Tennessee moved up to No. 5 in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday as the Volunteers continued to surge up the rankings, and No. 25 Boise State returned to the AP Top 25 for the first time in four years.
Texas was No. 1 for the second straight week, receiving 44 of 62 first-place votes as the top four teams remained the same. The Longhorns won a game as the top-ranked team for the first time since 2008, cruising past Louisiana-Monroe in quarterback Arch Manning’s first career start.
Georgia held at No. 2, receiving 13 first-place votes, and Ohio State was No. 3 with five first-place votes. Alabama was No. 4.
The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide were off this weekend as they prepare to meet Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala., for a top-five matchup.
Tennessee welcomed Oklahoma to the Southeastern Conference with a 25-15 road victory that helped the Vols rise in the rankings for the fourth straight week. They started the season No. 15, then went to No. 14 after Week 1, No. 7 after Week 2 and No. 6 last week.
Tennessee was last in the top five in 2022, peaking at No. 2 on Oct. 30.
Mississippi slipped a spot to No. 6, and No. 7 Miami, No. 8 Oregon and No. 9 Penn State all moved up one place.
No. 10 Utah moved up two spots after beating Oklahoma State on the road in a matchup of ranked Big 12 teams.
Boise State is making its first poll appearance since a two-week stay in early November 2020. The Broncos, two weeks removed from losing at Oregon on a last-second field goal, improved to 2-1 with a blowout of Portland State on Saturday.
Poll points
The SEC’s stranglehold on the top of the rankings loosened a little, with Missouri’s overtime victory against Vanderbilt dropping the Tigers four spots to No. 11. The conference still reached another milestone.
The SEC had gone two straight weeks holding down six of the top seven spots in the rankings, a first for one conference in poll history. No conference previously held even five of the top seven spots, which the now 16-team SEC still has this week.
With Missouri slipping, the SEC holds five of the top six spots, and it’s on a three-week streak of owning four of the top five. That streak is another AP poll first.
The only other time in the 88-year history of the poll that a conference had four of the top five teams was the SEC on Oct. 19, 2014 (No. 1 Mississippi State, No. 3 Mississippi, No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Auburn). That lasted a week.
In and out
Boise State’s absence from the AP rankings had been notable after the Broncos became a poll fixture for nearly two decades.
Boise State went 19 straight seasons making at least one appearance in the AP Top 25, from its first appearance in 2002 to 2020. The Broncos finished the season ranked 13 times during that span.
No. 22 BYU also made its season debut in the rankings. The Cougars (4-0) are in for the first time since Oct. 2, 2022, after routing Kansas State at home Saturday night. The loss dropped the previously unbeaten Wildcats 10 spots to No. 23.
Exiting the rankings this week after brief stays and their first losses of the season were Nebraska and Northern Illinois.
The Cornhuskers fell in overtime to Illinois, a victory that helped the Illini move up five spots to No. 19.
NIU, which had not played since upsetting Notre Dame two weeks ago, lost in overtime to Buffalo in a Mid-American Conference game.
Conference call
- SEC — 9 (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 11, 14, 21, 24)
- Big Ten — 6 (Nos. 3, 8, 9, 12, 13, 19)
- Big 12 — 5 (Nos. 10, 18, 20, 22, 23)
- ACC — 3 (Nos. 7, 15, 17)
- Mountain West — 1 (No. 25)
- Independent — 1 (No. 16)
Ranked vs. ranked
- No. 2 Georgia at No. 4 Alabama. The Bulldogs and Tide played eight times between 2012-23 but only twice in the regular season on one another’s home field. The other six were two national title games and four SEC championships.
- No. 19 Illinois at No. 9 Penn State. The last time the Big Ten rivals met as ranked teams was 2008.
- No. 20 Oklahoma State at No. 23 Kansas State. It’s the second straight game against a ranked Big 12 opponent for the Cowboys and only the third time in 68 meetings both are ranked.
- No. 15 Louisville at No. 16 Notre Dame. It’s the second straight season Cardinals-Irish is a ranked matchup.
