Michigan State Moves Up To 4 In AP Poll
RALPH D. RUSSO, AP College Football Writer
Three Southeastern Conference teams fell out of the AP Top 25 and Auburn dropped 12 spots Sunday after the league that set a record for most teams in the college football rankings last week had a rough weekend.
Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi State all dropped out after losses Saturday. The Tigers needed overtime to beat Jacksonville State of the FCS and slipped from No. 6 to No. 18.
The SEC was down to seven ranked teams, still the most of any conference.
Ohio State remains No. 1, but the Buckeyes are no longer unanimous. No. 4 Michigan State received two first-place votes from the media panel after beating Oregon 31-28. Alabama remains No. 2. TCU is 3.
No. 19 BYU jumped into the rankings after beating Boise State and knocking out the Broncos. The Cougars were ranked for four weeks early last season before star QB Taysom Hill was injured. Hill went down again in the season opener at Nebraska, but Tanner Mangum has led BYU to two straight victories with late long touchdown pass.
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POLL POINTS
UP AND DOWN
— Oklahoma moved up three spots to No. 16 after coming from 17-0 down to win at Tennessee, 31-24 in double overtime.
— Oregon dropped five spots to No. 12 after its loss at Michigan State.
IN
Also, moving into the rankings this week were No. 23 Northwestern, No. 24 Wisconsin and No. 25 Oklahoma State.
— The Wildcats are ranked for the first time since October 2013.
— The Badgers moved back in after a 58-0 victory against Miami, Ohio. They fell out after the first week of the regular season, when they lost to Alabama.
— The Cowboys are back in the rankings for the first time since falling out last October.
CONFERENCE CALL
Breakdown of ranked teams by conference
SEC — 7
Pac-12 — 5
Big 12 — 4
Big Ten 4
ACC — 3
Independent — 2
RANKED VS. RANKED
No. 15 Mississippi at No. 2 Alabama. The Rebels beat the Crimson Tide in Oxford, Mississippi, last season
No. 14 Georgia Tech at No. 8 Notre Dame. The Yellow Jackets and quarterback Justin Thomas have put up more than 60 points in each of their first two games. The Irish will find out of DeShone Kizer can follow up his amazing debut off the bench as the starting replacement for injured quarterback Malik Zaire.
No. 18 Auburn at No. 13 LSU. The Tigers from Alabama get one more chance to prove they belong in the rankings.
No. 19 BYU at No. 10 UCLA. The comeback Cougars continue college football's toughest September schedule.
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
Oklahoma State got very little support as No. 25 with only 48 points. Not far behind in others receiving votes were Temple (38) and West Virginia (37).
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AP college football website: collegefootball.ap.org
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