Georgia moved to No. 2 in the Associated Press’ first college football poll of the regular season, overtaking Ohio State, after the defending national champions dominated their opener.
Alabama remained No. 1 in the PA Top 25 presented by Regions Bank published on Tuesday, receiving 44 of the media panel’s 63 first place votes and 1,552 points.
The Bulldogs closed the gap on the Crimson Tide after beat Oregon 49-3 Saturday. Georgia received 17 votes for first place.
Ohio State slipped to No. 3 and received two first-place votes. Michigan moved up four spots to No. 4.
Clemson dropped a spot to No. 5.
Florida debuted at No. 12 after its thrilling home win over Utah Saturday evening. The Utes slipped six spots to No. 13 after the loss.
The rest of the top 10 was Texas A&M at No. 6, followed by Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Baylor and Southern California.
USC is in the top 10 for the first time since the last regular season poll in 2017, when the Trojans were eighth.
Eighth-placed Fighting Irish fell three places out of the top five after losing 21-10 to Ohio State.
SURVEY POINTS
Georgia has been ranked No. 1 or 2 in 15 of the last 17 polls, the other two weeks at No. 3.
Since 2017, Georgia has been ranked No. 2 in the nation 13 times and No. 1 nine times, all of them last season.
From 1981 — the season after Georgia won the national title — through 2016, the Bulldogs have been ranked in the top two a total of 10 times.
IN
– Florida’s jump from unranked to No. 12 is the biggest for an unranked team since the first regular season poll of 2016, when Texas landed at No. 11 and Wisconsin at No. 10 after Week 1 wins.
– The No. 24 Tennessee is ranked for the first time under sophomore coach Josh Heupel.
OUT
– Oregon’s humiliating loss to Georgia knocked the Ducks out of the standings. It’s the first time Oregon hasn’t ranked in a poll it was eligible for since the last 2020 AP Top 25 regular season.
– Cincinnati dropped out after lose in arkansas by a touchdown, his first regular season loss since the end of the 2019 season.
For the Bearcats, who made the college football playoffs last year, it snapped a streak of 45 consecutive poll appearances, which was the fifth-longest active streak in the nation.
CONFERENCE CALL
Florida and Tennessee’s entry into the rankings gives the SEC eight ranked teams, the most for a conference since the SEC had eight three times in 2020.
A conference’s record for ranked teams is 10 by the SEC at the start of the 2018 season. From 2011 to 2018, the SEC had eight teams ranked in an AP Top 25 a total of 14 times.
SEC – 8 (#1, 2, 6, 12, 16, 20, 22, 24).
ACC — 5 (#5, 15, 17, 18, 23).
Big Ten – 4 (#3, 4, 14, 19).
Big 12 — 3 (#7, 9, 11).
Pac-12—2 (Nos. 10, 13).
Independents – 2 (nos. 8, 21).
American – 1 (No. 25).
RANKED vs. RANKED
No. 9 Baylor at No. 21 BYU. Future Big 12 game.
No. 20 Kentucky at No. 12 Florida. The first time the two will be ranked when they play since 2007.
No. 24 Tennessee to No. 17 Pitt. First SEC/ACC ranked non-conference game of the season.
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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com
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