AP Top 25: Ohio State, Indiana set for top-5 showdown as Georgia rises to No. 8

No. 2 Ohio State and No. 5 Indiana held their spots in the AP Top 25 college football poll Sunday, setting up the third top-five matchup in the Big Ten this season for the Buckeyes.

Oregon remained No. 1 for a fifth consecutive week and is the unanimous choice for the third time after escaping Wisconsin with a three-point win. The Buckeyes are followed by No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Penn State and Indiana in an unchanged top five.

Tennessee’s loss to Georgia and BYU being upset by Kansas shook up the rest of the top 10. The Bulldogs jumped three spots to No. 8 after having their streak of 60 top-10 appearances in a row snapped last week. The Volunteers dropped four spots to No. 10 and the Cougars fell seven places to No. 14 after their unbeaten season was ended at home by the Jayhawks.

The rest of the top 10 includes No. 6 Notre Dame, No. 7 Alabama and No. 9 Ole Miss.

The Big Ten and SEC hold nine of the top 10 spots, with Notre Dame the only team from outside those conferences. Miami from the ACC at No. 11 is otherwise the highest ranked team from a conference other than the Big Ten and SEC, followed by No. 12 Boise State from the Mountain West. BYU is the top-ranked Big 12 team at No. 14.

Others receiving votes: Missouri 56, Memphis 38, Kansas State 36, Syracuse 21, Louisville 15, Pittsburgh 6, LSU 6, Louisiana 5, Vanderbilt 4, Colorado State 2, Duke 2, James Madison 2, Georgia Tech 1

The Buckeyes cruised past Northwestern on Saturday and the Hoosiers were off, leading into Indiana’s biggest regular-season game ever. The only other top-five matchup in Indiana history was in the 1968 Rose Bowl, when the fourth-ranked Hoosiers lost to No. 1 USC.

Meanwhile, the Buckeyes will be playing their third top-five matchup this season after losing at Oregon and winning at Penn State on the road. This will be Ohio State’s 46th top-five matchup all-time — including bowls and conference title games — four fewer than Oklahoma for the most. Ohio State is 23-21-1 in such games.

The Buckeyes will also become the first team since LSU in 2011 to play three top-five matchups in a regular season. It will be the eighth time in AP poll history, dating to 1936, that a team has played in three top-five matchups in the regular season. The fifth AP top-five matchup of the regular season ties 1996 and 1943 for the most.

Indiana comes into the game 1-70 against AP top-five teams, beating only Purdue in 1967. Ohio State is 36-46-6.

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In and out

The bottom of the rankings got a major makeover after five teams ranked 19th or lower lost Saturday.

LSU and Kansas State both fell out of the rankings for the first time this season. The Tigers lost for the fourth time this season at Florida and are unranked for the first time since mid-October 2022, coach Brian Kelly’s first season in Baton Rouge. The Wildcats (7-3) took a third loss, falling at home to Arizona State.

Missouri (7-3) fell out again after its third loss, to South Carolina, as did Louisville (6-4) after its fourth, a stunning upset and late-game collapse at Stanford.

No. 21 Arizona State (8-2) is ranked for the first time since Oct. 10, 2021, after beating Kansas State. No. 22 Iowa State (8-2) is back in the rankings and the Big 12 title race after snapping a two-game losing streak by beating Cincinnati.

No. 23 UNLV (8-2) reached the rankings for the first time in program history in September and fell out after one week. The Rebels are back, bolstered by early-season victories against Kansas and Houston from the Big 12 and a five-point loss to Mountain West rival Boise State. No. 24 Illinois (7-3) also rejoined the rankings after beating Michigan State handily. The Illini had previously spent seven weeks toward the bottom of the Top 25. — Ralph Russo, national college football writer

How Matt voted

• There are a lot of bunched-up teams on the ballot this week, making me wish we could include ties. I’ve been a bit lower on Notre Dame than most for much of the season — the Irish have been dominant lately, but the NIU loss still holds them back in my eyes — and thus my top nine spots are all taken up by the Big Ten and SEC after BYU’s loss to Kansas, with the Irish 10th.

From the Big Ten, I have Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana in the top three, with Penn State fifth. In the SEC, I have Texas fourth, with Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia and Tennessee almost inseparable from No. 6 to No. 9. And I can’t say I feel good about anything beyond Oregon and Ohio State being No. 1 and No. 2.

Texas has a great defense but a flimsy resume, and the next four SEC teams, all with two losses, are nearly impossible to order because of a combination of head-to-head results (Tennessee beat Alabama, which beat Georgia, which beat Tennessee) and bad losses (Ole Miss to Kentucky, Alabama to Vanderbilt, Tennessee to Arkansas). And then there’s Texas A&M, down at 15th at 8-2, lacking a marquee win but controlling its own destiny in the SEC race if it can beat Auburn and Texas. I disagree with the poll having Georgia ahead of Ole Miss after last week’s Rebels thumping of the Bulldogs, but there’s also no perfect answer.

I’d say this will all sort itself and a logical order will present itself, but this time, with a 16-team SEC … maybe not?

• Some weeks, I wish I could rank 35 teams. Other weeks, it’s more like 20. This ballot felt much more like the latter after Kansas State, Missouri, Washington State, LSU, Louisville and Pitt all lost. I ended up keeping Kansas State and Missouri on my ballot and moving in Tulane, Iowa State and Illinois. I seriously considered Syracuse and UNLV and didn’t really consider any of the four-loss teams.

• One bottom of the rankings move I don’t regret: I had Arizona State on my ballot at No. 25 last week, and the Sun Devils more than justified that ranking by winning at Kansas State to earn their first poll appearance since October 2021. — Matt Brown, college sports managing editor and AP poll voter

Is Texas overrated?

As Matt points out, lining up the SEC teams is difficult because of all the head-to-head issues. I would be inclined to encourage Matt and other voters to push Texas into that pack of two-loss teams because of the Longhorns’ decisive loss to Georgia at home and general good fortune with the rest of their first SEC schedule.

Personally, Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia, Texas and Tennessee would be my order of just those teams.

But at least Matt got this right where the other AP voters, I think, whiffed. Honor the week-old head-to-head result and keep Ole Miss ahead of Georgia. The voters had the Bulldogs a spot in front. I get it, Ole Miss has worse losses — though I hate that term — against Kentucky and LSU, neither of which is ranked. Georgia’s losses are to the Rebels and Alabama. Voters also generally give teams a little more leeway for road losses. The Bulldogs lost at Oxford and Tuscaloosa.

But Ole Miss won so decisively, I’d like to have that continue to be acknowledged.

Same goes for No. 14 BYU and No. 13 SMU. In fact, this is probably an even more egregious miss. The Cougars won in Dallas earlier in the season. That’s certainly a better loss — hate that one, too — than tripping up at home against Kansas (4-6), but SMU can’t even make the Georgia argument with several other marquee victories.

My guess is after watching BYU pull off a series of great escapes in the last month, voters were already feeling skeptical about the Cougars and then reacted strongly when those concerns were validated. — Russo

What’s next?

Week 13 of the season is packed with what can be categorized as big games nobody saw coming before the season.

Aside from Indiana-Ohio State as a top-five matchup …

No. 18 Army faces No. 6 Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium. This game should be broadcast by NBC in black and white. The last time the Black Knights and Fighting Irish played with both teams ranked was 1958 in South Bend. The pinnacle of the rivalry was in the 1940s when they played four consecutive top-five matchups — including two No. 1 vs. No. 2 games — at Yankee Stadium.

No. 14 BYU travels to No. 21 Arizona State. The Big 12 race has taken quite a turn. The Cougars and Sun Devils’ first meeting since 2021 is the third ranked matchup between the schools and 29th overall.

Elsewhere, No. 3 Texas hosts Kentucky, No. 4 Penn State visits Minnesota, No. 7 Alabama visits Oklahoma and No. 9 Ole Miss visits Florida.

Required reading

(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)