AP Top 25 college football new poll: Oregon unanimous No. 1; Shake up below the Ducks
The Associated Press Top 25’s upper echelon was destined to change this week with two top-five teams playing one another.
The top spot remained solid, as Oregon (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) received all 62 first-place votes to become the unanimous No. 1 team with Georgia (7-1, 5-1 SEC) still at No. 2
But outside of Ohio State beating Penn State, few could have foreseen the carnage that would occur below them. That’s where five teams ranked in last week’s poll — No. 10 Texas A&M, co-No. 11s Clemson and Iowa State, No. 17 Kansas State and No. 24 Illinois — all lost to unranked teams.
In addition, No. 20 SMU knocked No. 18 Pittsburgh from the unbeaten ranks with a 48-25 pounding.
Cue the changes.
With Penn State (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten) falling three spots to No. 6, Ohio State (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten) moved up to No. 3
Miami (9-0, 5-0 ACC) moved up a spot to No. 4 after it came from behind to beat Duke, 53-31.
Texas (7-1, 3-1 SEC) moved up a spot to No. 5, ahead of Penn State, with Tennessee (7-1, 4-1 SEC) staying put at No. 7.
The real chaos came after that.
South Carolina brought Texas A&M (7-2, 5-1 SEC) back to earth, whipping the Aggies, 44-20, to end the seven-game winning streak that had propelled them into the top 10. Clemson saw its six-game winning streak halted when Louisville won 33-21 at Death Valley.
After opening the season with seven consecutive wins, Iowa State (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) lost 23-22 to Texas Tech at home.
None of those upsets losses cost those teams their top-25 rankings, but they did cause them to fall and gave Indiana (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) a clear path to finally join the top 10. The Hoosiers moved up five spots to No. 8 after taking care of business by hammering Michigan State, 47-10, on Saturday.
BYU (8-0) is now No. 9 while Notre Dame (7-1) fell two spots to No. 10 while idle.
SMU (8-1, 5-0 ACC) jumped seven spots to No. 13 after an impressive win over Pitt (7-1, 3-1 ACC).
In their first season in the league, the Mustangs are in position to make it to the ACC championship game and face Miami for a College Football Playoff berth. They zoomed past Clemson, which fell eight spots to No. 19, in the poll. Pitt fell five spots to No. 23 after suffering its first loss.
The upset that opened a spot in the rankings was Illinois losing 25-17 at home to Minnesota. That’s two losses in a row for the Illini (6-3, 3-3 Big Ten) so voters dropped them from the poll. Missouri (6-2), which was No. 25 last week, also fell out of the poll while idle.
Vanderbilt (6-3, 3-2 SEC), after receiving the most votes of any team that didn’t make the top 25 last week, jumped back in the rankings this week at No. 24. Voters rewarded Louisville (6-3, 4-2 ACC) for its win over Clemson, placing the Cardinals at No. 25 this week.
This week’s AP Top 25 poll
| Rank | Team |
| 1 | Oregon |
| 2 | Georgia |
| 3 | Ohio State |
| 4 | Miami |
| 5 | Texas |
| 6 | Penn State |
| 7 | Tennessee |
| 8 | Indiana |
| 9 | BYU |
| 10 | Notre Dame |
| 11 | Alabama |
| 12 | Boise State |
| 13 | SMU |
| 14 | LSU |
| 15 | Texas A&M |
| 16 | Mississippi |
| 17 | Iowa State |
| 18 | Army |
| 19 | Clemson |
| 20 | Washington State |
| 21 | Colorado |
| 22 | Kansas State |
| 23 | Pittsburgh |
| 24 | Vanderbilt |
| 25 | Louisville |
This story was originally published November 3, 2024 at 9:35 AM.