Tide’s top-10 streak ends at 128; Texas to No. 3
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No. 13 Alabama is out of the top 10 of the Associated Press college football poll for the first time in eight years, and Georgia remained No. 1 on Sunday.
Georgia received 57 first-place votes in the AP Top 25. Michigan held at No. 2 with two first-place votes. No. 3 Texas flipped spots with No. 4 Florida State. The Longhorns received three first-place votes, and the Seminoles got one.
After scraping by USF on Saturday, Alabama (2-1) saw its streak of consecutive AP poll appearances ranked in the top 10 snapped at 128. That was the second-longest such streak in the history of the poll, behind Miami‘s 137 from 1985 to 1993.
The Crimson Tide are out of the top 10 for the first time since Sept. 27, 2015. They dropped out of the top 10 that September after losing at Ole Miss but moved back in Oct. 3 and went on to win a national championship.
Georgia now has the longest active run of top-10 rankings with 37.
The ugly 17-3 win against USF marked Alabama’s first game against a non-Power 5 conference opponent since 2007 in which the Tide failed to score at least 20 points. In its previous 42 games against non-Power 5 opponents, Alabama was unbeaten, with an average margin of victory of 40 points.
The rest of the top 10: No. 5 USC, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Penn State, No. 8 Washington, No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 10 Oregon.
The Buckeyes will visit the Fighting Irish on Saturday as the centerpiece of a huge schedule of ranked vs. ranked games.
Poll points
Alabama still has the longest streak in the country of consecutive weeks being ranked at 249.
That’s the second best of all time but still a long way behind the record. Nebraska, under Tom Osborne, was ranked for 348 straight weeks from 1981 to 2002.
The next-best active streak behind Alabama’s belongs to Ohio State at 182, although the Buckeyes were not eligible for the first few regular-season polls of the 2020 season.
Georgia’s streak is at 102. Michigan is fourth best at 34, and Utah has the fifth-longest active Top 25 streak at 25.
Moving in, moving out
Kansas State was the only team to fall out of the ranking this week, after losing at Missouri on a 61-yard field goal as time expired.
No. 25 Florida moved back in for the first time since Sept. 24 of last season after upsetting Tennessee, which dropped 12 spots to No. 23.
“It validates your plan, what you’re selling to a degree,” Florida coach Billy Napier said after the game. “That’s what you want as a leader. … That’s a lot more fun.”
With the Gators back in the AP Top 25, Florida State, Miami and Florida are all ranked for the first time since Sept. 17, 2017.
Conference call
The only two ranked teams in the Big 12 this week are the ones leaving after this season, Texas and Oklahoma.
Although, to be fair, Colorado and Utah will be joining from the Pac-12, and the Utes are No. 11 and Buffaloes No. 19, the latter after winning a double-overtime thriller against Colorado State.
Pac-12: 8 (Nos. 5, 8, 10, 11, 14, 19, 21, 22)
SEC: 6 (Nos. 1, 12, 13, 15, 23, 25)
ACC: 4 (Nos. 4, 17, 18, 20)
Big Ten: 4 (Nos. 2, 6, 7, 24)
Big 12: 2 (Nos. 3, 16)
Independent: 1 (No. 9).
Next week: Ranked vs. ranked
No. 6 Ohio State at No. 9 Notre Dame: For the second straight year, it’s a top-10 matchup.
No. 15 Ole Miss at No. 13 Alabama: Crimson Tide lead series 9-3 when both are ranked.
No. 22 UCLA at No. 11 Utah: The second meeting with both teams ranked. The first was last year.
No. 19 Colorado at No. 10 Oregon: First regular-season meeting with both teams ranked.
No. 14 Oregon State at No. 21 Washington State: The Beavers and Cougars, the Pac-12’s left-behinds, have played 98 times but never before when both teams were ranked.
No. 24 Iowa at No. 7 Penn State. Three of the past four meetings came when both were ranked.
Coaches’ poll
The top eight remained the same in the AFCA Coaches Poll, with Georgia getting 62 of 64 first-place votes. No. 2 Michigan and No. 4 Ohio State each received one vote. Florida State is No. 3.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
