Georgia Bulldogs back on top spot of AP college football rankings
Dillon Bell celebrates his touchdown with Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and Daijun Edwards of the Georgia Bulldogs during a game between Samford Bulldogs and Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium. (Photo by Steve Limentani/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
Georgia reclaimed the top spot in The Associated Press college football poll on Sunday, and Kentucky, Oklahoma State and Arkansas moved into the top 10 after an upset-filled weekend across the country.
The defending national champion Bulldogs, who started the season at No. 3 in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Banks, took two weeks to get back to where they spent most of last year.
Georgia jumped Alabama after it cruised to a 33-0 victory against Samford.
But it wasn’t so much about what the Bulldogs did this week as much as what they did last week, combined with the Crimson Tide needing a late field goal to escape at Texas on Saturday.
Georgia, which opened the season by beating Oregon 49-3, received 53 of 63 first-place votes from the media panel. No. 2 Alabama received nine first-place votes and No. 3 Ohio State got one first-place vote.
No. 4 Michigan and No. 5 Clemson held their places, but the rest of the top 10 was shuffled.
Oklahoma moved up a spot to No. 6. Southern California jumped three places to No. 7, its best ranking since September 2017.
The rest of the top 10 are new arrivals: No. 8 Oklahoma State moved up three spots. No. 9 Kentucky jumped 11 places for its best ranking since it reached No. 8 in October 2007. And No. 10 Arkansas was up six.
After being upset at home by Sun Belt schools, Texas A&M dropped from No. 6 to No. 24 and Notre Dame tumbled out all the way from No. 8.
The Aggies were beaten by Appalachian State and the Fighting Irish fell to 0-2 after losing to Marshall.
It was the fifth time in the last 10 seasons and first time since 2020 that two top-10 teams lost at home to unranked teams in the same week.
Notre Dame is unranked for the first time since Sept. 17, 2017, snapping a streak of 80 straight poll appearances, which was fourth in the country behind Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia among active runs.