AP Top 25 college football, new poll: How did voters break logjam of two-loss SEC teams?
The easy part for Associated Press Top 25 football poll voters on Sunday was slotting the first five teams, since none of them lost Saturday.
The challenging part for the panel came shortly after that, when it came time to assign positions to the five two-loss SEC teams.
Georgia’s 31-17 win over Tennessee on Saturday night created that logjam, and Alabama was the winner.
While Notre Dame (9-1) moved up to No. 6, the No. 7 Crimson Tide (8-2, 4-2 SEC) jumped in front of a pack of league rivals that includes No. 8 Georgia (8-2, 5-2 SEC), No. 9 Mississippi (8-2, 4-2 SEC) and No. 10 Tennessee (8-2, 5-2 SEC).
That alignment came despite Tennessee having a win over Alabama and Ole Miss having defeated Georgia this season. Alabama benefited from its head-to-head win over Georgia, as did the Bulldogs for their win over Tennessee on Saturday.
Next, we’ll see what the College Football Playoff committee thinks when it releases its next rankings this week.
The top five of the AP poll remained intact with Oregon (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten) the unanimous No. 1, followed by Ohio State (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten), Texas (9-1, 5-1 SEC), Penn State (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten) and Indiana (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten).
BYU (9-1, 6-1 Big 12) suffered its first loss, a 17-13 setback at home to Kansas (4-6, 3-4 Big 12), such an unsightly loss the Cougars fell seven spots to No. 14.
Interestingly, No. 13 SMU (9-1, 6-0 ACC) moved up a spot, and past BYU, despite its lone loss this season being an 18-15 decision at home to BYU on Sept. 9.
The bottom of the AP poll saw significant changes after four teams ranked No. 15 or lower lost to unranked teams.
Washington State (8-2) lost 38-35 to New Mexico and fell six spots to barely stay in the poll at No. 25.
Kansas State (7-3, 4-3 Big 12), a 24-14 loser to Arizona State, LSU (6-4, 3-3 SEC), which lost 27-16 to Florida and Louisville (6-4, 4-3 ACC), which suffered a 38-35 loss at Stanford, all fell out of the poll.
South Carolina’s 34-30 win over Missouri knocked the Tigers (7-3, 3-3 SEC) from the poll while the No. 19 Gamecocks jumped four spots.
No. 21 Arizona State (8-2, 5-2 Big 12), after its impressive road win at Kansas State, joined the poll.
Iowa State (8-2, 5-2), which had fallen all the way from the top 10 to out of the rankings after suffering consecutive losses, returned to the rankings at No. 22 after ending its losing streak by beating Cincinnati, 34-17, on Saturday.
Others jumping into the poll this week are No. 23 UNLV (8-2, 4-1 Mountain West) and No. 24 Illinois (7-3, 4-3 Big Ten).
With Louisville and Pitt (7-3, 3-3) having fallen from the poll in recent weeks, the ACC is only represented by No. 11 Miami, No 13 SMU and No. 17 Clemson. Other ACC teams receiving votes are Syracuse (7-3, 4-3 ACC), Louisville, Pitt and Duke (7-3, 3-3 ACC)
This week’s AP Top 25 poll
| Rank | Team |
| 1 | Oregon |
| 2 | Ohio State |
| 3 | Texas |
| 4 | Penn State |
| 5 | Indiana |
| 6 | Notre Dame |
| 7 | Alabama |
| 8 | Georgia |
| 9 | Mississippi |
| 10 | Tennessee |
| 11 | Miami |
| 12 | Boise State |
| 13 | SMU |
| 14 | BYU |
| 15 | Texas A&M |
| 16 | Colorado |
| 17 | Clemson |
| 18 | Army |
| 19 | South Carolina |
| 20 | Tulane |
| 21 | Arizona State |
| 22 | Iowa State |
| 23 | UNLV |
| 24 | Illinois |
| 25 | Washington State |
This story was originally published November 17, 2024 at 10:44 AM.