A shakeup is coming to the top of the AP Top 25 after Week 6, and the biggest winners and losers all came from the same cluster of marquee games. Georgia’s win over Alabama and Texas’ first loss of the season to Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry should push the rankings in a new direction when the poll is released Sunday.
Exactly how far Texas drops is still the big question. The Longhorns still have that win over No.
5 Ohio State on the ledger, which should keep them in strong position despite the stumble. Alabama’s situation is a little murkier after a narrow home loss to Georgia, and it remains to be seen whether the Crimson Tide slide out of the top 10.
At the other end of the spotlight, USC’s survival at Penn State gave Lincoln Riley’s team a resume boost. The No.
19 Trojans walked out of the White Out with a win and moved to 5-1, keeping them in the mix for a College Football Playoff push even with the home loss to No. 13 Oregon still on the record.
But the road ahead only gets steeper.
That’s where UCLA enters the picture. The Bruins’ upset of Oregon in Eugene should send them past USC in the latest AP poll, adding another ranked hurdle to the Trojans’ already brutal stretch run.
USC still has No. 5 Ohio State, No.
7 Indiana and UCLA left on the schedule, which leaves very little room for mistakes if the Trojans want to keep their first CFP appearance alive.
Here’s how the projected AP Top 25 looks after the week’s chaos:
- Georgia
- Notre Dame
- Miami
- Ohio State
- Indiana
- Texas
- Alabama
- BYU
- Ole Miss
- Texas Tech
- Utah
- Missouri
- UCLA
- Tennessee
- Mississippi State
- Oklahoma State
- LSU
- USC
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Houston
- Boise State
- SMU
- Wake Forest
- Wisconsin
USC can’t do anything about the rest of the board except keep stacking wins, but the Trojans should benefit a bit from Oregon’s loss and LSU’s defeat ahead of them. The Ducks’ fall may also leave them unranked altogether by Sunday, though that remains to be seen.
The AP Poll shuffle is likely to be heaviest near the top, where Georgia, Texas, Alabama and the rest of the contenders will be sorted out after a wild weekend. For USC, the calculation is simpler: keep winning, and the resume can still hold up. If the Trojans can take two of the three games against Ohio State, Indiana and UCLA, their case gets a lot stronger.
A second AP Top 25 projection also listed Texas at No. 1, followed by Georgia, Notre Dame, Miami, Ohio State, Alabama, Indiana, BYU, Ole Miss and LSU in the top 10. In that version, USC checked in at No. 19 behind LSU, with Oregon at No.
13, UCLA at No. 21 and Pittsburgh at No. 25.
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The game should come down to the details that usually decide heavyweight meetings, especially quarterback play and turnover margin. Georgia brings the sort of challenge that has a way of exposing any soft spots, while Alabama is looking for proof that its early momentum can hold up against an opponent built to test every phase. If the Tide can manage the pressure and avoid giving away possessions, it would go a long way toward turning a strong start into something even more convincing. [Read more 🡒]
Pat McAfee Put Alabama Fans Through A Brutal GameDay Moment
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McAfee still turned the segment into something meaningful for the Alabama area, pledging to donate $500,000 to hurricane relief efforts. It was a rough ending for the fans who lined up for the kick, but the Crimson Tide now move on to a far bigger stage, with Georgia coming to town for an upcoming SEC showdown that will command plenty of attention of its own. [Read more 🡒]