The AP Top 25 poll Nov. 1 arrives after one of the wildest Saturdays of the season, with second-ranked Ohio State knocked off by USC and seven ranked teams losing in Week 9 alone. The results leave Miami as the only team to hold steady at the top of the poll for three straight weeks, while Utah and UCLA remain the lone other unbeatens standing in a season that has chewed through contenders at a historic rate.
Ranking methodology here follows the AP voters’ body of work through Week 9: records, quality of losses and wins, and how each team has handled a season defined by chaos. Three teams remain unbeaten in the Football Bowl Subdivision as of late October, the fewest at this point in a season in 49 years, and 10 top-25 teams have lost in the last three weeks alone, according to the Associated Press.
1. Miami Hurricanes (7-0)
Miami is the only team that has not budged in the poll in recent weeks, a stability almost unheard of this season. The Hurricanes held off North Carolina 38-35 to stay unbeaten and are expected to hang on to the No. 1 ranking for a third straight week, according to FOX Sports. Miami visits No. 5 Notre Dame in two weeks, a game that will finally test a schedule that has produced few ranked opponents so far.
2. Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State’s fall is the headline move of the week. The Buckeyes lost to USC 30-18 while playing without starting quarterback Julian Sayin, marking the fourth straight week a No. 1 or No. 2 team has lost to an unranked opponent. Ohio State was the only team in the Top 10 to lose in Week 9, a stunning turn for a program that had been positioned among the sport’s best.
3. Utah Utes (7-0)
Utah’s win over Cincinnati, 49-25, pushed the Utes toward a spot in the top five for the first time since 2019. Utah is 5-0 in Big 12 play with a one-game lead over both BYU and Texas Tech, and hosts BYU in the Holy War the Saturday after Week 9. Utah has played just two Top 25 opponents all season, a scheduling reality shared by Miami and UCLA.
4. UCLA Bruins (7-0)
UCLA remains unbeaten after beating then-13th-ranked Oregon before the Ducks fell out of the poll entirely. Like Miami and Utah, UCLA’s resume is thin on ranked victories, with the three unbeaten teams combining for only two wins over Top 25 opponents this season. That lack of marquee wins has kept questions swirling even as the Bruins keep winning.
5. USC Trojans
USC’s rise from outside the poll to a team “making a strong case” to return is built on the biggest result of Week 9. The Trojans’ win over Ohio State is their first top-five win since the 2017 Rose Bowl and their highest-ranked victory since beating Oklahoma in the 2004 national championship game. USC coach Lincoln Riley, now in his fifth season, summed up the sport’s volatility after his team’s win the previous week, which followed USC’s own 24-7 loss to unranked Wisconsin while ranked 16th. “There’s a lot of parity right now and the toughest teams and the teams that can battle back from losses or tough moments like this will be the ones standing in the end,” Riley said.
6. Texas Tech Red Raiders
Texas Tech dropped from No. 8 to No. 13 after a 37-24 loss at unranked Cincinnati, one of the steeper single-week slides in the poll. The Red Raiders still hold a ranked win over Houston and face No. 22 Arizona, winners of five straight. Coach Joey McGuire did not mince words about what comes next: “For us to control and get where we want to get, we’re going to have to win out.”
7. Texas Longhorns
Texas climbed back into the conversation with a win over Ole Miss despite a shaky third quarter in which the Rebels outscored the Longhorns 14-0 after Texas built a 24-3 halftime lead. Quarterback Arch Manning committed three turnovers, including a strip-sack returned for a touchdown, but coach Steve Sarkisian praised his quarterback’s response after back-to-back losses to unranked teams, saying he loved the “edgy” way Manning played.
8. Iowa Hawkeyes
Iowa should return to the rankings after a one-week absence following a 30-0 shutout of Wisconsin at home. The Hawkeyes join South Carolina and USC among teams making the strongest cases to crack the poll after a Week 9 that saw six teams ranked between No. 17 and No. 25 lose.
9. Alabama Crimson Tide
Alabama’s résumé looks stronger in hindsight after beating SEC leader Kentucky 32-0 in the second half following a slow start marked by multiple first-half turnovers. That win over Kentucky, the Crimson Tide’s ninth straight in the series, stands as Alabama’s only victory over a currently ranked team. Kentucky has not lost since that game, according to CBS Sports.
10. Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia’s loss to Auburn, 27-24, remains one of the more jarring results of the season given it came at home. The Bulldogs managed just 113 yards on 28 carries in that game, with star tailback Nate Frazier still working back from a rib injury and top backup Chauncey Bowens out with a lower-body injury, according to ESPN. Georgia faces rival Florida in Atlanta on Saturday before a trip to Ole Miss the following week.
What To Watch Next
Nine two-loss teams, including Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, LSU, Tennessee and Florida, sit between No. 10 and No. 25, meaning the margin for mistakes keeps shrinking. Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss put it plainly after his team’s loss to Texas: “The room for error is definitely smaller now.” The College Football Playoff releases its first ranking Tuesday, and with 11 losses by top-10 teams over the past three weeks, tied for the most in any three-week span since 2007, the picture could shift again before Miami’s visit to Notre Dame and Utah’s Holy War showdown with BYU.
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