UCF climbs, Miami plummets in latest AP poll, as Florida enters and FSU falls out
No. 11 LSU and No. 12 Virginia Tech made the biggest jumps in the first Associated Press college football poll of the regular season while No. 4 Ohio State leapfrogged No. 5 Wisconsin after a week in which most off the top teams were unchallenged.
Alabama remained No. 1 with a blowout of Louisville, and No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Georgia held their spots in the poll released Tuesday. The Crimson Tide received 48 first-place votes, Clemson had 12 and Wisconsin had one. The Buckeyes are just four points ahead of the Badgers and only nine points ahead of No. 6 Oklahoma.
LSU, which was ranked No. 25 in the preseason, moved up 14 spots after beating Miami 33-17 in one of four games that matched ranked teams. The Hurricanes dropped from No. 8 to No. 22. Virginia Tech won 24-3 at Florida State and moved up eight spots.
The Seminoles fell out of the rankings after being 19th. Texas, which was No. 23 in the preseason poll, didn't receive any votes in the latest poll.
UCF, which throttled Connecticut in a season-opening conference clash, moved up two spots No. 19, making them the highest-ranked team in the Sunshine State.
Florida was unranked to begin the season and came in at No. 25 after their dominating win over Charleston Southern.
No. 4 Ohio State moved up a spot after scoring 77 points against Oregon State. Auburn jumped two spots to No. 7 after beating Washington.
The ninth-ranked Huskies dropped three places. No. 8 Notre Dame moved up four spots after beating Michigan, which fell from 14 to No. 21.
POLL POINTS
Alabama tied Ohio State for most appearances at No. 1 in the history of the AP college football poll, which started in 1936. Barring an historic upset, Alabama should break the record Sunday after playing Arkansas State on Saturday in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama — 105 weeks at No. 1
Ohio State — 105
Oklahoma — 101
Notre Dame — 98
Southern California — 91
Florida State — 72
Nebraska — 70
CONFERENCE CALL
Week one was good for the Southeastern Conference, which went 13-1 including two victories against ACC opponents, one versus the Pac-12 and one against the Big 12. The SEC has seven teams ranked this week, the most for the conference since Oct. 16, 2016, when eight were ranked.
SEC — 7
Big Ten — 5
Pac-12 — 4
ACC — 3
Big 12 — 3
American — 1
Mountain West — 1
Independent — 1
RANKED VS. RANKED
No. 3 Georgia at No. 24 South Carolina this week. Big opportunity for the Gamecocks, who are ranked for the first time since Sept. 21, 2014.
No. 17 Southern California at No. 10 Stanford. The Cardinal have been in control of this rivalry for most of the past decade, but the Trojans swept Stanford last season — including a victory in the Pac-12 championship game.
