The top six college football teams in the AP Top 25 remained unchanged this week, but not all was quiet in the rankings: The Big 12 has five teams in the poll for the first time this season, Vanderbilt earned its highest ranking in 88 years and LSU dropped out.
BYU leads the Big 12 at No. 10, a one-spot promotion, followed by No. 13 Texas Tech, No. 17 Cincinnati, No. 22 Houston and No. 24 Utah. It’s Houston’s first time in the Top 25 since 2022.
No. 9 Vanderbilt and No. 10 Miami — which is tied with BYU — swapped spots, thanks to Vanderbilt’s 17-10 win over then-No. 15 Missouri. It marked the Commodores’ third regular-season win over a Top 25 opponent, a program record.
LSU’s defeat at the hands of Texas A&M dropped the Tigers out of the rankings despite once polling as high as No. 3 and most recently No. 20. Road losses to Mississippi and Vanderbilt and the 24-point home loss to the Aggies left the Tigers on the outside looking in.
No. 1 Ohio State is again followed by Indiana, Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia and Oregon, though the Hoosiers got six more first-place votes than last week.
Here’s what to know:
Who’s in? Who’s out? No. 22 Houston is ranked for the first time since 2022, though the Cougars won’t face another ranked opponent in this regular season. No. 23 USC, No. 24 Utah and No. 25 Memphis are also in. South Florida, LSU, Illinois and Arizona State dropped out.Who decides the rankings? The Top 25 voters are more than 60 journalists covering college football for AP members and other news organizations. They’re urged to base their votes on head-to-head results, not reputation, preseason speculation or regional bias.Think you know better? Tell us what you think the rankings should be by filling out a ballot in the AP Top 25 fan poll.
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