No.7 TCU remains the only unbeaten team in the Big 12 (8-0) after a 41-31 road win over West Virginia.
The Horned Frogs lead three Big 12 teams in the Associated Press Top 25 and have separated themselves from the rest of the conference after No.18 Oklahoma State (No.9 last week) was throttled 48-0 by No.14 Kansas State.
The 48-0 result is the largest-ever shutout victory by a lower-ranked team against an opponent in the AP top 10 at the time and gives Kansas State sole possession of second place in the Big 12.
TCU has already defeated Kansas State, giving the Horned Frogs a high probability of making the Big 12 championship game.
Outside the Big 12, Tennessee added a few more first-place votes to move into a tie with Ohio State for No.2. On Saturday, Tennessee routed Kentucky 44-6, and Ohio State won 44-31 at No.16 Penn State.
Tennessee’s move to No.2 sets up a monumental matchup this Saturday with the defending champions, No.1 Georgia. It will be the 25th all-time regular-season game matching the top two teams in the AP poll and the third straight involving Southeastern Conference (SEC) teams.
Georgia is No.1 for the fourth straight week, receiving 30 first-place votes and 1,528 points. Tennessee received 18 first-place votes and 1,500 points to match Ohio State, which received 15 first-place votes.
The last time there was a tie at No.2 in the AP poll was November 14, 2004, between Auburn and Oklahoma behind No.1 USC.
Tennessee, which started the season unranked, has not been ranked this high since it was No.2 in 2001, a season it finished fourth in the final AP poll.
No.4 Michigan, No.5 Clemson, No.6 Alabama, and No.8 Oregon, join No.7 TCU in keeping their same spots in the top 8 from last week. USC moved up a spot to ninth, and UCLA moved up two places to ten, giving the Pac-12 three teams in the top 10 for the first time since November 2016.
Ole Miss moved four spots to No.11 after rebounding from a deflating loss at LSU, defeating Texas A&M 31-28 on the road on Saturday.
Ole Miss rushed for 390 yards, including 134 yards in the first quarter, the most rushing yards Texas A&M had allowed since allowing 393 yards against Texas in 2003.
Freshman running back Quinshon Judkins led Ole Miss with 205 yards on the ground on his 19th birthday.
For the Aggies, freshman Connor Weigman started at quarterback and went 28-of-44 for 338 yards and four touchdowns. A&M (3-5, 1-4), which began the season at No.6, has now lost four straight games, the school’s longest losing streak since losing four straight at the end of the 2005 season.
Ole Miss will have a bye week before playing host to No.6 Alabama. The Crimson Tide will play another Top 25 team this Saturday in one of three ranked vs. ranked matchups set for this weekend, including No.1 Georgia vs. No.2 Tennessee.
No.6 Alabama will go on the road to face No.15 LSU this Saturday in the first ranked meeting between the two teams since 2019 when No.1 LSU defeated No.2 Alabama on the road.
That was the last meeting between the top two teams in the AP poll before this Saturday’s Georgia-Tennesee meeting. In 2011, LSU and Alabama played another matchup of the top two teams, with No.1 LSU winning in overtime.
The two SEC West rivals played again in the 2011 national championship game, with the Tide winning the rematch and finishing No.1.
The third matchup of ranked teams will be No.20 Wake Forest going on the road against No.21 NC State, marking the second consecutive season both programs are ranked heading into their rivalry matchup.
Three teams are making their season debut in this week’s poll. No.23 Liberty University is ranked for the first time since 2020, when they were ranked for eight consecutive weeks and peaked at No.17 in the season’s final poll.
No.24 Oregon State becomes the latest Power Five conference school to snap a long absence from the AP poll. Oregon State had not been ranked since they were No.25 in the 2013 preseason poll.
They have not been ranked in the regular season since 2012, when they finished 20th. Earlier this season, Kansas broke a 13-year rankings drought, the longest among Power Five conference teams.
Then, Illinois broke the next longest dry spell, moving into the rankings for the first time since 2011. Illinois remains strong in the AP Top 25 this week at No.14.
No.25 UCF is ranked for the first time since September 27, 2020, after defeating then-No.20 Cincinnati 25-21 to knock them out of the rankings.
Along with Cincinnati, SEC East rivals Kentucky and South Carolina dropped out of the poll after both suffered their third loss of the season. South Carolina is out after just one week in the top 25, while Kentucky is unranked for the first time this season.
Full AP Top 25:
1. Georgia (30), 8-0 Last Week: 1
T2. Ohio State (15), 8-0 Last Week: 2
T2. Tennessee (18) 8-0 Last Week: 3
4. Michigan 8-0 Last Week: 4
5. Clemson 8-0 Last Week: 5
6. Alabama, 7-1 Last Week: 6
7. TCU 8-0 Last Week: 7
8. Oregon 7-1 Last Week: 8
9. USC 7-1 Last Week: 10
10. UCLA 7-1 Last Week: 12
11. Ole Miss 8-1 Last Week: 15
12. Utah 6-2 Last Week: 14
13. Kansas State 6-2 Last Week: 22
14. Illinois 7-1 Last Week: 17
15. LSU 6-2 Last Week: 18
16. Penn State 6-2 Last Week: 14
17. North Carolina 7-1 Last Week 21
18. Oklahoma State 6-2 Last Week: 9
19. Tulane 7-1 Last Week: 23
20. Wake Forest 6-2 Last Week: 10
21. NC State 6-2 Last Week: 24
22. Syracuse 6-2 Last Week: 16
23. Liberty 7-1 Last Week: NR
24. Oregon State 6-2 Last Week: NR
25. UCF 6-2 Last Week: NR
Others receiving votes: Texas 58, Kentucky 57, Maryland 36, Cincinnati 32, Notre Dame 24, Washington 12, Arkansas 11, Baylor 9, Coastal Carolina 8, Florida State 8, Troy 7, Mississippi State 5, Boise State 4, East Carolina 2, South Carolina 2, Louisville 1, UTSA 1
