Georgia moved up one spot to No. 4 in The Associated Press poll Sunday, Oklahoma returned to the top 10 and North Texas, ranked for the first time since 1959, is among three Group of Five teams in the Top 25.
Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M were the top three teams for the fifth straight week. Georgia earned its highest ranking since the first week of September and Mississippi was back in the top five after spending three weeks there at midseason.
Oregon and Texas Tech were tied for No. 6, and Oklahoma rose three spots to No. 8 following its win at Alabama. The Sooners were last in the top 10, at No. 6, the second week of October.
Notre Dame remained No. 9 after a 22-point win at Pittsburgh and Alabama dropped six spots to No. 10 after the Sooners ended its eight-game win streak.
Ohio State, which rolled past UCLA to improve to 10-0 for the fourth time in seven seasons, received 57 of 66 first-place votes. Indiana, which beat Wisconsin to go 11-0 for the first time, got eight first-place votes. Texas A&M, whose comeback from a 27-point deficit to beat South Carolina was its largest ever, got one first-place vote, three less than last week.
Georgia's 35-10 win over Texas was its sixth straight and second over a top-10 opponent. Mississippi, which lost at Georgia a month ago, defeated Florida and is more than 100 points behind the Bulldogs at No. 5.
The Group of Five hadn't had three teams in the Top 25 since four appeared in last season's final poll.
The Sun Belt Conference's James Madison blew out Appalachian State and moved up three spots to No. 21. North Texas is next at No. 22. The Mean Green of the American Conference clobbered UAB 53-24 on the road and have matched their best start in program history.
The last time UNT was 9-1 was in 1959, when the team then known as the Eagles was ranked two straight weeks in November, reaching No. 16. That team lost to New Mexico State in the Sun Bowl to finish 9-2. This year's UNT team already is eligible for a second straight bowl game and is in the thick of the race for the Group of Five's automatic CFP bid.
— No. 22 North Texas' first appearance in the poll in 66 years ends the longest drought by a Bowl Subdivision team.
— No. 23 Missouri returned after a one-week absence following a win over Mississippi State in which Ahmad Hardy became the first player since 2022 to rush for 300 yards.
— No. 24 Tulane has won two straight since losing to UTSA and is ranked for the first time this season.
— No. 25 Houston, fifth among teams also receiving votes last week and idle, were ranked for one week in October.
Louisville (19), Cincinnati (22), Pittsburgh (23) and South Florida (25) dropped out.
— Voters did what the CFP selection committee did last week, jumping Miami over Georgia Tech to make the Hurricanes the highest-ranked Atlantic Coast Conference team. Miami easily beat North Carolina State and moved up two spots to No. 14. Georgia Tech, which needed a field goal in the final seconds to edge one-win Boston College, slipped a spot to No. 15.
— No. 13 Utah has outscored three opponents by a combined 153-49 since losing at BYU and has its highest ranking of the season.
— No. 17 Texas took the biggest plunge, dropping seven spots.
SEC (9): Nos. 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 17, 20, 23.
Big Ten (5): Nos. 1, 2, T-6, 16, 18.
Big 12 (4): Nos. T-6, 11, 13, 25.
ACC (3): Nos. 14, 15, 19.
American (2): Nos. 22, 24.
Sun Belt (1): No. 21.
Independent (1): No. 9.
No. 16 Southern California (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten, No. 17 CFP) at No. 6 Oregon (9-1, 6-1, No. 8 CFP): Winner strengthens its position for a CFP at-large bid and keeps alive slim hopes of sneaking into the Big Ten championship game.
No. 23 Missouri (7-3, 3-3 SEC) at No. 8 Oklahoma (8-2, 4-2, No. 11 CFP): Sooners did wonders for their playoff resume by knocking off Alabama on the road and now go for a fifth win over a Top 25 opponent.
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
FILE - North Texas offensive lineman Tay Yanta II (70) and North Texas linebacker Shane Whitter (7) lead the team onto the field before an NCAA college football game against South Florida Oct. 10, 2025, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez, File)
It was no big secret that the College Football Playoff selection committee might have an “Alabama problem” by the end of Saturday's Southeastern Conference title game, especially if the Crimson Tide lost. Turns out, they got whupped so badly by Georgia, they might have solved that problem themselves.
Alabama's third loss of the season was a 28-7 beatdown that wasn't that close. And though it might seem unfair to penalize the program for playing in the SEC title game — an extra game against the third-ranked team that the others didn't have to play — it also might be hard for the committee to ignore what it saw.
The Crimson Tide came into this game ranked ninth, presumably high enough to lose and still make the 12-team field that will be announced Sunday. But No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 12 Miami are lurking behind, each with an easier schedule than the Tide, but both with a solid case for the playoff themselves.
There's not room for more than two of those three.
If the committee bypasses the Tide, it will be the second straight year that's happened. Making it worse is that last year, they were left behind in favor of SMU, a team the committee decided shouldn't be penalized for losing its conference title game (in the weaker Atlantic Coast Conference). SMU's loss was close. This one wasn't.
Now, the committee has to decide how to solve its Alabama problem.
One of the nightcaps Saturday pitted No. 17 Virginia against unranked Duke in the ACC title game. A Duke win would bring with it the possibility of the ACC champion being left out of the playoff.
The CFP rules call for the five best-ranked conference titlists to earn spots in the 12-team bracket. Tulane (American), ranked 20th in the latest CFP standings, and No. 25 James Madison (Sun Belt) each became conference champions with wins Friday night.
If the Blue Devils beat CFP No. 17 Virginia, there’s at least a chance that James Madison could be ranked ahead of them and take that spot that was presumed to be for the ACC winner.
“They’re tough. And I think they believe,” JMU coach Bob Chesney said after his team beat Troy on Friday to place the spotlight on that ACC game. “They know who they are and they know what they’re capable of.”
Though Alabama's loss provided another potentially helpful “data point” — a term the selection committee loves — Notre Dame and Miami always knew they would spend a restless night on the bubble.
The Fighting Irish, who moved down one spot despite a 49-20 win over Stanford last week, got what they needed when BYU lost badly in the Big 12 title game to kick off Saturday's title-game action. The Alabama loss didn't hurt, either.
Now, there's a chance that Notre Dame and Miami, each with 10-2 records, could be scrunched right next to each other in Sunday's rankings. The best way, of course, to compare two teams with the same record placed next to each other in the rankings would be to look at how they did if they played each other. In this case, voila, there's a “data point.” Miami beat Notre Dame in Week 1.
If they end up at 9 and 10 (see above on Alabama), then they'll both make the field and a lot of this won't matter. But if Alabama doesn't fall that much, and one of them ends up at No. 11, then the committee's treatment of the head-to-head matchup will mean everything.
This issue has come up almost every week so far. Committee chair Hunter Yurachek has never really been clear about any of it.
“A little bit of confusion. You're confused in terms of what we could have done differently and why we fell when we won 49-20,” Irish coach Marcus Freeman said. “We were up 42-6 going into the fourth quarter. I don't spend time talking about other teams, but it's what could we have done differently? I don't know.”
1 vs. 2: Will the loser of Saturday night's Ohio State-Indiana Big Ten title game drop from a top-four position and, thus, not get the valuable first-round bye? Likewise, will No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 8 Oklahoma — all of the SEC, all of whom didn't play — jump past the Tide?
Home field and other things: Alabama's loss left the Sooners in good shape for a home game in the first round. ... Meanwhile, CFP No. 13 Texas had to be hating Saturday. Even if the idle Longhorns (9-3) vault ahead of Alabama, they would still need a miracle to get in. They came into the season ranked No. 1 in the AP poll and had the nation's most hyped quarterback in Arch Manning. They have wins over top-15 teams Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. They also lost at Florida — the Gators were bad this year — and got stomped by Georgia. They are staring at the likelihood of watching their archrival, Oklahoma, and two other teams from Texas play in the playoff while they sit it out.
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
Alabama head coach Kalen Deboer speaks to an official during the first half of a Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game between Georgia and Alabama, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Georgia defensive back Daylen Everette (6) runs an intercepted ball against Alabama wide receiver Germie Bernard (5) during the first half of a Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
