Georgia returns to top spot in AP Top 25
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Georgia was voted No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 for the second time this season Sunday, unbeaten UCLA matched its highest ranking in 25 years and Ohio State's free fall continued after a wild weekend that followed the first College Football Playoff rankings of the year.
Miami became the fourth No. 1 team to get knocked out of the top spot, the most in a single season since 2008. Only one team -- No. 6 Indiana, which was idle -- remained in the same spot it had a week ago in the Top 25.
Georgia turned in one of the most dominant performances of the season in a 42-7 victory at Mississippi on Saturday. The Bulldogs had been No. 1 for one week when they were upset by Auburn on Oct. 17 but never dropped out of the top five, and they were the voters' choice for No. 1 by a wide margin over Utah and Notre Dame.
Utah moved up one spot to No. 2 after its 28-20 win over rival BYU and the Utes now have their highest-ever AP ranking in the regular season. The Fighting Irish's 31-24 win over Miami pushed them up one rung to No. 3, while the Hurricanes fell to No. 5 after their first loss.
Georgia earned 53 of the 70 first-place votes from the media voting panel. Utah received 12 first-place votes and Notre Dame got five.
UCLA is 9-0 for the first time since 1998 and moved up to No. 4. It's the Bruins' highest ranking since their 2001 team was No. 4 following a 6-0 start. After Miami, Indiana, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee and Texas Tech completed the top 10.
Alabama and Texas both were rewarded for road wins and moved up two spots. The Crimson Tide won at LSU and the Longhorns at Missouri.
Tennessee jumped from No. 16 to No. 9, its highest ranking in two years, after an impressive 34-6 win over a top-10 Kentucky. Texas Tech returned to the top 10 after outscoring West Virginia 53-48.
Ohio State, which was No. 2 two weeks ago, went from No. 11 after its loss at Southern California to No. 21 this week after a 41-28 home loss to Oregon. The Buckeyes hadn't been ranked so low, excluding the 2020 pandemic season, since 2014.
Saturday's games:
No. 4 Notre Dame 31, No. 1 Miami 24: CJ Carr threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 4 Notre Dame avenged its most damaging loss from last season by running out to a 21-point lead and holding on to beat No. 1 Miami on Saturday night. Micah Gilbert caught two of those scoring passes, Jordan Faison had the other and Nolan James Jr. had a rushing score for Notre Dame (8-1, No. 11 College Football Playoff), which came into the game knowing another loss to Miami could doom its national championship hopes.
NO. 2 GEORGIA 42, NO. 12 MISSISSIPPI 7: Gunner Stockton passed for four touchdowns and ran for another as Georgia coasted to a win over Mississippi. Georgia (8-1, 6-1 Southeastern Conference, No. 2 CFP) dominated the opening 22 minutes with touchdown drives of 72, 96, 61 and 50 yards while Ole Miss crossed midfield once.
NO. 3 UTAH 28, NO. 7 BYU 20: Devon Dampier accounted for four touchdowns, Utah intercepted four Bear Bachmeier passes and the Utes remained undefeated with a victory over BYU.
NO. 5 UCLA 34, MINNESOTA 20: Ty Dieffenbach threw two 75-yard touchdown passes to Aidan Mizell in the fourth quarter for UCLA, as the Bruins sped away from Minnesota to stay undefeated with a victory.
NO. 16 TENNESSEE 34, NO. 8 KENTUCKY 6: Daune Morris had an 66-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and Tennessee's stifling defense shut down Kentucky.
NO. 9 ALABAMA 31, NO. 15 LSU 13: Keelon Russell passed for three touchdowns, Alabama's defense made several pivotal fourth-down stops, and the ninth-ranked Crimson Tide pulled away for a victory over LSU.
NO. 10 TEXAS 34, NO. 19 MISSOURI 20: Arch Manning threw for 297 yards and three touchdowns, including the go-ahead TD pass to Raleek Brown with just over five minutes to go, and Texas rallied to beat Missouri and keep alive its College Football Playoff hopes.
OREGON 41, NO. 11 OHIO ST. 28: Dierre Hill Jr. rushed for two touchdowns, Dylan Raiola passed for 257 yards and Oregon rallied from an early two-touchdown deficit to hammer Ohio State.
NO. 13 TEXAS TECH 53, WEST VIRGINIA 48: Thomas Castellanos threw for a career-high five touchdowns, including the go-ahead score to Kenny Johnson with 2:44 remaining, and Texas Tech held on for a victory over West Virginia in an old-school Big 12 offensive slugfest.
NO. 17 HOUSTON 31, CINCINNATI 24: Re'Shaun Sanford II ran for 126 yards and the tiebreaking score in the fourth quarter, and Conner Weigman threw for 227 yards and two touchdowns as Houston beat Cincinnati.
NO. 21 IOWA 24, NORTHWESTERN 10: Hank Brown threw for a touchdown and ran for another, and Braeden Jackson returned a kickoff for a TD for the second time this season as Iowa beat Northwestern for the fifth straight time and dealt the Wildcats their first loss at the new Ryan Field.
OKLAHOMA 23, NO. 25 FLORIDA 7: John Mateer did just enough with his legs and arm under new play-caller Jason Witten and Oklahoma's tough defense took care of the rest as the Sooners throttled Florida.