The Big 12 has five teams in the Top 25 for the first time this season, Vanderbilt earned its highest ranking in 88 years and LSU dropped out of The Associated Press college football poll Sunday following its third loss in four games.
The top six was unchanged, with Ohio State holding the No. 1 spot for a ninth straight week followed by Indiana, Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia and Oregon.
The idle Buckeyes received 53 first-place votes and the Hoosiers got 11, six more than last week. Texas A&M was No. 1 on one ballot.
No. 7 Mississippi and No. 8 Georgia Tech swapped spots, as did No. 9 Vanderbilt and Miami, which is tied at No. 10 with BYU.
The Big 12’s five ranked teams are BYU, No. 13 Texas Tech, No. 17 Cincinnati, No. 22 Houston and No. 24 Utah. The Big 12 last had five Top 25 teams in the Sept. 22, 2024, poll.
Houston, which knocked off then-No. 24 Arizona State 24-16 for its first road win against a ranked opponent since 2017, is in the Top 25 for the first time since the first two polls in 2022.
Vanderbilt's 17-10 win over then-No. 15 Missouri gave the Commodores a 7-1 start for the first time since 1941 and, at No. 9, its highest ranking since it was No. 7 for one week in 1937. Vandy has a program-record three regular-season wins over Top 25 opponents.
LSU was ranked as high as No. 3 for three weeks in September and in the top 10 for the first five polls. Road losses to Mississippi and Vanderbilt and this weekened's 24-point home loss against Texas A&M put the Tigers on the outside looking in.
It's the second straight year the Tigers have taken a fast fall. They were No. 8 a year ago and dropped out after three straight losses.
— No. 22 Houston, at 7-1, has its best start since 2021, two years before it joined the Big 12. None of the Cougars' four remaining regular-season games are against ranked opponents.
— No. 23 Southern California, which was idle following its 34-24 loss at Notre Dame, faces a challenging game at Nebraska.
— No. 24 Utah hammered Colorado 53-7 with Byrd Ficklin starting in place of injured quarterback Devon Dampier and leading an offense that rushed for 422 of its 587 total yards.
— No. 25 Memphis rebounded from its loss to UAB with a 34-31 win over South Florida to pull into a four-way tie for third place in the American behind Navy and Tulane.
— South Florida (18), LSU (20), Illinois (23) and Arizona State (24) dropped out.
— The last time Texas A&M received a first-place vote was Oct. 11, 2015.
— No. 12 Notre Dame appeared in its 900th poll, tied for fourth-most all-time.
— No. 15 Virginia has its highest ranking since it was No. 10 on Nov. 7, 2004.
— The top six were unchanged for the first time since Nov. 12, 2023, when the top eight stood pat.
SEC (9 teams) — Nos. 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 14, 18, 19, 20.
Big Ten (5) — Nos. 1, 2, 6, 21, 23.
Big 12 (5) — Nos. T-10, 13, 17, 22, 24.
ACC (4) — Nos. 8, T-10, 15, 16.
American (1) — No. 25.
Independent (1) — No. 12.
— No. 9 Vanderbilt (7-1, 3-1 SEC) at No. 20 Texas (6-2, 3-1): Status of Texas QB Arch Manning uncertain after he banged his head on the turf on the first play of overtime in the win over Mississippi State.
— No. 17 Cincinnati (7-1, 5-0 Big 12) at No. 24 Utah (6-2, 3-2): Bearcats are on a seven-game win streak. Utes in a must-win situation the rest of season to stay in Big 12 race.
— No. 18 Oklahoma (6-2, 2-2 SEC) at No. 14 Tennessee (6-2, 3-2): Sooners' best-in-the-SEC defense gave up a bevy of big plays to Mississippi and now face one of the most explosive offenses in the country.
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Houston quarterback Conner Weigman (1) throws against Arizona State during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.
Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.
The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.
Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.
In Friday’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation, and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting and thus depriving some Cabinet members who were not convened of their due rights to deliberate on his decree.
Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.
Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”
Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.
Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.
South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.
South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.
Some observers say Yoon will likely retain a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.
On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.
No major violence occurred, but Yoon's stunt caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.
After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.
Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
