Massive Shakeup in AP Top 25 Rankings: Ohio State Stands Tall as 24 Teams Shift Positions

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The Associated Press Top 25 rankings underwent a dramatic transformation this Sunday following a turbulent weekend where nine of the ranked college football teams suffered defeats, including four from the top ten tier. This shake-up marks the most significant turnover the poll has seen since 2022.

Amidst the changes, Ohio State stood firm, retaining its No. 1 position for the eighth consecutive week.

Indiana climbed to No. 2, marking the highest ranking in the program’s history. Texas A&M also made strides, moving up to No. 3, achieving their best position since 1995. Meanwhile, Alabama surged to No. 4, marking their highest rank this season, while Georgia reclaimed its place in the top five after a three-week hiatus.

Further down the list, noteworthy movements included Vanderbilt breaking into the top 10 at No. 10 for the first time since 1947. Georgia Tech, now at No. 7, reached its highest ranking since 2009 after a victory at Duke, a position it hasn’t held in the top 10 since 2014.

Stay tuned for live updates from The Associated Press, featuring game recaps, detailed ranking analyses, and responses to fan inquiries, all conveniently compiled in one location.

Here’s the latest:

Who’s in? Who’s out?

USC, Memphis, Utah and Nebraska fell out of the rankings after Week 8 losses. All four teams were vulnerable as newer additions to the Top 25 ranked in the bottom half of the poll.

Louisville entered the rankings at No. 19 after upsetting Miami on Friday night. No. 23 Illinois, No. 24 Arizona State and No. 25 Michigan each returned to the AP Top 25.

Conference breakdown

The SEC tops the leaderboard for another week with 10 teams in the rankings: Texas A&M (3), Alabama (4), Georgia (5), Ole Miss (8), Vanderbilt (10), Oklahoma (13), Missouri (15), Tennessee (17), LSU (20), Texas (22).

The Big Ten ranks second with five teams landing in the AP Top 25, including the top two teams: Ohio State (1) and Indiana (2). Then there’s Oregon (6), Illinois (23) and Michigan (25).

The ACC and Big 12 each have four teams. For the ACC, it’s Georgia Tech (7), Miami (9), Virginia (16) and Louisville (19). From the Big 12, it’s BYU (11), Texas Tech (14), Cincinnati (21) and Arizona State (24).

The University of South Florida (18) is the sole ranked team from the American Conference. Notre Dame (12) is independent.

Indiana replaces Miami at No. 2

Miami has been dethroned after back-to-back weeks at No. 2. The Hurricanes’ loss to Louisville cleared the path for Indiana, which improved to 7-0 on Saturday with a 38-13 win against Michigan State.

It was Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s fourth time this season with at least four passing touchdowns, strengthening his campaign for the Heisman.

This week’s No. 2 is the highest in program history for the Hoosiers.

Georgia rounds out the top five

Georgia returned to the top five after a 43-35 win against Ole Miss, which ranked No. 5 at the time.

It’s the Bulldogs first time landing in the top five since a late September loss to Alabama. Weeks later, Georgia ranks just one spot below the Crimson Tide.

The Bulldogs have become known for resilience and second-half comebacks. Gunner Stockton led Georgia to two touchdowns and a field-goal scoring drive in the fourth quarter, overcoming a 35-26 deficit and solidifying the victory.

Hear from a voter: Who’s making the Power Four conference championship games?

By SCOTT HAMILTON

Of course there’s still a couple of weeks left in October, yet the standings for every conference remain murky.

Nine teams in the Big Ten are either tied for first place or only one game behind; eight SEC teams are in that same situation. And no league has more than three teams still undefeated in conference play. So every conference is up for grabs, which is a great thing.

For all of the complaining and moaning about NIL, revenue sharing, the transfer portal, etc., we’re more and more finding ourselves in an era of parity like we’ve never seen. If not from conference to conference, then at least within the leagues.

It’s a beautiful thing.

Scott Hamilton is a sports columnist for The Charleston Post and Courier and has been an AP Top 25 voter for eight years. You can follow him on X: @scotthamiltonpc.

Chaotic play results create chaotic upheaval in the Top 25

By ERIC OLSON

It was a chaotic week for Top 25 teams and the new poll reflects that: The only team to stay in the same spot was No. 1 Ohio State.

This was the third time this season that four top-10 teams lost in the same weekend. It was also the second time that two unranked teams beat a top-10 opponent (the other was Oct. 4 when UCLA upset Penn State and Florida beat Texas).

In all, a season-high nine ranked teams lost this weekend, the most since Week 5 in 2022, when 10 Top 25 teams went down, according to Sportradar.

AP Top 25 poll rankings

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

1. Ohio State

2. Indiana

3. Texas A&M

4. Alabama

5. Georgia

6. Oregon

7. Georgia Tech

8. Ole Miss

9. Miami (Fla.)

10. Vanderbilt

11. BYU

12. Notre Dame

13. Oklahoma

14. Texas Tech

15. Missouri

16. Virginia

17. Tennessee

18. USF

19. Louisville

20. LSU

21. Cincinnati

22. Texas

23. Illinois

24. Arizona State

25. Michigan

Who might rise and fall in this week’s poll

Stock up: Indiana, Alabama, Georgia, Vanderbilt, BYU, Georgia Tech.

Stock down: Miami, Ole Miss, Texas Tech, LSU, Nebraska, Memphis.

Knocking on the door

Louisville is likely to crack the Top 25 for the first time this season after overthrowing Miami on its home turf.

The Cardinals got off to a hot start and maintained the lead all game long despite Miami’s late efforts.

Arizona State has been in and out of the rankings this season, most recently dropping out of the poll after a loss to Utah. But this week the Sun Devils knocked off a top 10 Texas Tech team in a game that wasn’t short of excitement.

Texas Tech scored two touchdowns in two minutes and took the lead with two minutes on the clock. Arizona State responded with an efficient touchdown-scoring drive to secure the 26-22 win.

Hear from a voter: Why is Notre Dame still moving up in the poll?

By SCOTT HAMILTON

I get what you’re saying re: Notre Dame. But the Irish’s two losses were to elite teams by a combined four points. And Notre Dame has done what it needs to do since — execute on a weekly basis against a schedule of Power 4 opponents and Group of Six power Boise State.

The Irish have won those games by an average of 25.5 points. I’ll be shocked if the Irish don’t make the College Football Playoff — and equally shocked if Notre Dame doesn’t win a game or two in it.

Hear from a voter: Who are the top five teams on your ballot and why?

By SCOTT HAMILTON

I’m really bullish on both Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech for multiple reasons.

First and foremost, they’re both really good football teams. Maybe not man for man — LSU’s roster is way better than Vandy’s. But both Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech are wonderful examples of the sums being more than the parts. Every player on each team has a role, knows his role and works to execute that role to the best of his ability.

Both teams are also extremely well coached — they know who they are and what they are and embrace it. I also really like how the schedules play out for both teams going forward, especially Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets have four conferences games left (two at home, two on the road) against opponents who are a combined 13-15 overall, 5-10 in the ACC. Then they finish up with their traditional game against Georgia.

Barring a complete collapse, I don’t see how Georgia Tech doesn’t have big plans over the holidays.

Hear from a voter: How did you handle the chaos of losses by ranked teams this week?

By SCOTT HAMILTON

It promised to be an eventful weekend and it definitely delivered.

There were five ranked games and three were determined by one score. Even the other two were more competitive than the final margins.

But those are the easy ones to gauge for obvious reasons — you’re not gonna penalize a ranked team for narrowly losing to another ranked team. Often times, you just flip their spots (seriously).

As far as the others, you have to weigh a few different factors: location, injuries, etc., for that specific game and then look back at the losing team’s entire body of work up to that point.

LSU is a great example. Both of the Tigers’ losses have come to ranked teams on the road (at Ole Miss, at Vanderbilt), so it’s hard to be too punishing; but they also don’t really have a bundle of quality wins to really elevate them. So I put them at No. 25 and will go from there when LSU plays at Texas A&M next week.

Five Top 25 teams keep their undefeated streaks alive

Five Top 25 teams maintained an undefeated record through Week 8: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 3 Indiana, No. 4 Texas A&M, No. 12 Georgia Tech and No. 15 BYU.

Ohio State shut out Wisconsin 34-0. Indiana cruised past Michigan State with a 38-13 win. Texas A&M escaped a close one against Arkansas, pulling out a 45-42 victory. Georgia Tech beat ACC foe Duke 27-18 and BYU held off Utah, coming out on top with a 24-21 win.

Four top 10 teams stumble in Week 8

No. 2 Miami, No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 7 Texas Tech and No. 10 LSU lost in Week 8 of college football play, paving the way for a major reshuffle in the top 10 of this week’s poll.

They were the first losses of the season for Miami, Ole Miss and Texas Tech. The Hurricanes were stunned at home by Louisville, which picked off quarterback Carson Beck four times on Friday night and secured a 24-21 win.

Vanderbilt outscored LSU 31-24 on Saturday, an effort spearheaded by Commodores’ quarterback Diego Pavia. Ole Miss dropped 43-35 to Georgia on the road in an offensive shootout. And Arizona State handed Texas Tech a 26-22 loss in a last-minute thriller.

Who votes in the poll, and how does it work?

No organization has been ranking teams and naming a major college football national champion longer than The Associated Press, since 1936.

AP employees don’t vote themselves, but they do choose the voters. AP Top 25 voters comprise around 60 writers and broadcasters who cover college football for AP members and other select outlets. The goal is to have every state with a Football Bowl Subdivision school represented by at least one voter.

Voting is a straight points system: A first-place vote is worth 25 points, a second-place vote is worth 24 points, down to 1 point for a 25th-place vote.

Then it’s just a summary of which teams are 1-25 based on the totals. Others receiving votes are also noted.

Voting is done online, and the tabulation is automated.

Five Top 25 teams keep their undefeated streaks alive

Five Top 25 teams maintained an undefeated record through Week 8: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 3 Indiana, No. 4 Texas A&M, No. 12 Georgia Tech and No. 15 BYU.

Four top 10 teams stumble in Week 8

No. 2 Miami, No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 7 Texas Tech and No. 10 LSU lost in Week 8 of college football play, paving the way for a major reshuffle in the top 10 of this week’s poll.

Who votes in the poll, and how does it work?

No organization has been ranking teams and naming a major college football national champion longer than The Associated Press, since 1936.

There is a 1-to-25 point system, with a team voted No. 1 receiving 25 points down to 1 point for a 25th-place vote. After that, it’s simple: The poll lists the teams with the most points from 1 to 25, and others receiving votes are also noted.

Voting is done online, and the tabulation is automated. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the last time more ranked teams lost in one week was in Week 5 of 2022, not Week 6.