Alabama rises to No. 4 in AP Top 25 following win over Tennessee

Alabama continues its march toward the top of the AP Top 25 College Football Poll, rising two places to No. 4 after its 37-20 victory over Tennessee.

This is Alabama’s highest ranking of the season, following its fourth consecutive win over a ranked team. The Crimson Tide is 4-0 so far in the SEC.

Elsewhere, Vanderbilt is now a top-10 team for the first time since 1947 in the poll that got a nearly complete makeover after a weekend when nine Top 25 teams lost.

Ohio State was the only team to hold its spot, remaining No. 1 for an eighth straight week after shutting out Wisconsin 34-0 on the road.

Beyond the Buckeyes, significant revision was required with four top-10 teams losing in the same week for a third time this season. Nine Top 25 losing teams were the most since Week 5 in 2022, when 10 went down, according to Sportradar. Four of the losses this week were to unranked opponents.

The Buckeyes received 60 first-place votes, 10 more than a week ago. No. 2 Indiana pulled away from Michigan State, improved its program-record ranking by one spot and got the other six first-place votes.

Texas A&M’s one-rung promotion to No. 3 gives the Aggies their highest ranking since 1995. After Alabama, No. 5 Georgia returned to the top five after a three-week absence.

Oregon, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Miami and Vanderbilt round out the top 10.

The Ducks bounced back from their home loss to Indiana with a lopsided road win over Rutgers.

Georgia Tech, which won at Duke, hadn’t been in the top 10 since 2014 or ranked as high since 2009. Mississippi’s loss to Georgia caused it to slip three spots, and Miami fell seven after losing to unranked Louisville.

Vanderbilt rallied from its loss at Alabama two weeks ago with a 31-24 win over then-No. 10 LSU. The Commodores earned a seven-spot promotion for their first win over the Tigers since 1990. At 6-1, Vandy is off to its best start since 1950 with two wins over ranked opponents.

Texas Tech’s first loss came at Arizona State and dropped the Red Raiders seven spots to No. 14.

LSU took the biggest fall, plunging 10 spots to No. 20 for its lowest ranking of the season.

In and out

— No. 19 Louisville makes its season debut in the Top 25. The Cardinals, whose only loss was by three points to Virginia on Oct. 4, were 0-18 all-time against top 10 teams in true road games before knocking off the Hurricanes.

— No. 23 Illinois returned despite being idle. The Illini had dropped out for the first time this season after a home loss to Ohio State.

— No. 24 Arizona State, which fell out of the poll after a 32-point loss at Utah, returned following its first win over a top-10 opponent since 2019.

— No. 25 Michigan’s 17-point home win over Washington returned the Wolverines to the rankings after a one-week absence.

— Southern California (20), Memphis (22), Utah (23) and Nebraska (25) dropped out.

Poll points

— Ohio State’s 10 straight appearances in the top five is the longest active streak.

— Georgia’s 140th consecutive week in the poll is the second-longest active streak to Alabama’s 287.

— Vanderbilt’s top-10 ranking is its fifth in program history. The others were in 1937 (1), 1941 (1) and 1947 (2).

— No. 16 Virginia’s ranking is its highest since 2007.

AP Top 25 College Football Poll (first-place votes in parentheses; SEC teams in bold):

1, Ohio State (60)
2. Indiana (6)
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Oregon
7. Georgia Tech
8. Ole Miss
9. Miami
10. Vanderbilt
11. BYU
12. Notre Dame
13. Oklahoma
14. Texas Tech
15. Missouri
16. Virginia
17. Tennessee
18. South Florida
19. Louisville
20. LSU
21. Cincinnati
22. Texas
23. Illinois
24. Arizona State
25. Michigan

Others receiving votes: USC 97, Utah 40, Tulane 37, Houston 34, Navy 28, San Diego St. 7, James Madison 6, Boise St. 4, TCU 2, Minnesota 1.

Ranked-vs.-ranked teams coming up this weekend:

— No. 3 Texas A&M (7-0) at No. 20 LSU (5-2): The home team has won the last eight meetings. LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier threw three second-half interceptions and Marcel Reed came off the bench to run for three TDs in Aggies’ 38-23 win last year.

— No. 8 Ole Miss (6-1) at No. 13 Oklahoma (6-1): Only their third all-time meeting. Rebels recorded nine sacks in 26-14 win last year.

— No. 15 Missouri (6-1) at No. 10 Vanderbilt (6-1): Vandy kicker Brock Taylor has made 17 consecutive field goals since missing 31-yarder that gave the Tigers a 30-27 double-overtime win last year.

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