A chaotic weekend at the top of the AP Top 25 left Tom Murphy with plenty to sort through, and his ballot reflects just how much the picture changed. Auburn’s 27-24 upset of No.
1 Georgia and Florida’s 27-24 win over No. 7 Texas reshaped the conversation, while a long list of one-loss teams and a few very stubborn two-loss squads crowded the mix.
Miami held off Florida State 43-35 in a hard-fought game, and Murphy moved the Hurricanes back to No. 1 after a four-week stretch away from the top spot. Behind them, he settled on Ohio State at No. 2 after the Buckeyes won 19-15 on the road at defending national champion Indiana, even with quarterback Julian Sayin sidelined for a few weeks by a shoulder injury.
Georgia stayed at No. 3, but the rest of the upper tier shifted around it. BYU climbed to No. 4 after a late rally carried the Cougars past Notre Dame 28-24, and Texas Tech checked in at No. 5 as one of the unbeaten Big 12 teams.
Utah, also unbeaten, landed at No. 9.
Murphy said picking between Ohio State and Georgia was difficult, and the broader ripple effect from last week’s huge rivalry games was impossible to ignore. Georgia’s earlier win over Alabama and Oklahoma’s victory over Texas clearly came with a hangover, since all four of those teams lost this weekend.
The SEC also produced an odd but telling storyline: four first-year SEC coaches all won major road games, and most of them came as upsets. Florida’s Jon Sumrall and Auburn’s Alex Golesh both landed signature victories, Kentucky’s Will Stein earned another with a 21-13 win at Oklahoma, and Arkansas’ Ryan Silverfield picked up his first SEC win by beating Vanderbilt 31-21. Murphy called it a stretch to label Arkansas’ result a signature win, but he still described it as significant.
Tennessee made the biggest jump inside the top 10, rising five spots to No. 10 after a 26-10 rout of Alabama. Murphy said the Volunteers looked far more locked in than they did in last week’s escape at Arkansas. He also noted that Arkansas could end up being a difficult matchup for some of the ranked teams still on its schedule.
The middle and lower half of the poll took more work. Murphy said sorting teams from 11 through 25 required weighing head-to-head results and strength of schedule carefully. In the end, Mississippi State and Oklahoma State came off the ballot after ugly losses: Mississippi State fell 31-0 at LSU without quarterback Kamario Taylor or tailback Fluff Bothwell, while Oklahoma State lost 35-32 at Houston.
Florida and Auburn entered the poll after their big road upsets, both as two-loss teams. Missouri survived despite a 31-3 loss at Ole Miss, a team Murphy said is gaining momentum after its 52-28 loss at Florida. He also considered Boise State and James Madison, but ultimately leaned toward power conference teams with blemishes and big wins over top contenders.
Murphy said he remains firmly opposed to expanding the College Football Playoff to 24 teams, even though it will stay at 12 this winter. He pointed to the concerns coaches raised about fan bases needing to be ready for two- and three-loss Big Ten and SEC teams making playoff pushes, and said those warnings have proven accurate.
His full ballot: Miami at No. 1, followed by Ohio State, Georgia, BYU, Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Indiana, Utah and Tennessee. UCLA, Iowa, Wake Forest, Kentucky, LSU, Texas, Alabama, Houston, USC, Northwestern, SMU, Florida, Auburn, Missouri and Oregon rounded out the list. Mississippi State and Oklahoma State dropped out.
In Other News...
Arkansas Looks Loaded But This Early Test Will Say Everything
Arkansas enters John Caliparis third season with the kind of roster that naturally invites big expectations, thanks to the arrival of freshman Miikka Muurinen and transfers Cooper Bowser and Jeremiah Wilkinson. The depth looks real, the talent looks obvious, and Calipari has leaned into that by putting together a non-conference schedule that will force this group to grow up fast before SEC play ever begins.
Virginia, Michigan State, Arizona, Indiana and North Carolina are all waiting on the other side of that early stretch, and the Razorbacks will learn plenty about themselves long before the conference grind starts. For a team with upside and plenty of new pieces, the question is not whether the ceiling exists, but how quickly Arkansas can reach it when the first true test arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Arkansas Hits Halftime With One Big Problem Still Threatening This Game
Arkansas goes into halftime tied at 14 with Vanderbilt after a first half that had the kind of uneven feel that can turn a road or conference game sideways in a hurry. The Razorbacks steadied themselves enough to even the score before the break, getting a late touchdown run from Cam Settles and a defensive score from Joker Johnson to keep the game from slipping away.
Ryan Silverfield still had one area that clearly bothered him as the teams headed to the locker room, and it stood out in a half where every hidden-yardage mistake mattered. Arkansas has managed to stay level on the scoreboard, but the special teams side of the game is still hanging over it as the bigger concern going into the second half. [Read more 🡒]
Arkansas Finally Gave Fans A Reason To Believe In Ryan Silverfield
After a long stretch of frustration in league play, Arkansas finally found something it has been chasing for months in Nashville. The Razorbacks beat Vanderbilt 31-21 to snap a 14-game SEC losing streak and deliver Ryan Silverfield his first conference win in his first season on the job, a result that gave a weary fan base a real reason to start believing the rebuild might be taking hold.
Cam Settles helped tilt the game with a touchdown run, Miguel Mitchell supplied an interception on defense and KJ Jackson steadied the offense through the air. Just as important for Arkansas, the win came on the road for the first time in SEC play since October 2024 and marked its first victory against a Power Four opponent since the 2024 Liberty Bowl, leaving Silverfield with a long-awaited breakthrough and a little momentum to protect. [Read more 🡒]