AP Top 25: Oregon, Penn State move behind No. 1 Texas. Army, Navy both ranked for 1st time since ’60
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Oregon and Penn State each moved up a spot in The Associated Press college football poll on Sunday following thrilling wins in high-profile games, and Top 25 newcomers Navy and Army are in the rankings together for the first time since 1960.
Texas strengthened its hold on No. 1 with its 31-point victory over Oklahoma. The Longhorns received 56 of 62 first-place votes, four more than last week and their most since they were a unanimous No. 1 in October 2008.
This weekend wasn’t as crazy as the week before, when four of the top 11 teams were upset and only two teams held their spots in the ensuing rankings shuffle.
That’s not to say Week 7 was devoid of excitement.
Oregon’s 32-31 home win over Ohio State featured seven lead changes and moved the Ducks to No. 2 with the other six first-place votes. It’s their highest ranking since they ended the 2014 season at No. 2 after losing to the Buckeyes in the inaugural College Football Playoff championship game.
Penn State rose to No. 3 with a 33-30 overtime win at Southern California, the Nittany Lions’ highest ranking in seven years.
Penn State-USC was one of four games involving AP Top 25 teams that went to OT on Saturday, including three in the top 10.
Ohio State dropped two spots to No. 4 and Georgia remained No. 5. Miami, Alabama, LSU, Iowa State and Clemson rounded out the top 10.
Army, which beat UAB 44-10, and Navy, which was idle, broke through for their first simultaneous rankings since Oct. 3, 1960.
Their coinciding appearance that season lasted just one week. Army was 3-0 and ranked No. 18 before dropping two straight games and finishing 6-3-1. Navy had entered the rankings a week earlier, at No. 17, and ended the season 9-2 and ranked No. 4.
Army (6-0) and Navy (5-0) have not each been unbeaten at this point in a season since 1945, weeks after World War II ended and in the era when service academies were powerhouses of the sport.
Poll points
LSU and Mississippi were the biggest movers in the wake of the Tigers’ 29-26 overtime win. The Tigers went from No. 13 to No. 8, their first top-10 appearance since they were No. 5 in the 2023 preseason poll. Mississippi, which lost for the second time in three games, dropped from No. 9 all the way to No. 18.
No. 9 Iowa State, 6-0 for the first time since 1938, has its highest ranking since September 2021.
Tennessee had been in the top 10 in four straight polls before slipping to No. 11 following its 23-17 overtime win over Florida.
The Southeastern Conference holds down eight spots in the AP Top 25. The Big Ten continues to have three teams in the top five — Oregon, Penn State and Ohio State — and six in the Top 25.
In-and-out
Army and Navy are the only teams making their season debuts in the poll.
Utah, which has lost two straight, dropped out following its 27-19 loss at Arizona State.
Oklahoma, which had been No. 18 before its loss to Texas, is out of the AP Top 25 for the first time since the end of the 2022 season.
Conference call
SEC — 8 (Nos. 1, 5, 7, 8, 11, 14, 18, 19).
Big Ten — 6 (Nos. 2, 3, 4, 16, 22, 24).
ACC — 4 (Nos. 6, 10, 20, 21).
Big 12 — 3 (Nos. 9, 13, 17).
American — 2 (Nos. 23, 25).
Mountain West — 1 (No. 15).
Independent — 1 (No. 12).
Ranked vs. Ranked
—No. 5 Georgia at No. 1 Texas. This will be the third top-five matchup in four weeks following Georgia-Alabama and Ohio State-Oregon. The Bulldogs hope things go better than they did against ‘Bama. It’s only the fifth Georgia-Texas meeting since 1949 and first since the Longhorns won 28-21 in the 2019 Sugar Bowl.
—No. 7 Alabama at No. 11 Tennessee. Some of the shine has come off this matchup with Alabama’s loss to Vanderbilt and its struggle against South Carolina and Tennessee’s loss to Arkansas and overtime grind against Florida.
—No. 24 Michigan at No. 22 Illinois. This is the first time since 2001 that both are in the AP Top 25 entering their game. Some fans might wonder why either team is ranked this time. Two-loss Michigan, coming off an open date, has been dreadful on offense. The one-loss Illini held off lowly Purdue 50-49 in overtime at home.
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