Georgia is back at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 ahead of Utah and Notre Dame; Ohio State falls to 21st

Georgia was voted No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 for the second time this season on Sunday, undefeated UCLA matched its highest ranking in 25 years and Ohio State’s free fall continued after a wild weekend that followed the first College Football Playoff ranking of the year.

Miami became the fourth No. 1 team to be knocked out of the top spot, the most in a single season since 2008. Only one team — No. 6 Indiana, which was inactive — remained in the same spot it was a week ago in the Top 25.

Georgia put together one of the most dominant performances of the season in a 42-7 win over Mississippi on Saturday. The Bulldogs had been No. 1 for a week when they were upset by Auburn on Oct. 17, but never dropped out of the top five, and they were the voters’ choice for No. 1 by a wide margin over Utah and Notre Dame.

Utah moved up one spot to No. 2 after its 28-20 victory over rival BYU and the Utes now have their highest regular-season AP ranking. The Fighting Irish’s 31-24 win over Miami moved them up one spot to No. 3, while the Hurricanes fell to No. 5 after their first loss.

Georgia received 53 of 70 first-place votes from the media voting panel. Utah received 12 first-place votes and Notre Dame received five.

UCLA is 9-0 for the first time since 1998 and moved up to No. 4. This is the Bruins’ highest ranking since their 2001 team was No. 4 after a 6-0 start. After Miami, Indiana, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee and Texas Tech complete the top 10.

Both Alabama and Texas were rewarded for their road wins and moved up two spots. The Crimson Tide won at LSU and the Longhorns won at Missouri.

Tennessee rose from No. 16 to No. 9, its highest ranking in two years, after an impressive 34-6 victory over top-10 Kentucky. Texas Tech returned to the top 10 after beating West Virginia 53-48.

Ohio State, which was No. 2 two weeks ago, fell from No. 11 after its loss at Southern California to No. 21 this week after a 41-28 home loss to Oregon. The Buckeyes haven’t been ranked this low, excluding the 2020 pandemic season, since 2014.

Inside and outside

In: No. 18 Oregon’s big win over Ohio State, which followed a ranked home win over Northwestern, put the Ducks in the poll for the first time in five weeks.

In: No. 25 SMU had been ranked all season until losing at Syracuse and is now back after throttling Virginia Tech.

Out: Missouri’s loss to Texas was its second in three games and left the Tigers 1-3 against ranked opponents.

Out: Florida has lost four of five since starting 4-0.

Voting points

— Utah has its highest ranking since the final voting of the 2008 season.

— The last time the Big 12 saw two teams reach second place or higher in the same season was 2015. BYU was No. 2 in the Oct. 18 poll.

—At No. 3, Notre Dame has the lowest ranking for a top-five team that just beat a No. 1 team since Auburn fell from No. 4 to No. 3 after beating Alabama in 2013.

Conference call

SEC (8 ranked teams): Georgia No. 1, Alabama No. 7, Texas No. 8, Tennessee No. 9, Kentucky No. 13, Mississippi No. 19, South Carolina No. 20, LSU No. 24.

Big Ten (6): No. 4 UCLA, No. 6 Indiana, No. 15 USC, No. 16 Iowa, No. 18 Oregon, No. 21 Ohio State.

Big 12 (5): No. 2 Utah, No. 10 Texas Tech, No. 12 BYU, No. 14 Houston, No. 22 Arizona.

ACC (3): No. 5 Miami, No. 11 Wake Forest, No. 25 SMU.

Independent (1): No. 3 Notre Dame.

Pac-12 (1): No. 17 Boise State.

Mountain West (1): No. 23 New Mexico.

Ranked vs Ranked

No. 2 Utah at No. 22 Arizona: Utes, alone in first place in the Big 12, have not won in Tucson since 2021.

No. 8 Texas at No. 24 LSU: The Longhorns have won three straight and can go 5-0 against Top 25 opponents with a win here.

No. 11 Wake Forest at No. 25 SMU: The Demon Deacons can take a big step toward securing a berth in the ACC championship game.

No. 15 USC at No. 6 Indiana: The Trojans are 1-7 on the road against Top 25 opponents under Lincoln Riley, with their only victory coming against crosstown rival UCLA in 2022.