Texas A&M fell out of the top five in the Associated Press college football poll for the first time in two months Sunday, while Texas Tech notched its best ranking in 17 years as the top five was shuffled with a week remaining in the postseason bracket.
Additionally, four teams from the season-high Group of Five are ranked in this week’s poll.
No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana, the only remaining undefeated, are the top two teams for a seventh straight poll heading into their Big Ten title clash Saturday. No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Oregon each moved up one spot, and Texas Tech’s No. 5 ranking is its best since spending three weeks at No. 2 in November 2008.
The seven straight weeks with the same No. 1 and 2 teams are the longest since Georgia and Michigan spent 11 straight weeks in the top two in 2023.
Ole Miss remained No. 6 and was followed by Texas A&M, which fell four spots after its 10-point loss at Texas. Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Alabama round out the top 10 for the third straight week.
The weekend’s results resulted in two top-10 matchups in the conference championship games this Saturday. Besides the Big Ten showdown, Georgia and Alabama will play for the Southeastern Conference crown.
The other Top 25 game pits Texas Tech against No. 11 BYU in the Big 12 title game, while the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game pits No. 16 Virginia against a Duke team that is 7-5 and received no votes in Sunday’s poll.
No. 12 Miami and No. 13 Vanderbilt swapped places in the rankings. The Hurricanes, who finished the regular season with a 31-point road win over Pittsburgh, are the top-ranked team in the ACC and are hoping to receive an at-large bid to the College Football Playoff. Vanderbilt slipped despite beating Tennessee by 21 points on the road.
James Madison, which hosts Troy for the Sun Belt championship game Friday, moved up one spot to 19th and is the highest-ranked Group of Five team. Three Conference USA teams are behind the Dukes: No. 20 North Texas, No. 21 Tulane and No. 23 Navy.
North Texas travels to Tulane for the USA Championship game on Friday. Tulane, at 24th, was the only G5 team in last week’s CFP rankings.
Navy, which won 28-17 at Memphis, is in the Top 25 for the first time this season and will have its highest ranking since 2019 in the annual exhibition game against Army on Dec. 13.
The three Top 25 teams in the Conference USA are at their highest level since November 20, 2022, when it also had three ranked teams. The league record for ranked teams is four, in 2015 and 2019.
The last time four Group of Five teams were seeded was in the final voting of the 2024 season.
No. 22 Arizona is ranked for the first time since September 2024. The Wildcats beat Arizona State 23-7 in the Territorial Cup battle and are on a five-game winning streak.
No. 25 Missouri beat Arkansas by two touchdowns and returned to the polls after a week away.
Tennessee (No. 18), Pittsburgh (No. 24) and SMU (No. 25) dropped out. The Volunteers’ 33-game winning streak ended after falling to 8-4 with their loss to Vanderbilt.
CONFERENCE CALL
SEC (8 ranked teams): No. 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 25
Big Ten (5): No. 1, 2, 4, 17, 18
Big 12 (4): No. 5, 11, 15, 22
ACC (3): No. 12, 16, 24
American (3): Nos. 20, 21, 23
Independent (1): No. 9
Solar belt (1): No. 19
RATED VS. CLASS
No. 2 Indiana (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten) vs. No. 1 Ohio State (12-0, 9-0) in Indianapolis: This is a matchup between Heisman Trophy favorites QBs Fernando Mendoza of Indiana and Julian Sayin of Ohio State. The Hoosiers are one of two teams to score more than 530 points this season (532). The Buckeyes are the only team to give up less than 100 points (93).
No. 4 Georgia (11-1, 7-1 SEC) vs. No. 10 Alabama (10-2, 7-1) in Atlanta: This will be the fourth meeting of these teams in an SEC championship game since 2018. Crimson Tide handed Georgia its only loss this season, 24-21 on September 27. The Bulldogs have won eight straight since then.
No. 11 BYU (11-1, 8-1 Big 12) vs. No. 5 Texas Tech (11-1, 8-1) in Arlington, Texas: Each team will participate in the Big 12 championship game for the first time. The Red Raiders dominated the regular season meeting in Lubbock, winning 29-7.
