The Associated Press released its new Top 25 on Sunday, and Texas remains No. 1 after dismantling UTSA 30-6 in Austin. That part was easy. Everything behind them moved.
The Top 10
Texas holds the top spot with 58 first-place votes from 69 voters. Georgia is No. 2 with three, Notre Dame is No. 3, Ole Miss jumped to No. 4 with three first-place votes, and Indiana sits fifth with four.
Miami is No. 6 with one first-place vote. Ohio State fell to No. 7 at 2-1, followed by Alabama, BYU and LSU.
All 10 of the top nine teams outside Ohio State are undefeated. Texas, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Indiana, Miami, Alabama and BYU are all 3-0.
How Texas Got Here
The Longhorns were preseason No. 5. Ohio State opened at No. 1 with 40 first-place votes.
That changed on Sept. 12 in Austin, when No. 4 Texas rallied from a 23-3 fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Buckeyes 24-23, scoring 20 unanswered points capped by Hollywood Smothers’ one-yard touchdown run with 25 seconds left.
Against UTSA on Saturday, Arch Manning threw two early touchdown passes to Coleman and Texas coasted.
Texas A&M Fell 14 Spots
The biggest drop in the poll belongs to the Aggies, who went from No. 9 to No. 23 after losing 31-21 at home to unranked Kentucky.
Kentucky, under first-year head coach Will Stein, scored 21 unanswered points in the third quarter at Kyle Field. The Wildcats now sit at 98 points in the receiving-votes category, just behind Washington’s 107 and ahead of West Virginia’s 93.
Losing at home to an unranked SEC opponent in September is survivable. Falling 14 places in one week tells you the voters were never fully sold.
Ole Miss Made the Statement of the Weekend
Ole Miss climbed from No. 8 to No. 4 by beating then-No. 7 LSU 32-24 at Vaught-Hemingway. Trinidad Chambliss threw for 363 yards with two touchdowns and ran in the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter.
LSU dropped three spots to No. 10 at 2-1. Lane Kiffin lost his return to Oxford in his first season at LSU, which Ole Miss fans will be dining out on for a decade.
Movers Worth Noting
Louisville made the biggest jump, rising from No. 23 to No. 16 after beating then-No. 16 SMU 41-31. SMU fell to No. 22.
Two teams entered the poll: Florida at No. 21 after beating Auburn, and Mississippi State at No. 24 after winning 41-34 at South Carolina. Oklahoma and Virginia dropped out.
USC is the only team in the top 25 with four wins, sitting at No. 12 at 4-0.
What This Poll Is Actually Telling You
The SEC has six teams in the top 10 by a generous count, and three of the poll’s most dramatic moves all came from SEC results. Ohio State’s loss in Austin reshuffled everything at the top, and nobody has separated since.
Texas holds 58 of 69 first-place votes, which is close to consensus but not unanimous. Given that the Longhorns needed a 20-point fourth quarter to beat Ohio State and then handled a Conference USA opponent, that hesitation is fair.
Saturday brings Ole Miss at Florida. The top five will look different again on Sunday.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.