AP Top 25 college football poll: Texas moves up, Bama drops. Four ACC teams included
For the second week in a row, a new team vaulted into the top five slots of the Associated Press Top 25 college football poll after a high-profile upset.
Texas, which throttled Alabama, 34-24, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Saturday night, joined Georgia, Michigan and Florida State among teams occupying the first four places in the national poll.
The Longhorns (2-0) moved up seven slots to No. 4. Conversely, Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide (1-1) dropped seven spots to No. 10.
Three teams fell out of the rankings completely after suffering losses on Saturday, while a fourth dropped out despite winning.
Clemson (1-1), at No. 25 last week, dropped out and became the team with the most votes not making poll. The Tigers, No. 9 in the preseason poll, dropped 16 slots after losing 28-7 to Duke on Sept. 4. On Saturday, Clemson rebounded to beat FCS Charleston Southern, 66-17, but Iowa (2-0) moved past the Tigers into the No. 25 slot anyway.
Miami became the fourth team in the AP poll, though, after beating Texas A&M, 48-33, in south Florida on Saturday. The voting panel elevated the Hurricanes into the poll at No. 22 while the Aggies (1-1) dropped out.
No. 3 Florida State (2-0) is again the ACC team with the best ranking, followed by No. 20 North Carolina (2-0) and No. 21 Duke (2-0).
This is the second week in a row that rivals Duke and UNC are both ranked in the same poll. Before this month, the last time the Blue Devils and Tar Heels were both ranked was in 1994.
This poll marks the first time Duke is ranked in consecutive polls since October 2015 when the Blue Devils appeared in three polls in a row.
The Tar Heels dropped three slots this week after needing double-overtime to beat Appalachian State, 40-34, on Saturday in Chapel Hill. Duke remained in the same spot after its 45-7 win over Lafayette on Saturday night.
Notre Dame moved up one slot to No. 9 after its 45-24 win at N.C. State on Saturday.
Georgia received 55 first-place votes with Florida State getting three, and Michigan and Texas two each.
Washington State moved in the poll at No. 23 after defeating Wisconsin, 31-22, on Saturday night. With UCLA moving into the poll at No. 24, the Pac-12 Conference has eight teams in the poll this week.
Latest AP poll football rankings
Rk. | Team |
1 | Georgia |
2 | Michigan |
3 | Florida State |
4 | Texas |
5 | USC |
6 | Ohio State |
7 | Penn State |
8 | Washington |
9 | Notre Dame |
10 | Alabama |
11. | Tennessee |
12 | Utah |
13 | Oregon |
14 | LSU |
15 | Kansas State |
16 | Oregon State |
17 | Mississippi |
18 | Colorado |
19 | Oklahoma |
20 | North Carolina |
21 | Duke |
22 | Miami |
23 | Washington St. |
24 | UCLA |
25 | Iowa |
Steve Wiseman’s ballot
After Florida State burst into the top echelon after beating LSU last weekend, Texas earned the right to rocket up the poll after its impressive 34-24 win at Alabama on Saturday night.
My previous two ballots had Alabama at No. 2 behind Georgia. So I’m dropping the Crimson Tide down to No. 11 after losing to the Longhorns.
My new top five is now Georgia, Michigan, Florida State and Texas, with Ohio State at No. 5. The Buckeyes need a strong performance to become the next team to vault into the top five. Their game at Notre Dame on Sept. 23 will provide that opportunity.
Speaking of the Irish (3-0), I’m moving them up a couple of spots to No. 8 after a solid 45-24 beat-down of N.C. State on Saturday.
I’ve moved Tennessee (2-0) into the top 10 for the first time, sliding Utah (2-0) down four spots to No. 12 after the Utes struggled to beat winless Baylor, 20-13, on Saturday.
Three teams fell off my ballot after Saturday losses. My faith in Wisconsin (1-1) proved faulty after the Badgers, who I had at No. 12 last week, lost, 31-22, at Washington State. So the Badgers are gone and Washington State (2-0) moves in at No. 23.
Tulane (1-1) had a chance for signature win but, playing without starting quarterback Michael Pratt, lost 37-20 at home to Mississippi (2-0) in a battle of ranked teams. So the Green Wave will have to earn their way back on to my ballot.
The same goes for Texas A&M (1-1), which I didn’t consider to be at strong team anyway. Miami’s resounding win over the Aggies on Saturday caused me to insert the Hurricanes (2-0) in the top 25 at Texas A&M’s expense.
The third new team on my ballot is Kansas (2-0), which rolled Illinois, 34-23, on Friday night.
I also considered Iowa (2-0) and Clemson (1-1) for that final spot. But I still need to see better play from both.
| 1 | Georgia |
| 2 | Michigan |
| 3 | Florida State |
| 4 | Texas |
| 5 | Ohio State |
| 6 | Penn State |
| 7 | USC |
| 8 | Notre Dame |
| 9 | Washington |
| 10 | Tennessee |
| 11 | Alabama |
| 12 | Utah |
| 13 | LSU |
| 14 | Oregon |
| 15 | North Carolina |
| 16 | Duke |
| 17 | Mississippi |
| 18 | Kansas State |
| 19 | Oregon State |
| 20 | Oklahoma |
| 21 | Colorado |
| 22 | Miami |
| 23 | Washington St. |
| 24 | UCLA |
| 25 | Kansas |
This story was originally published September 10, 2023 at 9:25 AM with the headline "AP Top 25 college football poll: Texas moves up, Bama drops. Four ACC teams included."