Alabama rises to No. 1 in AP Top 25 College Football Poll

By ERIC OLSON AP College Football Writer

Alabama returned to No. 1 in The Associated Press college football poll for the first time in two years Sunday following its dizzying victory over Georgia at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night, making this 16 of 17 seasons the Crimson Tide has held the top spot at some point.

Alabama, which is No. 1 for the first time under coach Kalen DeBoer, has posted back-to-back impressive wins with Heisman Trophy front-runner Jalen Milroe and freshman phenom receiver Ryan Williams leading the way.

The Tide won 42-10 on the road against Wisconsin two weeks ago and prevailed 41-34 against Georgia on Saturday night after squandering a 28-point first-half lead.

The Tide hadn’t been No. 1 since Oct. 2, 2022. They memorably held the spot for just one week after needing a late goal-line stand to beat an unranked Texas A&M at home, with Milroe subbing for injured 2021 Heisman winner Bryce Young that night.

The Tide are No. 1 for the 141st time, most of any team since the AP rankings began in 1936, and for the 105th time since 2009 when Nick Saban won the first of his six national championships at ‘Bama.

Alabama received 40 of 63 first-place votes and leapfrogged three teams to take over No. 1 from Texas, which tussled with Mississippi State deep into the second half as a five-touchdown favorite and slipped to No. 2. The Longhorns got 19 first-place votes, well off last week’s 44.

Ohio State remained No. 3 with four first-place votes. Tennessee, which had an open date, moved up a spot to No. 4. Georgia, whose only three losses since 2021 have come to Alabama, dropped to No. 5.

Oregon, Penn State, Miami, Missouri and Michigan rounded out the top 10.

UNLV, unbeaten through four games for the first time in its Division I history, cracked the rankings for the first time ever just days after losing its starting quarterback over an NIL dispute. The Rebels are tied for No. 25 with Texas A&M.

Mississippi and Utah took the biggest falls. The Rebels, upset by Kentucky at home, dropped from No. 6 to No. 12. The Utes, who lost to Arizona at home, went from No. 10 to No. 18.

The SEC holds four of the top five spots for the fourth straight week, an ongoing first in the AP poll. The only other time in the 88-year history of the poll that a conference had four of the top five teams was the SEC on Oct. 19, 2014 (No. 1 Mississippi State, No. 3 Mississippi, No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Auburn). That lasted a week.

The SEC holds nine spots in the Top 25, one off its own record for number of ranked teams from one conference.

The Big Ten has four teams in the top 10 for the first time since October 2021 and seven in the Top 25.

Week 6 AP Top 25 (First-place votes in parentheses; SEC teams in bold):

1. Alabama (40) 
2. Texas (19)
3, Ohio State (4)
4. Tennessee
5. Georgia
6. Oregon
7. Penn State
8. Miami (FL)
9. Missouri
10. Michigan
11. USC
12. Ole Miss 
13. LSU 
14. Notre Dame
15. Clemson
16. Iowa State
17. BYU
18. Utah
19. Oklahoma
20. Kansas State
21. Boise State
22. Louisville
23. Indiana
24. Illinois
T25: UNLV
T25: Texas A&M

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