College football's reigning national champion has added its first title of the 2022 season, and Georgia's 10th win also kept it No. 1 in the AP Top 25 with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
Coach Kirby Smart's team remained undefeated with Saturday night's 45-19 win at Mississippi State, and with the victory Georgia also wrapped up the Southeastern Conference's East Division title and a spot in the SEC championship game on Dec. 3 in Atlanta.
Georgia, 7-0 in the SEC, has a league game at Kentucky on Saturday and a home matchup with nonconference rival Georgia Tech on Nov. 26 to close the regular season before taking on LSU of the SEC West in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
On Sunday, Georgia led an unchanged top five in the AP poll, but the rest of the Top 25 was shuffled after eight ranked teams lost, including two big upsets in the Pac-12. For the second straight week, the Bulldogs received all but one of the 63 first-place votes; No. 2 Ohio State (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten) received the other one.
No. 3 Michigan (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten), No. 4 TCU (10-0, 7-0 Big 12) and No. 5 Tennessee (9-1, 5-1 SEC) also held their spots after victories Saturday, with only the Horned Frogs facing a real challenge among the top five. Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan and Tennessee won by a combined 203-60 against conference opponents.
Home losses by Oregon (8-2, 6-1 Pac-12) to Washington and UCLA (8-2, 5-2 Pac-12) to Arizona shook up the rest of the top 10. No. 6 LSU (8-2, 6-1 SEC), which held on for a 13-10 escape at Arkansas, and No. 7 Southern California (9-1, 7-1 Pac-12), which rolled 55-17 against one-win Colorado, both moved up a spot.
Until Saturday, two Pac-12 teams in the top 10 had not lost at home during the same weekend since Oct. 2-4, 2014, when No. 2 Oregon fell to Arizona, 31-24, and No. 8 UCLA was defeated by Utah, 30-28.
Alabama (8-2, 5-2 SEC) jumped two spots to No. 8 after it fell to a season-low No. 10 last week.
The Crimson Tide bounced back from an overtime loss at LSU by rallying to a 30-24 win at Ole Miss, a result that eliminated the Rebels (8-2, 4-2) from SEC West title contention. Alabama — which avoided what would have been the program's first back-to-back losses in the regular season since Nick Saban's first year in Tuscaloosa (2007) — still has a chance to finish atop the SEC West standings alongside LSU, but the Tigers' head-to-head win ensures they're headed to Atlanta next month.
Clemson (9-1, 7-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) returned to the top 10 after a one-week absence, moving up four spots to No. 8, and Utah (8-2, 6-1 Pac-12) climbed jumped three spots to No. 10.
As for Georgia, the Bulldogs are closing in on a school record. They're No. 1 for the ninth time this season, matching the total from last season, when they won the national title for the first time in 41 years.
Georgia has been at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 a total of 33 times in school history, one behind Michigan for 12th in the history of the poll. Barring a major upset by Kentucky or Georgia Tech, they'll go into the SEC title game with 11 weeks as the country's top-ranked team.
The next day, the College Football Playoff selection committee will announce its picks for the four-team bracket. The latest edition of the CFP rankings come out Tuesday night, and last week's top four were Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan and TCU.
"We never take winning the East for granted and that's where we are now, but we're playing for more than the East," Smart said after Saturday's win. "We've got some things to clean up, so it's one day at a time."
AP photo by Rogelio V. Solis / Georgia football coach Kirby Smart reaches out to high-five a fan after his team won Saturday night at Mississippi State to clinch a spot in next month's SEC championship game.IN
Of the four teams that moved into the AP Top 25 this week, Coastal Carolina is the only one making its season debut. The 23rd-ranked Chanticleers (9-1, 6-1 Sun Belt) have made the poll for the third straight season.
With No. 22 Cincinnati back in, the American Athletic Conference has a season-high three ranked teams. The Bearcats join No. 17 Central Florida and No. 21 Tulane, with each of those teams 8-2 overall and 5-1 in league play.
No. 24 Oklahoma State (7-3, 4-3 Big 12) returned after snapping a two-game losing streak by beating Iowa State.
No. 25 Oregon State (7-3, 4-3 Pac-12) is also back. The Beavers broke a nine-year poll drought two weeks ago, immediately lost a close game at Washington and dropped out, then moved back in Sunday after routing California.
OUT
The season journey for the Texas Longhorns (6-4, 4-3, Big 12) in the AP Top 25: Unranked for the first two polls, moved in for two weeks in September, out for two weeks, in for two weeks, back for a week and now gone again.
Illinois (7-3, 4-3 Big Ten) tumbled out after a second straight home loss, this time 31-24 to Purdue.
North Carolina State (7-3, 3-3 ACC) is unranked for the first time this season after the Wolfpack were upset at home by Boston College.
Liberty's time in the poll lasted a mere week. The independent Flames (8-2) followed up a victory at Arkansas to move into the rankings by losing at Connecticut to fall out.
CONFERENCE CALL
The Ducks and Bruins getting toppled crushed the Pac-12's hopes of putting a team in the playoff. One consolation prize: The conference now has more ranked teams than it has since Sept. 15, 2019.
Pac-12: Six (Nos. 7, 10, 12, 15, 16, 25)
SEC: Five (Nos. 1, 5, 6, 8, 14)
ACC: Three (Nos. 9, 13, 20)
AAC: Three (Nos. 17, 21, 22)
Big Ten: Three (Nos. 2, 3, 11)
Big 12: Three (Nos. 4, 19, 24)
Sun Belt: One (No. 23)
Independent: One (No. 18)
AP TOP 25 SCHEDULE
Thursday, Nov. 17
No. 21 Tulane vs. SMU, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 19
No. 1 Georgia at Kentucky, 3:30 p.m.
No. 2 Ohio State at Maryland, 3:30 p.m.
No. 3 Michigan vs. Illinois, noon
No. 4 TCU at Baylor, noon
No. 5 Tennessee at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
No. 6 LSU vs. UAB, 9 p.m.
No. 7 USC at No. 16 UCLA, 8 p.m.
No. 8 Alabama vs. Austin Peay, noon
No. 9 Clemson vs. Miami, 3:30 p.m.
No. 10 Utah at No. 12 Oregon, 10:30 p.m.
No. 11 Penn State at Rutgers, 3:30 p.m.
No. 13 North Carolina vs. Georgia Tech, 5:30 p.m.
No. 14 Ole Miss at Arkansas, 7:30 p.m.
No. 15 Washington vs. Colorado, 9 p.m.
No. 17 UCF vs. Navy, 11 a.m.
No. 18 Notre Dame vs. Boston College, 2:30 p.m.
No. 19 Kansas State at West Virginia, 2 p.m.
No. 20 Florida State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette, noon
No. 22 Cincinnati at Temple, 4 p.m.
No. 23 Coastal Carolina at Virginia, 3:30 p.m.
No. 24 Oklahoma State at Oklahoma, 7:30 p.m.
No. 25 Oregon State at Arizona State, 2:15 p.m.