Georgia regains first place in Associated Press college football poll of Alabama on Sunday after being hit by Crimson Tide last week, who slipped to third.
The Bulldogs had 32 first-place votes and 1,535 points in the top 25, given by the Bank of Regions, to easily reclaim the top spot. And they were just two points behind Alabama in second place last week.
Georgia beat Auburn 42-10 on Saturday. Tide, who missed Heisman Award-winning quarterback Bryce Young through injury, survived a surprise attempt at home by Texas A&M.
Ohio State moved up to number two, with 20 first-place votes and 1,507 points.
#3 is Alabama’s low season, which was pre-season #1 but dropped to #2 after Week 2. Tide had 11 first-place votes.
There have been two notable seasons debuting in the Top 25: Illinois is ranked #24 for the first time since 2011 and James Madison is in the AP Top 25 for the first time in the program’s history. The Dukes are playing their first season as a member of the Sun Belt Conference at the top level of Division I football.
Clemson outpaced Michigan and moved up to fourth and the Wolverines dropped one place to No. 5.
Tennessee climbed to sixth, the best-ranked for the currently undefeated Volunteers since No. 5 early in the 2005 season. Tennessee faltered to 5-6 and finished without a ranking that year.
Southern California fell one place to No. 7, and Oklahoma, Mississippi and Pennsylvania took their places to move closer to the top ten.
poll points
Georgia’s cabinet change from number one to number two and back to number one over three polls hasn’t happened in more than a decade.
Florida slipped back and forth between Nos 1 and 2 in 2009, and flopped with Alabama as both teams won in late October.
The Tide is the first team to drop from first to third after winning in 25, when Nebraska beat Missouri in overtime on the famous “Flea Kicker.” Michigan jumped from fourth to number one on November 10, 1997, after a 34-8 win for second place at Penn State.
in
A week after Kansas handed over the shameful title to the Power Five conference team with its longest streak of unclassification to Illinois, the Illini are now out of the Schneids in their second year under head coach Brett Bilima.
Illinois improves to 5-1 with win over Iowa It fell in the poll for the first time since October 16, 2011 – 178 polls.
Next on the list of the longest-rated Power Five school droughts are: Rutgers (2012), Oregon State (2013 pre-season) and Vanderbilt (2013 final), Georgia Tech (2015), Arizona (2017).
-James Madison has been a solid center in the NCAA subdivision for years, winning a national title in 2016 and losing to North Dakota State in an NCAA Championship game in 2017 and 19. The Dukes have had no trouble rising so far, as they advanced 5 -0 averaging 44 points per game.
JMU’s transition was different from the others, who take a year or two to acclimatize before playing a full FBS schedule where they accumulate from 63 players to 85 players.
With the help of temporary changes to eligibility rules due to the pandemic, as well as relaxed transfer rules, the Dukes were able to dip into a more FBS-ready roster, coach Kurt Sinniti told The Associated Press.
“There were a lot of unknowns coming into the season,” Cignetti said. “The only thing about our show is that we have had such a huge success from 2016 onwards… There is a culture here, a standard, an expectation. And our guys expect to win every time we go out.”
Since Division I football split into subdivisions in 1978, the JMU has been the first team to be ranked in a season it has been on the move.
“All the national publicity we’ve had has been so positive for the university, the program, the sports department, being supportive and supportive of us,” said Cignetti, son of Hall of Fame coach Frank Cignetti, who died in September. “Reaching into the top 25, that’s just another step.”
– No. 22, Texas was ranked again after outselling rival Oklahoma and tied with Kentucky in the top 25.
Outside
BYU is unranked for the first time this season after losing to Notre Dame.
Washington withdrew from the rating after a second consecutive loss.
– LSU’s return to the Top 25 was brief after being battered at home by Tennessee.
conference call
The Sun Belt went from its debut in 2001 to 2015 without a ranked team. The conference now has at least one team ranked for at least one week each of the past five seasons and six of the last seven.
James Madison is the second Sunbelt team to reach the top 25 this season, along with Appalachian State.
SEC – 6 (No. 1, 3, 6, 9, 16, 22).
Big 12-5 (8, 13, 17, 19, 22).
ACC – 4 (4, 14, 15, 18).
Big Ten – 4 (No. 2, 5, 10, 24).
Pac-12-4 (Figures 7, 11, 12, and 20).
American – 1 (No. 21).
Sunbelt – 1 (No. 25).
rank vs rank
Six high season matches match the ranked teams:
No. 10 Pennsylvania at No. 5 Michigan. The third top 10 game in the series and the first since 1997.
No. 3 Alabama at No. 6 Tennessee. Second best 10 game since 2000.
No. 8 Oklahoma State at No. 13 TCU. Horned Frogs has had its best rating since being ranked 9 in 2017.
No. 15 North Carolina at No. 18 Syracuse. Syracuse’s first home-seeded match since 2001.
No. 16 Mississippi at No. 22 Kentucky. The teams will meet for the first time as seeded teams in 49 matches.
USC’s No. 7 is in Utah’s No. 20. The second match in a row against the Los Angeles team, ranked in favor of Utis.
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Follow Ralph De Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen to http://www.appodcasts.com
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