Alabama up to No. 7 in new AP Top 25 College Football Poll
LACE UP SPORTS (WAKA) – Alabama’s dominating win over South Carolina and Ole Miss’ loss to Florida were enough to push the Crimson Tide up one slot to No. 7 in the AP Top 25 College Football Poll.
Alabama beat South Carolina 49-18, avoiding the slow start that had appeared in recent games. Meanwhile, Ole Miss, which had been ranked ahead of Alabama at No. 4, lost to then-No. 21 Florida 52-28, which dropped the Rebels to No. 9. With the victory, Florida rose to No. 8, the biggest gainer of the week. It’s the Gators first top-10 appearance since 2021.
Texas, Georgia and Notre Dame continued to hold the top three spots, Miami was a season-high No. 4 and Ohio State moved up two spots to No. 5. Indiana, Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss and BYU completed the top 10.
Mississippi State moved up eight spots to No. 16, its highest ranking in four years, for beating Missouri at home.
AP Top 25 College Football Poll (first-place votes in parentheses; SEC teams in bold):
1 Texas 4-0 (62)
2 Georgia 4-0 (6)
3 Notre Dame 4-0
4 Miami 4-0 (1)
5 Ohio State 3-1
6 Indiana 4-0 (1)
7 Alabama 4-0
8 Florida 4-0
9 Ole Miss 3-1
10 BYU 3-0
11 LSU 3-1
12 Texas Tech 4-0
13 Utah 4-0
14 Iowa 4-0
15 Oregon 3-1
16 Mississippi State 4-0
17 Tennessee 3-1
18 USC 4-1
19 Oklahoma State 3-1
20 Houston 3-1
21 SMU 3-1
22 Boise State 3-1
23 UCLA 4-0
24 Kentucky 3-1
25 Missouri 3-1
Others receiving votes: Wisconsin 102, Duke 101, Penn State 98, Wake Forest 88, Virginia Tech 86, Michigan 54, Pittsburgh 52, Nebraska 36, Louisville 25, Cincinnati 20, James Madison 10, Arizona 8, Minnesota 7, North Dakota State 6, Northwestern 1
In and out
No. 19 Oklahoma State, which won at West Virginia for its third straight victory after losing 21 straight against Bowl Subdivision opponents, is ranked for the first time in two years.
No. 22 Boise State of the Pac-12 is the first Group of Six team to crack the Top 25 this season. The Broncos’ 25-point win at Western Michigan was their third straight win after a narrow loss at Oregon. They hadn’t been ranked since the 2025 preseason poll.
No. 23 UCLA is 4-0 for the first time in four years after a 51-point road win over Maryland and is ranked for the first time in three years.
No. 24 Kentucky followed its win at Texas A&M with an easy victory at South Alabama to earn its first ranking since 2023.
In addition to Penn State, Michigan, Louisville and Texas A&M fell out of the Top 25.
Ranked vs. ranked games coming up this weekend
No. 5 Ohio State at No. 14 Iowa: Buckeyes were ranked No. 3 when they last visited Kinnick Stadium, in 2017, and the 55-24 loss killed their playoff hopes.
No. 7 Alabama at No. 16 Mississippi State: Crimson Tide have won 16 straight in the series, and most of the games haven’t been close.
No. 8 Florida at No. 25 Missouri: Tigers have won last two meetings in Columbia, on a field goal with 5 seconds left in 2023 and on a 2-point conversion pass in overtime in 2021.
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