Texas A&M fell out of the top five of The Associated Press college football poll for the first time in two months Sunday, Texas Tech notched its highest ranking in 17 years and a season-high four teams from Group of Five conferences are ranked as the top five got a shuffle with a week to go before the postseason bracket is set.
No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana, the only remaining unbeatens, are the top two teams for a seventh straight poll heading into their Big Ten title game clash on Saturday. No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Oregon each moved up a spot, and Texas Tech’s No. 5 ranking is its best since it spent three weeks at No. 2 in November 2008.
Mississippi remained No. 6 and was followed by Texas A&M, which slipped four spots after its 10-point loss at Texas. Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Alabama rounded out the top 10 for the third straight week.
The weekend results created two top-10 matchups in conference championship games this Saturday. Besides the Big Ten showdown, Georgia and Alabama will play for the Southeastern Conference crown. The other Top 25 matchup pits Texas Tech against No. 11 BYU in the Big 12. The Atlantic Coast Conference game matches No. 16 Virginia against a Duke team that is 7-5 and received no votes in Sunday’s poll.
No. 12 Miami and No. 13 Vanderbilt traded places in the rankings. The Hurricanes, who finished the regular season with a 31-point road win over Pittsburgh, are the highest-ranked ACC team and hope to receive a College Football Playoff at-large bid. Vanderbilt slipped despite beating Tennessee by 21 points on the road.
James Madison, which will host Troy for the Sun Belt championship game Friday, moved up one spot to No. 19 and is the highest-ranked Group of Five team. Three teams from the American Conference are behind the Dukes: No. 20 North Texas, No. 21 Tulane and No. 24 Navy.
North Texas visits Tulane for the American championship game Friday. Tulane, at No. 24, was the only G5 team in last week’s CFP rankings.
In and out
— No. 22 Arizona is ranked for the first time since September 2024. The Wildcats won 23-7 at Arizona State in the battle for the Territorial Cup and are on a five-game winning streak.
— No. 23 Navy, which won 28-17 at Memphis, is in the Top 25 for the first time this season and will take its highest ranking since 2019 into the annual showcase game against Army on Dec. 13.
— No. 25 Missouri beat Arkansas by two touchdowns and returned to the poll after a one-week absence.
Tennessee (No. 18), Pittsburgh (No. 24) and SMU (No. 25) dropped out.
Poll points
— Seven straight weeks with the same Nos. 1 and 2 teams is the longest since Georgia and Michigan went 11 weeks in a row as the top two in 2023.
— The American Conference’s three Top 25 teams are its most since Nov. 20, 2022, when the same number were ranked. The league record for ranked teams is four, in 2015 and 2019.
— The last time there were four Group of Five teams ranked was the final poll of the 2024 season.
— Tennessee’s streak of 33 straight poll appearances ended after it dropped to 8-4 with its loss to Vanderbilt.
Conference call
SEC (8 ranked teams): Nos. 3 Georgia, 6 Mississippi, 7 Texas A&M, 8 Oklahoma, 10 Alabama, 13 Vanderbilt, 14 Texas, 25 Missouri.
Big Ten (5): Nos. 1 Ohio State, 2 Indiana, 4 Oregon, 17 Southern California, 18 Michigan.
Big 12 (4): Nos. 5 Texas Tech, 11 BYU, 15 Utah, 22 Arizona.
ACC (3): Nos. 12 Miami, 16 Virginia, 24 Georgia Tech.
American (3): Nos. 20 North Texas, 21 Tulane, 23 Navy.
Independent (1): No. 9 Notre Dame.
Sun Belt (1): No. 19 James Madison.
Ranked vs. ranked
No. 2 Indiana (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten) vs. No. 1 Ohio State (12-0, 9-0), Saturday, at Indianapolis: It’s a matchup of Heisman Trophy front-runners in QBs Fernando Mendoza of Indiana and Julian Sayin of Ohio State. Hoosiers are one of two teams to score more than 530 points this season (532). Buckeyes are only team to give up fewer than 100 points (93).
No. 4 Georgia (11-1, 7-1 SEC) vs. No. 10 Alabama (10-2, 7-1), Saturday, at Atlanta: This will be the fourth meeting of these teams in a SEC championship game since 2018. Crimson Tide handed Georgia its only loss this season, 24-21 on Sept. 27. Bulldogs have rolled off eight straight wins since.
No. 11 BYU (11-1, 8-1 Big 12) vs. No. 5 Texas Tech (11-1, 8-1), Saturday, at Arlington, Texas: Each team will be playing in the Big 12 championship game for the first time. Red Raiders dominated the regular-season meeting in Lubbock, winning 29-7.
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