Sooners soar to No. 5; Louisville jumps 11 spots
Oklahoma moved up to No. 5 in The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll Sunday, while a late-game gaffe nearly cost 25th-ranked Miami‘s spot in the rankings and six basketball blue bloods made some history.
No. 1 Georgia, coming off its best game of the season in a rout of Kentucky, regained some of the first-place votes it lost in the AP Top 25 last week, when it needed a late rally to beat Auburn and stay unbeaten.
The Bulldogs got 50 first-place votes after getting 35 last week. No. 2 Michigan received 11 first-place votes as the Wolverines roll along unbeaten and untested.
No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Florida State each moved up a spot and received a first-place vote.
Oklahoma jumped seven spots after beating Texas on Saturday to reenter the top 10 for the first time since mid-September of last year, when it started tumbling toward a 6-7 season.
The Sooners and Longhorns both have open dates next weekend before a six-week stretch of games to end the regular season and determine if they meet again this year, possibly with a berth in the four-team College Football Playoff on the line.
“I have no doubt we’re going to see them again in the Big 12 championship,” Sooners safety Peyton Bowen said of the Longhorns, who slipped six spots to No. 9.
Said Texas coach Steve Sarkisian: “I expect us to get back on the horse. I think that this locker room is full of champions and our goal is to go win a championship this year. So we have to handle our business.”
No. 6 Penn State held its spot, as did No. 7 Washington and No. 8 Oregon in the week before their Pac-12 showdown.
USC dropped a spot to No. 10 after escaping with a triple-overtime victory against Arizona. The Trojans have fallen in the poll for three straight weeks, despite remaining unbeaten.
Miami managed to hang on to a spot in the rankings, dropping eight places after losing for the first time this season. The Hurricanes’ 23-20 setback to Georgia Tech was Saturday’s most painful loss, not to mention a candidate for one of the worst in program history.
In position to kneel out the clock with the lead, the Hurricanes instead called a running play, fumbled the ball away with 26 seconds left and then watched as the Yellow Jackets went 74 yards in four plays for the winning score with one second left on the clock.
Hoop dreams
The traditional basketball powerhouses continue to shine on the gridiron in 2022.
The top six schools by appearances in the AP men’s college basketball poll are Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, UCLA and Louisville.
For the first time in the 87-year history of the AP football poll, all of those schools are ranked at the same time: North Carolina is No. 12, Louisville is 14th, Duke is No. 17, UCLA is 18th, Kansas is No. 23, and Kentucky is No. 24.
Louisville jumped 11 spots to its highest ranking since 2017 after defeating Notre Dame to stay unbeaten.
The Irish slipped 11 spots to No. 21 after a second loss in three weeks to an undefeated team.
Poll points
Georgia’s 17-week streak of No. 1 appearances is now tied for the fourth longest of all time with Florida State, which went wire-to-wire as No. 1 in 1999.
The Bulldogs are well positioned to make a run at the second-longest streak before the season is out.
Next up on the list is an 18-week streak at No. 1 by USC from 1972 to 1973, then comes Miami’s 21 in a row from 2001 to 2002.
The record is out of reach this year: USC was No. 1 in 33 straight polls from late in the 2003 season until the final poll of the 2005 season.
The Bulldogs don’t seem to be in much danger of either losing or dropping from No. 1 with a victory over the next few weeks.
Georgia goes to Vanderbilt on Saturday then has a week off before facing Florida on Oct. 28.
A scheduled run vs. Missouri at home, at No. 13 Ole Miss and at No. 19 Tennessee in November will be a bigger challenge for the Bulldogs.
Moving out
Seven teams that entered Saturday unbeaten lost, and two of them dropped out of the Top 25.
Fresno State, which lost a key Mountain West game at Wyoming, fell out of the rankings after two weeks in.
Missouri lost to LSU and also slipped out after two weeks in.
Moving in
The two teams jumping into the rankings this week have been here earlier this season: UCLA vaulted to No. 18 after beating Washington State, while Kansas returned to the rankings at No. 23 after a week out by routing UCF.
Conference call
Pac-12: 7 (Nos. 7, 8, 10, 15, 16, 18, 19)
SEC: 6 (Nos. 1, 11, 13, 19, 22, 24)
ACC: 5 (Nos. 4, 12, 14, 17, 25)
Big Ten: 3 (Nos. 2, 3, 6)
Big 12: 3 (Nos. 5, 9, 23)
Independent: 1 (No. 21)
Ranked vs. ranked
No. 8 Oregon at No. 7 Washington: The 103rd meeting between the Ducks and Huskies will be the first top-10 matchup.
No. 10 USC at No. 21 Notre Dame: For the first time since 2005 and 2006, the Trojans and Fighting Irish are playing with both teams ranked in consecutive seasons.
No. 25 Miami at No. 12 North Carolina: Only the second meeting in which both teams are ranked.
No. 18 UCLA at No. 15 Oregon State: For the first time since 2001, both teams are ranked, and it’s the second straight home game for the Beavers versus a ranked opponent.
