Texas A&M fell out of the top five of the Associated Press college football poll on Sunday for the first time in two months, while Texas Tech earned its highest ranking in 17 years as the top five shuffled a week before the postseason bracket was set.
Additionally, a season-high four teams from the Group of Five conferences are ranked in this week’s poll.
No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana, the only remaining undefeated, are the top two teams in the poll heading into their Big Ten title game showdown on Saturday for the seventh consecutive time. No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Oregon each moved up one spot, and Texas Tech’s No. 5 ranking is its best since spending three weeks at No. 2 in November 2008.
The seven consecutive weeks with the same No. 1 and 2 teams is the longest since Georgia and Michigan had the top two for 11 consecutive weeks in 2023.
Ole Miss remained at No. 6, followed by Texas A&M, which slipped four spots after a 10-point loss at Texas. Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Alabama dropped out of the top 10 for the third consecutive week.
The weekend’s results created two top-10 matchups in the conference championship games this Saturday. In addition to the Big Ten showdown, Georgia and Alabama will play for the Southeastern Conference crown.
Other Top 25 matchups pit Texas Tech against No. 11 BYU in the Big 12 title game, while the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game pits 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 are expected to receive an at-large bid into the College Football Playoff. Vanderbilt slipped despite defeating Tennessee by 21 points.
James Madison, which will host Troy for the Sun Belt championship game on Friday, moved up one spot to No. 19 and is the highest-ranked team in the Group of Five. Three teams from the American Conference trail the Dukes: No. 20 North Texas, No. 21 Tulane and No. 23 Navy.
North Texas will visit Tulane on Friday for the American Championship game. Tulane, ranked No. 24, was the only G5 team in last week’s CFP rankings.
Navy, which won 28-17 at Memphis, is ranked in the top 25 for the first time this season and will seek its highest ranking since 2019 in the annual showcase game against Army on Dec. 13.
The American Conference has three top 25 teams, the most since November 20, 2022, when it also had three ranked teams. The league record for teams ranked in 2015 and 2019 is four.
The last time the group of five teams was ranked four was in the final poll for the 2024 season.
Arizona is ranked 22nd for the first time since September 2024. The Wildcats won 23–7 at Arizona State in the Territorial Cup battle and are on a five-game winning streak.
No. 25 Missouri defeated Arkansas by two touchdowns and returned to the poll after a week’s absence.
Tennessee (No. 18), Pittsburgh (No. 24) and SMU (No. 25) were eliminated. The Volunteers’ streak of 33 straight ballot appearances ended after falling to 8–4 with the loss to Vanderbilt.
conference call
SEC (8 ranked teams): Numbers 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 25
Big Ten (5): Numbers 1, 2, 4, 17, 18
Big 12 (4): Numbers 5, 11, 15, 22
acc(3): numbers 12, 16, 24
American (3): Number 20, 21, 23
Independent (1): number nine
Sun Belt (1): number 19
rank vs rank
No. 2 Indiana (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten) vs. No. 1 Ohio State (12-0, 9-0) in Indianapolis: It’s a matchup of the Heisman Trophy front-runners in QB Fernando Mendoza of Indiana and Julian Sayin of Ohio State. The Hoosiers are one of two teams to score more than 530 points this season (532). The Buckeyes are the 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) in Atlanta: This will be the fourth meeting of these teams in the SEC Championship Game since 2018. The Crimson Tide handed Georgia its only loss this season, 24–21, on September 27. The Bulldogs have won eight in a row since then.
No. 11 BYU (11-1, 8-1 Big 12) vs. No. 5 Texas Tech (11-1, 8-1) in Arlington, Texas: Each team will be playing in the Big 12 Championship Game for the first time. The Red Raiders dominated the regular season meeting in Lubbock, winning 29–7.
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