AP Top 25: After impressive wins, Boise State, BYU enter poll

RALPH D. RUSSO, Associated Press

Tennessee moved up to No. 5 successful The Associated Press assemblage shot canvass Sunday arsenic nan Volunteers continued to surge up nan rankings, and No. 25 Boise State returned to nan AP Top 25 for nan first clip successful 4 years.

Texas was No. 1 for nan 2nd consecutive week, receiving 44 of 62 first-place votes arsenic nan apical 4 teams remained nan same. The Longhorns won a crippled arsenic nan top-ranked squad successful nan state for nan first clip since 2008, cruising past Louisiana-Monroe successful backmost Arch Manning’s first profession start.

Georgia held astatine No. 2, receiving 13 first-place votes, and Ohio State is No. 3 pinch 5 first-place votes. Alabama is No. 4.

The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide were each disconnected this past play arsenic they hole to meet adjacent Saturday successful Tuscaloosa for a top-five matchup.

The Volunteers welcomed Oklahoma to nan Southeastern Conference pinch a 25-15 roadworthy triumph that helped Tennessee emergence successful nan rankings for nan 4th consecutive week. The Vols started nan play classed No. 15, past went to No. 14 aft Week 1, No. 7 aft Week 2 and No. 6 past week.

Tennessee was past successful nan apical 5 successful 2022, peaking astatine No. 2 connected Oct. 30.

Mississippi slipped a spot to No. 6 and No. 7 Miami, No. 8 Oregon and No. 9 Penn State each moved up 1 place.

No. 10 Utah moved up 2 spots aft beating Oklahoma State connected nan roadworthy successful a matchup of classed Big 12 teams.

Boise State is making its first canvass quality since a two-week enactment successful early November 2020. The Broncos, 2 weeks removed from losing astatine Oregon connected a last-second section goal, improved to 2-1 pinch a blowout of Portland State connected Saturday.

Poll points
The SEC’s stranglehold connected nan apical of nan rankings loosened a little, pinch Missouri’s overtime triumph against Vanderbilt dropping nan Tigers 4 spots to No. 11. The convention still reached different milestone.

The SEC had gone 2 consecutive weeks holding down six of nan apical 7 spots successful nan rankings, a first for 1 convention successful canvass history. No convention antecedently moreover held 5 of nan apical 7 spots, which nan now 16-team SEC still has this week.

With Missouri slipping, nan SEC still holds 5 of nan apical six spots, and it’s connected a three-week streak of owning 4 of nan apical five. That streak is different AP canvass first.

The only different clip successful nan 88-year history of nan canvass that a convention had 4 of nan apical 5 classed teams was nan SEC connected Oct. 19, 2014 (No. 1 Mississippi State, No. 3 Mississippi, No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Auburn). That lasted a week.

In-and-out
Boise State’s absence from nan AP rankings had been notable aft nan Broncos became a canvass fixture for astir 2 decades.

Boise State went 19 consecutive seasons making astatine slightest 1 quality successful nan AP Top 25, from its first-ever quality successful 2002 to 2020. The Broncos vanished nan play classed 13 times during that span.

No. 22 BYU besides made its play debut successful nan rankings. The Cougars (4-0) are successful for nan first clip since Oct. 2, 2022, aft routing Kansas State astatine location Saturday night. The nonaccomplishment dropped nan antecedently unbeaten Wildcats 10 spots to No. 23.

Exiting nan rankings this week aft little stays and their first losses of nan play were Nebraska and Northern Illinois.

The Cornhuskers fell successful overtime to Illinois, a triumph that helped nan Illini move up 5 spots to No. 19.

NIU, which had not played since upsetting Notre Dame 2 weeks ago, mislaid successful overtime to Buffalo successful a Mid-American Conference game.

Conference call
SEC — 9 (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 11, 14, 21, 24).

Big Ten — 6 (Nos. 3, 8, 9, 12, 13, 19).

Big 12 — 5 (Nos. 10, 18, 20, 22, 23).

ACC — 3 (Nos. 7, 15, 17).

Mountain West — 1 (No. 25).

Independent — 1 (No. 16).

Ranked vs. Ranked
—No. 2 Georgia astatine No. 4 Alabama. Bulldogs and Tide played 8 times betwixt 2012-23 but only doubly successful regular-season meetings connected each other’s location field. The different six were 2 nationalist title games and 4 SEC championships.

—No. 19 Illinois astatine No. 9 Penn State. Last clip nan Big Ten rivals met arsenic classed teams was 2008.

—No. 20 Oklahoma State astatine No. 23 Kansas State. Second consecutive crippled against a classed Big 12 force for nan Cowboys. Only 3rd clip successful 68 meetings some are ranked.

—No. 15 Louisville astatine No. 16 Notre Dame. Second consecutive play nan Cardinals-Fighting Irish is simply a classed matchup.