AP Top 25 College Football Poll: Alabama remains No. 11, fifth week of being out of top 10

By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Football Writer

Alabama held steady at No. 11 after beating Arkansas 24-21, extending its streak of being out of the top 10 in the AP College Football Poll to five weeks.

The Crimson Tide dropped out for the first time since 2015 on Sept. 17, when they fell to a season-low No. 13 after a sloppy performance in a victory over South Florida. Alabama has won five straight since a Week 2 loss to Texas, but it hasn’t been able to get back into the top 10.

The Tide have not spent this much of a season out of the top 10 since 2007, Nick Saban’s first as coach, when Alabama finished 7-6.

The Crimson Tide are positioned to either get back into the top 10 or slip even farther away next week when they host No. 17 Tennessee. After that, Alabama has a week off before hosting No. 19 LSU.

Alabama has not been out of the top 15 since Nov. 28, 2010, when the Tide lost to Auburn in their regular-season finale to fall to No. 17 at 9-3.

Elsewhere in the AP Top 25 College Football Poll, Washington moved up to No. 5, the Huskies’ best ranking in six years, after a thrilling victory against Oregon and unbeaten Air Force was ranked for the first time since 2019.

The top four teams in the country were unchanged after No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Florida State all won Saturday in blowout fashion. The Bulldogs received 43 first-place votes, Michigan got 16 and Ohio State and Florida State each had one.

Washington received two first-place votes and jumped two spots past No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 Penn State, giving the Huskies their best ranking since reaching No. 5 on Oct. 8, 2017. The last time Washington was ranked this highly this late in the season was 2016, when the Huskies made the College Football Playoff.

That was the last time any Pac-12 team reached the four-team playoff.

Washington beat Oregon 36-33 when the Ducks missed a field goal on the game’s final play. Oregon dropped one spot to No. 9, flip-flopping with No. 8 Texas.

North Carolina moved up two spots to a season-high No. 10 after beating Miami 41-31.

Southern California dropped eight spots to No. 18 after suffering its first loss of the season at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish jumped six places to No. 15.

No. 22 Air Force vaulted into the rankings by beating rival Wyoming to stay undefeated. Air Force has finished 10-3 in each of the last two seasons, both times fueled by late winning streaks, but failed to make an appearance in the AP Top 25. Now the Falcons are 6-0 for the first time since 2002 and ranked for the first time since the last three Top 25s of the 2019 season. Air Force finished that season 11-2 and No. 22 in the country.

The other teams to move into the Top 25 this week have been here earlier in the season.

— No. 20 Missouri bounced right back into the rankings after winning at Kentucky.

— No. 23 Tulane (5-1) is back after beating American Athletic Conference rival Memphis on Friday night.

— No. 24 Iowa (6-1) returns after seizing control of the Big Ten West by beating Wisconsin.

Dropping out this week were Washington State, Kansas, Kentucky and Miami, all of which lost for the second time this season.

AP TOP 25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL POLL (First-place votes in parentheses, SEC teams in bold):

1. Georgia (43)
2. Michigan (16)
3. Ohio State (1)
4. Florida State (1)
5. Washington (2)
6. Oklahoma
7. Penn State
8. Texas
9. Oregon
10. North Carolina
11. Alabama
12. Oklahoma State
13. Ole Miss
14. Utah
15. Notre Dame
16. Duke
17. Tennessee
18. USC
19. LSU
20. Missouri
21. Louisville
22. Air Force
23. Tulane
24. Iowa
25. UCLA

In upcoming games involving ranked vs. ranked teams:

No. 7 Penn State at No. 3 Ohio State. Seventh straight meeting with both teams ranked.

No. 17 Tennessee at No. 11 Alabama. Consecutive seasons with both teams ranked for the Third Saturday in October rivalry. That hasn’t happened since 1995-96.

No. 16 Duke at No. 4 Florida State. Only two ranked meeting previously and the Seminoles won them both by a combined 77 points.

No. 14 Utah at No. 18 USC. Third straight meeting with both teams ranked after the Utes won both last year to take the Pac-12 title.

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