving 44 of 63 first-place votes from the media panel and 1,552 points. Alabama crushed Utah State 55-0 in its opener.
Ohio State was the team leapfrogged by Georgia, as they now sit at No.3 in the AP Poll. In its opener, Ohio State defeated preseason No.5 Notre Dame 21-10.
Notre Dame dropped three spots to No.8 following the loss.
Michigan moved up four spots to No.4 after defeating Colorado State 51-7, while Clemson slid from No.4 to 5 after defeating Georgia Tech 41-10.
Rounding out the top 10 is Texas A&M at No.6, followed by Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Baylor, and Southern California (USC). USC is in the top 10 for the first time since the final regular-season poll of 2017, when they were ranked eighth.
Texas A&M stays in the No.6 spot after easily dispatching Sam Houston State 31-0 on Saturday behind 497 yards of total offense. Aggies wide receiver Ainias Smith had six receptions for 164 yards and two touchdowns for A&M.
Meanwhile, the Aggie defense was suffocating all game, allowing only 198 total yards of offense and 1-of-12 third down conversions.
Oklahoma moved up two spots to No.7 after a comfortable 45-13 win over UTEP in the first game for the Sooners with Brent Venables as the head coach. New starting quarterback Dillion Gabriel was efficient for Oklahoma, completing 15-of-23 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns.
Baylor moved up one spot to No.9 after crushing Division II foe Albany 69-10 on Saturday. Quarterback Blake Shapen was nearly flawless for the Bears, completing 17-of-20 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns.
Baylor will face a significant step up in competition this Saturday when the team travels to Provo, Utah, to take on No.21 BYU. It is a future conference rivalry as BYU will join Baylor in the Big 12 conference next summer.
Debuting in this week’s Top 25 are Florida and Tennessee, both from the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Florida goes from unranked in the preseason poll to No.12 after a thrilling victory at home against then-No.7 Utah on Saturday night. Utah slipped six spots to No.13 after the loss.
Florida will host No.20 Kentucky on Saturday in the first matchup with both rivals ranked since 2007.
Tennessee debuts at No.24 for its first AP ranking under second-year coach Josh Heupel after handily defeating Ball State 59-10. Tennessee will play at No.17 Pittsburgh this Saturday.
With the additions of Florida and Tennessee, the SEC has eight ranked teams, the most for a conference since the SEC had eight three times in 2020.
Just outside the rankings are the Texas Longhorns, who are listed as the third team in the “others receiving votes” category. Over the weekend, the Longhorns knocked off Louisiana-Monroe 52-10 in its home opener.
Texas will face a much more formidable opponent next, as they welcome No.1 Alabama to Austin this Saturday for a game with an 11 a.m. local kickoff.
Full AP Top 25 (First-Place Votes):
- Alabama (44), 1-0 Last week: 1
- Georgia (17), 1-0 Last week: 3
- Ohio State (2), 1-0 Last week: 2
- Michigan, 1-0 Last week: 8
- Clemson, 1-0 Last week: 4
- Texas A&M, 1-0 Last week: 6
- Oklahoma, 1-0 Last week: 9
- Notre Dame, 0-1 Last week: 5
- Baylor, 1-0 Last week: 10
- USC, 1-0 Last week: 14
- Oklahoma State, 1-0 Last week: 12
- Florida, 1-0 Last week: NR
- Utah, 0-1 Last week: 7
- Michigan State, 1-0 Last week: 15
- Miami, 1-0 Last week: 16
- Arkansas, 1-0 Last week: 19
- Pittsburgh, 1-0 Last week: 17
- NC State, 1-0 Last week: 13
- Wisconsin, 1-0 Last week: 18
- Kentucky, 1-0 Last week: 20
- BYU, 1-0 Last week: 25
- Mississippi, 1-0 Last week: 21
- Wake Forest, 1-0 Last week: 22
- Tennessee, 1-0 Last week: NR
- Houston, 1-0 Last week: 24
Others receiving votes: Oregon 131, Penn State 122, Texas 118, Cincinnati 63, Florida State 42, Fresno State 22, UCF 22, Minnesota 22, Kansas State 18, Auburn 15, Mississippi State 10, Air Force 8, Oregon State 5, North Carolina 3, South Carolina 2, Purdue 1, UCLA 1, Arizona 1.
