New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) – Mississippi State and Florida State
remained the top teams in the latest Associated Press college football poll,
but big wins for Baylor, Arizona State and Ohio State allowed those three
teams to move up in the rankings.
Mississippi State had no trouble in its rout of UT Martin on Saturday in
advance of next week’s mammoth showdown with Alabama in Tuscaloosa, while
Florida State rebounded from a tough first quarter to pull away from Virginia.
The Bulldogs received 48 first-place votes — three more than last week — and
a total of 1,488 points from a nationwide media panel to keep the top spot,
while the Seminoles lost three No. votes and now have 12.
Oregon jumped past Alabama into third after a win over Utah, while the Crimson
Tide gutted out a victory at LSU and stayed fourth. TCU also moved up one spot
into fifth after a blowout of Kansas State in Fort Worth.
Baylor’s surprisingly easy win at Oklahoma moved the Bears four places from
10th to sixth and Arizona State’s victory over Notre Dame pushed the Sun
Devils four spots from 11th to seventh. Ohio State vaulted five places from
13th to eighth after outscoring Michigan State in East Lansing.
Auburn tumbled six spots from third to ninth after a 41-38 home loss to Texas
A&M, a setback that will likely cost the Tigers their spot among the top four
teams in the College Football Playoff rankings when they are announced
Tuesday.
Ole Miss rounds out this week’s top 10, while Nebraska starts the second 10
and is followed by Michigan State, Kansas State, UCLA, Notre Dame, Georgia,
Arizona, Clemson, Duke and LSU.
Michigan State dipped five places from seventh after its home loss and K-State
dropped four spots from ninth after losing at TCU, while the Fighting Irish
had the biggest drop within the poll, falling seven spots from eighth after
its loss in Tempe. LSU tumbled six places from 14th after the overtime loss to
Alabama.
The last five teams ranked this week are Marshall, Wisconsin, Colorado State,
Georgia Tech and Utah. The Utes dropped five spots after losing to Oregon.
Colorado State and Georgia Tech are this week’s newcomers. The Rams are 9-1
with eight straight wins, while the Yellow Jackets are 8-2.
Oklahoma and West Virginia dropped out of this week’s rankings. The Sooners
were 16th and the Mountaineers were 24th.
In addition to this week’s battle between Mississippi State and Alabama, three
other ranked matchups are on the docket. Auburn will visit Georgia in the SEC,
while first place in the Big Ten West is up for grabs when Nebraska travels to
Wisconsin. Also, Georgia Tech hosts Clemson in the ACC.
