AP Top 25: Colorado falls out of rankings after Oregon loss, Ohio State moves up to No. 4
Colorado’s blowout loss at Oregon cost it a spot in the Associated Press Top 25.
Deion Sanders suffered his first loss as CU’s head coach Saturday — a 42-6 defeat in Eugene. As a result, the Buffs fell from No. 19 to unranked in the latest AP poll, which was released Sunday afternoon.
Colorado won just one game last year but started 3-0 in its first season with Sanders at the helm. CU rose to as high as No. 18 in the rankings after season-opening wins over TCU and Nebraska, and then were at No. 19 for the Pac-12 opener at Oregon. It was a tough loss for the Buffs, who fell behind 35-0 at halftime.
Elsewhere in the rankings, Georgia, Michigan and Texas remained in the top three spots. Ohio State, following its last-second road win over Notre Dame, jumped up two spots to No. 4, just ahead of Florida State. FSU, which fell a spot to No. 5, posted a come-from-behind overtime win at Clemson.
Rounding out the top 10 are No. 6 Penn State, No. 7 Washington, No. 8 USC, No. 9 Oregon and No. 10 Utah. USC fell three spots following a closer-than-expected road win over an undermanned Arizona State team. ASU was within seven points midway through the fourth quarter, but USC managed to pull away and win 42-28.
Notably, six teams received first-place votes — Georgia (55), Michigan (1), Texas (2), Ohio State (1), Florida State (3) and Washington (1).
Notre Dame, following the heartbreaking loss to Ohio State, dropped two spots to No. 11, just ahead of No. 12 Alabama and No. 13 LSU. Alabama had a bounce-back home win over Ole Miss while LSU needed a last-second field goal to edge Arkansas.
One of the biggest moves of the weekend came from Washington State, who jumped up five spots to No. 16 following an impressive home win over Oregon State. The Beavers fell five spots to No. 19 following the loss. Like Oregon State, Ole Miss also dropped five spots in the poll. The Rebels are now ranked No. 20 after the loss to Alabama.
Three teams made their 2023 debuts in the rankings — No. 23 Missouri, No. 24 Kansas and No. 25 Fresno State. Aside from Colorado, UCLA and Iowa also fell out of the rankings. UCLA lost 14-7 at Utah while Iowa was blanked 31-0 by Penn State.
With Colorado and UCLA falling out of the Top 25, the Pac-12 fell behind the SEC in total number of teams ranked. There are now seven SEC teams ranked and six from the Pac-12.
