Georgia is the new No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25, and the shake-up at the top comes after a weekend that hit several heavyweight programs hard.
The Bulldogs climbed to the top spot Sunday after beating Alabama 20-17 on the road, ending a run of five straight weeks at No. 2.
Georgia got 66 first-place votes from the 70-member media panel and reached No. 1 for the first time since Sept. 8, 2024.
The win in Tuscaloosa was Georgia’s first there since 2014, and it came with the help of what appeared to be a missed pass interference call in the end zone late in the game.
Notre Dame moved up one place to No. 2 after unloading on Stanford 58-7 to set up this week’s top-10 trip to BYU. The Fighting Irish picked up one first-place vote and are at their highest position since finishing No. 2 in the final poll of the 2024 season.
Miami stayed at No. 3 and received two first-place votes, with Ohio State at No. 4 and Indiana at No. 5.
The Hoosiers earned the remaining first-place vote after a narrow win at Nebraska and jumped two spots. Alabama held at No. 6, followed by Texas at No.
7, BYU at No. 8, Mississippi at No. 9 and Texas Tech at No.
Texas took the sharpest tumble among the top teams, falling six spots after losing to rival Oklahoma. That drop from No. 1 to No. 7 matched the Longhorns’ slide after their season-opening loss to Ohio State last year.
Oregon also took a major hit, falling out of the rankings entirely for the first time in four years after a 17-15 home loss to UCLA. The Ducks entered the season ranked No. 2, their highest preseason spot ever, but turnovers helped sink them to 3-2. It’s the first time Oregon has been unranked since the aftermath of a 49-3 loss to Georgia in the 2022 opener.
Florida joined the list of teams on the way out after dropping from No. 8 to No. 16 to unranked in just two weeks. The Gators fell 38-19 at home to South Carolina. Pittsburgh also disappeared from the poll after managing only one touchdown on eight second-half possessions in a 21-17 home loss to North Carolina.
The biggest movers near the middle of the poll were UCLA and Kentucky. The Bruins jumped nine spots to No. 12 after beating Oregon, while Kentucky surged from unranked to No. 15 after edging LSU 35-34 in overtime.
LSU slid from No. 10 to No. 22.
There were also three notable newcomers: No. 21 Wake Forest, which is 5-1 and ranked for the first time since late October 2022; No.
25 Northwestern, which earned its first ranking under fourth-year coach David Braun at 4-1; and Kentucky, back in the poll after dropping out last week following a win over South Carolina. Kentucky now has its highest ranking since early October 2022.
The broader picture also stood out. This is the second time in three years that three or more teams have held the No. 1 spot during the first six polls.
Georgia, Texas and Alabama shared that role early in 2024. Before that, the only other time it happened in the Top 25 era was 1990.
A few ranked matchups now loom large. No.
4 Ohio State visits No. 5 Indiana in a rematch of the 2025 Big Ten championship game, which Indiana won 13-10 when the Hoosiers were No. 2 and the Buckeyes were No.
- No.
2 Notre Dame travels to No. 8 BYU for the first-ever top-10 game at LaVell Edwards Stadium; the Cougars won the last time Notre Dame came there, in 2004.
No. 16 Mississippi State meets No.
22 LSU for the first time as ranked teams since 2018. No.
6 Alabama heads to No. 14 Tennessee, and the Crimson Tide have lost their last two games in Knoxville.
No. 13 Missouri visits No.
9 Mississippi, where Tigers quarterback Austin Simmons will have plenty of motivation after beginning last season as Ole Miss’ starter before injury and a return to the bench behind Trinidad Chambliss. No.
18 Oklahoma State and No. 20 Houston meet as ranked opponents for the first time.
The conference breakdown reflects the weekend’s churn: the SEC leads with nine ranked teams, followed by the Big Ten with six, the Big 12 with five, the ACC with three, and one team each from the Pac-12 and independents.
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