BY RALPH D. RUSSO
No. 3 Washington, No. 4 Florida State and No. 5 Oregon all moved up a spot in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday, giving the Pac-12 two top-five teams for the first time since the final ranking of the 2016 season.
Georgia remained No. 1 as the two-time defending national champions have been for 24 straight polls, dating back to the middle of the last season. The Bulldogs received 52 of 62 first-place votes.
Michigan returned to No. 2 following a week at No. 3 and received 10 first-place votes after beating Ohio State 30-24 in Ann Arbor on Saturday.
The Buckeyes slipped from second to No. 6, clearing the way for Washington to reach its best ranking since finishing the 2000 season at No. 3 and setting up a top-five matchup with Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game on Friday in Las Vegas.
The final Pac-12 championship game in the conference’s current form before 10 members leave for other Power Five conferences will be its first matching top-five teams.
The last time there were two Pac-12 teams in the top five of the AP poll was 2016, when Southern California finished No. 3 and Washington No. 4. The last time it happened during the season was Oct. 6, 2013, when Oregon was No. 2 and Stanford was fifth.
No. 7 Texas and No. 8 Alabama held their places Sunday. Missouri moved up one spot to ninth and Penn State to No. 10.
POLL POINTS
The same eight teams have been the top eight teams in the country for five straight weeks, with the only loss among those teams during that span being Ohio State’s to Michigan.
The last time there was no team turnover in the top eight for that long was 2008 in Weeks 11-15. That year Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, USC, Penn State, Utah and Texas Tech held the top eight spots in some order for five weeks.
Among the top eight teams there are only four losses, one each for Oregon, Ohio State, Texas and Alabama. Of those four losses, three have come to other teams in the top eight: Oregon lost to Washington, Ohio State lost to Michigan and Alabama lost to Texas.
Texas’ loss came to No. 12 Oklahoma. Extend it out to the top 12 to include No. 11 Mississippi and the only loss to a currently unranked team among that group is Oklahoma’s to Kansas.
IN-N-OUT
North Carolina State and SMU made their AP Top 25 season debuts this week, raising to 44 the total number of teams to be ranked for at least a week this season.
Falling out for the first time this season was Tennessee, which finished its regular season 8-4 with a victory over Vanderbilt after barely hanging on at No. 25 last week.
Kansas State also dropped out again after losing a high-scoring game in the snow to Iowa State.
CONFERENCE CALL
Five teams from non-Power Five conferences in the AP Top 25 is the most since the final 2021 poll.
SEC — 5 (Nos. 1, 8, 9, 11, 13).
Pac-12 — 4 (Nos. 3, 5, 14, 21-tie).
Big Ten — 4 (Nos. 2, 6, 10, 18).
ACC — 3 (Nos. 4, 15, 21-tie).
Big 12 — 3 (Nos. 7, 12, 19).
American — 2 (Nos. 17, 25).
Conference USA — 1 (No. 20).
Sun Belt — 1 (No. 24).
Mid-American — 1 (No. 23).
Independent — 1 (No. 16).
RANKED vs. RANKED
— No. 8 Alabama vs. No. 1 Georgia in Atlanta, Southeastern Conference championship.
— No. 18 Iowa vs. No. 2 Michigan in Indianapolis, Big Ten championship.
— No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 3 Washington in Las Vegas, Pac-12 championship.
— No. 15 Louisville vs. No. 4 Florida State in Charlotte, North Carolina, Atlantic Coast Conference championship.
— No. 19 Oklahoma State vs. No. 7 Texas in Arlington, Texas, Big 12 championship.
— No. 25 SMU at No. 17 Tulane, American Athletic Conference championship.
