Current:Home > MarketsAP Top 25: SEC grabs six of the first seven spots in rankings as Notre Dame tumbles to No. 18 -Trailblazer Capital Learning
AP Top 25: SEC grabs six of the first seven spots in rankings as Notre Dame tumbles to No. 18
View
Date:2025-04-13 13:14:48
After the first shake-up of the college football season, the Southeastern Conference grabbed six of the top seven spots in the AP Top 25 — a first in the 88-year history of the rankings — and Notre Dame tumbled all the way to No. 18 on Sunday after being stunned at home.
Georgia received 54 out of a possible 63 first-place votes to keep a firm hold on No. 1. No. 2 Texas jumped a spot after dominating defending national champion Michigan on the road and received four first-place votes. The Longhorns have their best ranking since finishing second in 2009.
The Wolverines were down to No. 17.
No. 3 Ohio State from the Big Ten Conference slipped a spot. Then it was four more SEC teams. Alabama held steady at No. 4 and Mississippi moved up a spot to No. 5.
Missouri moved up three spots to No. 6 and Tennessee made a big jump from No. 14 to No. 7 after routing North Carolina State in Charlotte.
With the SEC bigger (16 teams) — and seemingly better — than ever given the additions of Texas and Oklahoma — the circumstances were right for an early season takeover like never before.
Not only is six of the top seven teams from one conference a record for a poll, but never before had a single league held as many as five of the top seven places.
Those teams will start playing each other in the coming weeks so it is unlikely the SEC can keep this up, but it’s a stark example of what’s possible in the superconference era.
Especially after the first huge upset of the college football season. Notre Dame’s 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois marked the first time a top-five team lost to an unranked team since the 2022 season, when Purdue knocked off then-No. 2 Iowa on Nov. 5, 2022.
The Huskies’ victory, the first top-five win for a Mid-American Conference team in league history, landed Northern Illinois at No. 25 in the rankings. NIU is ranked for the first time since 2013 and is the first team from non-Power Four conference to be ranked this season.
Rounding out the top 10 were No. 8 Penn State and No. 9 Oregon of the Big Ten and No. 10 Miami. The Ducks slip two spots after a wild, comeback victory against Boise State.
Poll points
Northern Illinois is one of four teams to move into the rankings this week for the first time this season, most notably Nebraska at No. 23.
The Cornhuskers are ranked for the first time since 2019 after easily handling Colorado at home. That was a brief stay. After starting that season ranked No. 24, the Huskers lost in Week 2, fell out the rankings and have been gone ever since.
The last sustained season in the rankings for Nebraska was 2016, though even that season ended with the Huskers unranked. They have not finished a season ranked since 2012. That’s what second-year coach Matt Rhule and freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola are aiming for.
Just a reminder: Nebraska still owns the record for the longest streak of poll appearances with 348 under coach Tom Osborne from 1981-2002. The second-best streak is Alabama’s active 264 straight weeks ranked.
In and out
The turnover came from the bottom of the rankings, where Kansas, Iowa, Georgia Tech and North Carolina State all fell out after losses.
No. 21 Iowa State essentially switched places with its Cy-Hawk rivals by beating Iowa.
Last week, Georgia Tech made its first appearance in the AP Top 25 since 2015, snapping one of the longest active droughts among power conference teams. The Yellow Jackets lasted only a week after losing at Syracuse, but another Atlantic Coast Conference team snapped its own lengthy drought.
No. 24 Boston College is ranked for the first time since 2018.
Conference call
The only other time a conference had four of the top five teams was the SEC on Oct. 19, 2014, when Mississippi State was No. 1, Ole Miss was third, Alabama was fourth and Auburn was fifth.
SEC — 8 (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 15, 16).
Big Ten — 6 (Nos. 3, 8, 9, 11, 17, 23).
Big 12 — 5 (Nos. 12, 13, 14, 20, 21).
ACC — 4 (Nos. 10, 19, 22, 24).
MAC — 1 (No. 25).
Independent — 1 (No. 18).
Ranked vs. ranked
No. 20 Arizona at No. 14 Kansas State, Thursday. A Big 12 game that’s not actually a Big 12 game. This is a nonconference matchup that already was set before realignment.
No. 24 Boston College at No. 6 Missouri, Saturday. An unexpectedly ranked ACC-SEC matchup.
___
Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
veryGood! (424)
Related
- Opinion: Gianni Infantino, FIFA sell souls and 2034 World Cup for Saudi Arabia's billions
- Man who followed woman into her NYC apartment and stabbed her to death sentenced to 30 years to life
- Terrell Davis says United banned him after flight incident. Airline says it was already rescinded
- Judges strike down Tennessee law to cut Nashville council in half
- Could your smelly farts help science?
- Disney Store's new Halloween costumes include princesses, 'Inside Out 2' emotions
- Stephen Nedoroscik pommel horse: Social media reacts to American gymnast's bronze medal-clinching routine
- Donald Trump to attend Black journalists’ convention in Chicago
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- Watch as rescuers save Georgia man who fell down 50-foot well while looking for phone
Ranking
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- Best of 'ArtButMakeItSports': Famed Social media account dominates Paris Olympics' first week
- What to watch for the Paris Olympics: Simone Biles leads US in gymnastics final Tuesday, July 30
- US golf team's Olympic threads could be divisive. That's the point
- The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
- William Calley, who led the My Lai massacre that shamed US military in Vietnam, has died
- Investigation finds at least 973 Native American children died in abusive US boarding schools
- Two men killed in California road rage dispute turned deadly with kids present: Police
Recommendation
Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
Detroit woman who pleaded guilty in death of son found in freezer sentenced to 35 to 60 years
2024 Olympics: Why Hezly Rivera Won’t Compete in Women’s Gymnastics Final
2024 Olympics: Jade Carey Makes Epic Return to Vault After Fall at Gymnastics Qualifiers
Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
Kim Johnson, 2002 'Survivor: Africa' runner-up, dies at 79: Reports
2024 Olympics: Egyptian Fencer Nada Hafez Shares She Competed in Paris Games While 7 Months Pregnant
Illinois sheriff, whose deputy killed Sonya Massey apologizes: ‘I offer up no excuses’