Miami edged ahead of Texas and climbed to No. 5 in The Associated Press college football poll on Sunday, the highest ranking for the Hurricanes since 2017, and Notre Dame, BYU and Texas A&M all moved into the top 10.
Oregon, Georgia, Penn State and Ohio State remained the top four teams — the second-ranked Bulldogs are the only Southeastern Conference program in that Big Ten bunch — and Washington State and Colorado entered the AP Top 25 for the first time this season.
Led by Heisman Trophy candidate Cam Ward, Miami improved to 8-0 with its win over Atlantic Coast Conference rival Florida State on Saturday. The Hurricanes have been in the top 10 eight straight polls but not this high since they spent two weeks at No. 2 in November 2017.
Texas, which had dropped from No. 1 to No. 5 in the previous poll after its home loss to Georgia, slipped another spot to No. 6 in the wake of a three-point win at Vanderbilt, the first SEC road game for the Longhorns since they moved over from the Big 12 this year.
Powerful independent Notre Dame, knocked out of the top 10 after its loss to Northern Illinois in the second game of the season for the Fighting Irish, moved up four spots and are No. 8 after their 51-14 neutral-site win over Navy.
No. 9 BYU went on the road and beat UCF in a Big 12 matchup in Orlando, Florida, to get to 8-0 and has its highest ranking since 2020, when the Cougars opened with nine straight wins.
Texas A&M’s 38-23 win over visiting LSU was its second of the season against a top-10 opponent, and first-year coach Mike Elko’s Aggies were rewarded with a four-rung promotion to No. 10. That’s their highest ranking since they were sixth in September 2022.
The Aggies, who have won seven straight games since dropping their season opener to Notre Dame, beat the Tigers in a matchup that left Texas A&M as the only remaining SEC team with an unbeaten mark in league play.
Oregon received 61 of 62 first-place votes — two more than last week — after a 38-9 win over Illinois. No. 2 Georgia, which was idle, received the other first-place vote.
Penn State overcame the loss of quarterback Drew Allar to injury just before halftime to win at Wisconsin and remained No. 3 going into next weekend’s home game against Ohio State, which stayed No. 4 after scuffling to a 21-17 home win against Nebraska, an underdog of nearly four touchdowns.
Tennessee, which had its second and final open date of the season this weekend after beating one border rival (Alabama) before hosting another (Kentucky), remained seventh.
Alabama, which beat Missouri 34-0 on Saturday to end a three-game slump in which it lost twice and narrowly avoided a third defeat, moved up on spot this week.
The coming week’s slate of games will be the last before the College Football Playoff committee releases its initial rankings of the season on Nov. 5 — the first of five straight Tuesdays on which rankings will be released before the first 12-team bracket in CFP history is revealed on Sunday, Dec. 8, the day after conference championship games. The CFP has been a four-team event since its debut in the 2014 season.
POLL POINTS
Notre Dame and Texas A&M made the biggest upward moves. LSU’s drop from No. 8 to No. 16 was the biggest demotion.
BYU has risen in six consecutive polls since it entered at No. 22 on Sept. 22. Pittsburgh has moved up in four straight since it made its season debut at No. 22 on Oct. 6.
Because of the drop by Texas to No. 6, this is the first poll this season that the SEC has had only one representative in the top five. This is the fourth straight week the Big Ten has had three of the top four teams.
Miami is the first ACC team in the top five since Florida State was No. 4 the first week of last December.
IN & OUT
Washington State (7-1) beat San Diego State for its third straight win and entered at No. 22 to become the first ranked team this season from what remains of the Pac-12. Oregon State is the only other current member of the conference, which lost 10 members this year as they moved on to the ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten.
One of those former Pac-12 teams, second-time-around Big 12 member Colorado (6-2,) has won five of its past six games including Saturday’s victory against Cincinnati and is No. 23. It’s the first ranking for second-year Colorado coach Deion Sanders and his Buffaloes since they appeared in three straight polls early last season.
Vanderbilt’s first ranking since the 2013 season lasted just one week. The Commodores, who had been No. 25, received the most votes among teams outside the AP Top 25.
Navy, in the poll two straight weeks, was knocked out after committing six turnovers in its 37-point loss to Notre Dame. Fellow service academy and American Athletic Conference rival Army (7-0) climbed two spots to No. 21.
CONFERENCE CALL
SEC: Eight (Nos. 2, 6, 7, 10, 14, 16, 19, 25).
Big Ten: Five (Nos. 1, 3, 4, 13, 24).
ACC: Four (Nos. 5, 11, 18, 20).
Big 12: Four (Nos. 9, 11, 17, 23).
American: One (No. 21).
Independent: One (No. 8).
Mountain West: One (No. 15).
Pac-12: One (No. 22).
RANKED VS. RANKED
No. 4 Ohio State at No. 3 Penn State: This will be the fourth meeting of top-five teams this season. Ohio State has won seven straight in the series. Both teams are dealing with health concerns, none bigger than the knee injury to Penn State’s Allar.
No. 18 Pittsburgh at No. 20 SMU: Of the four teams unbeaten in ACC play, these two are the biggest surprises. Pitt was picked 13th in the conference in the preseason media poll and SMU seventh.
AP TOP 25 SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 1
No. 15 Boise State vs. San Diego State, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 2
No. 1 Oregon at Michigan, 3:30 p.m.
No. 2 Georgia vs. Florida at Jacksonville, Fla., 3:30 p.m.
No. 3 Penn State vs. No. 4 Ohio State, noon
No. 5 Miami vs. Duke, noon
No. 7 Tennessee vs. Kentucky, 7:45 p.m.
No. 10 Texas A&M at South Carolina, 7:30 p.m.
No. 11 Iowa State vs. Texas Tech, 3:30 p.m.
No. 11 Clemson vs. Louisville, 7:30 p.m.
No. 13 Indiana at Michigan State, 3:30 p.m.
No. 17 Kansas State at Houston, 3:30 p.m.
No. 18 Pittsburgh at No. 20 SMU, 8 p.m.
No. 19 Ole Miss at Arkansas, noon
No. 21 Army vs. Air Force, noon
No. 24 Illinois vs. Minnesota, noon