AP Top 25 college football poll: Tennessee joins the top 5, Michigan takes a big jump
Most college football teams are now one-third of the way through their regular season schedules and the view of what teams really are is coming into sharper focus.
Tennessee (4-0), barely a top 15 team in the preseason poll, moved into the top 5 in Sunday’s new Associated Press Top 25 poll after its 25-15 win at then-No. 15 Oklahoma on Saturday.
Reigning national champion Michigan, which tumbled out of the top five and nearly out of the poll after losing at home to Texas two weeks ago, moved up six spots to No. 12 beating then-No. 11 Southern California, 27-24, on Saturday.
Clemson (2-1), after a humbling 34-3 season-opening loss to then-No. 1 Georgia, continued to show it could still be the ACC’s best team with a rousing 59-35 win over outclassed N.C. State on Saturday. That moved the Tigers up four spots to No. 17 in the new poll.
Missouri (4-0), which won 30-27 in overtime against Vanderbilt on Saturday, tumbled four spots to No. 11. Utah (4-0) replaced the Tigers in the top 10, moving up two spots to No. 10 following its 22-19 win at Oklahoma State despite not having starting quarterback Cam Rising in the lineup.
That result caused Oklahoma State (3-1) to fall six places to No. 20.
Kansas State (3-1) suffered punishment after BYU routed the Wildcats, 38-7, late Saturday night. That loss sent Kansas State plummeting 10 spots to No. 23.
Meanwhile, No. 22 BYU (4-0) entered the top 25 for the first time this season.
Northern Illinois (2-1), No. 23 last week, fell out of the poll after it lost 23-20 in overtime at home to Buffalo (3-1). Nebraska, No. 22 when it lost 31-24 to No. 24 Illinois at home on Friday night, also disappeared from the rankings.
That left room for Boise State (2-1) to enter the poll at No. 25.
The ACC stayed with three ranked teams in No. 7 Miami, No. 15 Louisville and No. 17 Clemson. Three other ACC teams, Boston College (3-1), Pittsburgh (4-0) and SMU (3-1), received votes.
This week’s new Associated Press Top 25 poll
| Rank | Team |
| 1 | Texas |
| 2 | Georgia |
| 3 | Ohio State |
| 4 | Alabama |
| 5 | Tennessee |
| 6 | Mississippi |
| 7 | Miami |
| 8 | Oregon |
| 9 | Penn State |
| 10 | Utah |
| 11 | Missouri |
| 12 | Michigan |
| 13 | Southern Cal |
| 14 | LSU |
| 15 | Louisville |
| 16 | Notre Dame |
| 17 | Clemson |
| 18 | Iowa State |
| 19 | Illinois |
| 20 | Oklahoma State |
| 21 | Oklahoma |
| 22 | BYU |
| 23 | Kansas State |
| 24 | Texas A&M |
| 25 | Boise State |
This story will be updated when the new AP Top 25 poll is released at 2 p.m.
This story was originally published September 22, 2024 at 12:25 PM.