Buffs fall out of AP Top 25; Buckeyes up to No. 4

Colorado and Deion Sanders fell out of The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll Sunday after a resounding loss in one of the weekend’s showcase games, and the teams toward the top of the rankings were shuffled and tightened.

A season-high six teams received first-place votes, the most since the 2016 preseason poll. Georgia is still where it started at No. 1 but is down to 55 first-place votes out of a possible 63.

Michigan remained No. 2 and got a first-place vote. Texas stayed at No. 3 with two first-place votes. Ohio State moved up two spots to No. 4 and got a first-place vote after beating Notre Dame with a touchdown on its final offensive play.

The Fighting Irish slipped to two spots to No. 11.

Florida State dropped a spot to No. 5 after a victory at Clemson, but it nevertheless received three first-place votes.

No. 6 Penn State and No. 7 Washington each moved up a spot. The Huskies received a first-place vote.

USC fell three places to No. 8, while No. 9 Oregon and No. 10 Utah each moved up a spot to give the Pac-12 four teams in the top 10 for the first time in the history of the conference.

The Ducks’ blowout of Sanders’ Colorado team knocked the Buffaloes all the way out of the AP Top 25 from No. 19.

Colorado has been the story of the early season, starting 3-0 after winning just one game last season. The Buffaloes jumped into the rankings with an opening-week upset of TCU, last season’s national runner-up.

After the Buffaloes were dominated at Oregon, USC comes to Boulder next week to give Colorado a chance to either jump back in the rankings or become an afterthought for voters for the rest of the season.

Utah’s victory over UCLA sent the Bruins falling out of the poll, leaving the Pac-12 with six ranked teams after two weeks with a conference-record eight.

Alabama, which fell out of the top 10 last week for the first time since 2015, inched up a spot to No. 12 after beating Ole Miss, which dropped five spots to No. 20.

Poll points

Six teams receiving first-place votes is the most in a regular-season poll since Nov. 1, 2015.

In that poll, Ohio State was the No. 1 team, and like Georgia, it had been that way since the preseason as the defending national champion. The Buckeyes received only 39 first-place votes. No. 2 Baylor got six first-place votes, as did No. 3 Clemson. No. 4 LSU got five. No. 5 TCU received four and No. 7 Alabama had one.

Moving in

Three teams entered the rankings this week, all for the first time this season:

No. 23 Missouri is ranked for the first time since a brief stay in 2019.

No. 24 Kansas is ranked for the second consecutive season. The Jayhawks have not had two straight years with poll appearances of any kind since 2008-09.

No. 25 Fresno State, which has won 13 straight games, the second-longest streak in the country behind Georgia, finished last season at No. 24.

Moving out

Joining Colorado and UCLA in falling out the poll was Iowa. The Hawkeyes have yo-yoed in and out of the rankings and did not receive a point this week after getting shut out at Penn State.

Conference call

The SEC moves back into the top spot, though more than half are in the bottom batch.

SEC: 7 (Nos. 1, 12, 13, 20, 21, 22, 23)
Pac-12: 6 (Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 19)
ACC: 4 (Nos. 5, 15, 17, 18)
Big Ten: 3 (Nos. 2, 4, 6)
Big 12: 3 (Nos. 3, 14, 24)
Mountain West: 1 (No. 25)
Independent: 1 (No. 11)

Ranked vs. ranked

No. 10 Utah at No. 19 Oregon State: First ranked matchup between the two after 25 meetings.

No. 24 Kansas at No. 3 Texas: The first time the Jayhawks have played the Longhorns when they are ranked.

No. 13 LSU at No. 20 Ole Miss: The 11th ranked matchup in the rivalry.

No. 11 Notre Dame at No. 17 Duke: Maybe the biggest home game in Duke history will be the first trip to Durham, North Carolina, for ESPN’s “College GameDay.” With Duke off the board, only six schools in Power 5 conferences have not hosted the pregame show: California, Illinois, Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse and Virginia.

Coaches’ poll

Ohio State’s victory over Notre Dame helped the Buckeyes creep up a spot to No. 3 in the AFCA Coaches Poll. No. 1 Georgia earned 61 of 64 first-place votes, while No. 2 Michigan earned two votes and No. 8 Washington got the other.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.