AP Top 25 College Football Poll: Alabama rises to No. 12 in first poll of regular season
ACTION 8 LACE UP SPORTS (WAKA) – Alabama has risen one place to No. 12 in the first AP Top 25 College Football Poll of the regular season.
Alabama beat East Carolina 48-10 in the Crimson Tide’s season opening game in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.
Overall, the SEC has nine teams in this week’s poll: No. 2 Georgia, No. 4 Texas, No. 8 LSU, No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 12 Alabama, No. 18 Tennessee and No. 23 Missouri.
Auburn received two votes overall after its 17-16 win over Baylor in Atlanta. That ranks the Tigers 41st.
Ohio State remained No. 1 by a wide margin entering its showdown with No. 4 Texas on Saturday. The Buckeyes received 46 first-place votes from the voting panel of 69 writers and broadcasters. The other 23 first-place votes were divided among six teams.
Georgia, Notre Dame, Texas and Indiana each moved up one spot with Oregon going from No. 2 to No. 6 following a 34-27 win over Boise State as a 25.5-point favorite. Miami, LSU, Mississippi and Texas A&M rounded out the top 10.
Defending national champion Indiana received the second-most No. 1 votes, with eight. LSU got five, Notre Dame four, Oregon three, Texas two and Miami one.
LSU made one of the biggest statements of Week 1 with its 51-10 rout of Clemson in Lane Kiffin’s debut in Baton Rouge. Courtroom drama over the eligibility status of LSU players trying to return to college from NFL training camps took the spotlight in the days leading up to the game, and then Sam Leavitt and his highly paid teammates made fast work of Clemson.
LSU’s rise from No. 11 to No. 8 gave the Tigers their first top-10 ranking since they were No. 4 after a 4-0 start last season. The Tigers went 3-6 the rest of the way, Brian Kelly was fired at midseason and Kiffin was hired away from Mississippi with the charge of restoring LSU to its former glory.
LSU’s promotion bumped Oklahoma out of the top 10. The Sooners shut out UTEP 51-0 and will take a No. 11 ranking into their visit to Michigan. That matchup lost some luster in light of Michigan’s slogging offensive performance against Western Michigan, a game the Wolverines won 13-12 after one second was put back on the clock at the end of the game. That was just enough time for Bryce Underwood to throw a second Hail Mary, this one landing in the hands of JJ Buchanan.
AP Top 25 College Football Poll (first-place votes in parentheses; SEC teams in bold):
- Ohio State (46)
- Georgia
- Notre Dame (4)
- Texas (2)
- Indiana (8)
- Oregon (3)
- Miami (1)
- LSU (5)
- Ole Miss
- Texas A&M
- Oklahoma
- Alabama
- Texas Tech
- USC
- BYU
- Penn State
- SMU
- Tennessee
- Washington
- Utah
- Iowa
- Houston
- Missouri
- Louisville
- Virginia
Others receiving votes: Boise State 86, Florida 83, Michigan 69, Arizona 33, Memphis 23, South Carolina 19, Western Michigan 12, Pittsburgh 11, Navy 10, UCLA 7, Virginia Tech 6, Illinois 6, James Madison 4, Minnesota 4, Colorado 3, Auburn 2, Arizona State 2, Vanderbilt 2
In and out
Virginia rode an impressive Week 0 win over North Carolina State to a No. 25 ranking. It’s the first time since 2005 the Cavaliers have been ranked in a first regular-season poll. They finished No. 16 in the final Top 25 last season but received just one vote in the preseason poll.
Michigan went from No. 16 to to out of the Top 25, the first time since at least 2008 that a team ranked so high was bounced after a win. Kansas State went from No. 17 to unranked after holding off North Dakota of the Football Championship Subdivision last year.
Ranked vs. ranked teams to play this weekend
No. 1 Ohio State at No. 5 Texas: It’s the first regular-season, top-five matchup since these teams met in Columbus to open 2025. Texas was No. 1 that day and lost 14-7. The Buckeyes moved from No. 3 to No. 1 and stayed there until they lost to Indiana in the Big Ten championship game.
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