History was made across the college football rankings after another Saturday shakeup as not only the No. 1 team in the country went down for the second straight week, but five of the top seven teams also lost their games, the first time that’s ever happened.
That left AP top 25 pollsters with quite a bit of cleanup to do, rearranging their pecking order of who belongs where midway through a season that keeps forcing analysts to rethink whatever they thought just the week before.
What’s the damage this week? Here is how the AP vote shook out for Week 8.
AP Top 25 Rankings for Week 8
First-place votes in parentheses
- Miami (40)
- BYU (20)
- Ohio State (9)
- Notre Dame
- Georgia
- Indiana
- Ole Miss
- Texas Tech (1)
- UCLA
- Utah
- Tennessee
- Kentucky
- Alabama
- Houston
- Iowa
- USC
- Wake Forest
- LSU
- Texas
- Florida
- Boise State
- Missouri
- SMU
- Northwestern
- Arizona
What we got right, and wrong: Our prediction for the AP top 25 poll
AP voters make the change at No. 1
Georgia looked like a sure thing coming into the weekend. Fresh off a physical win at Alabama, all the new No. 1 had to do was beat an underdog, two-loss Auburn at home.
Auburn, however, had other ideas. Surviving an early two-touchdown deficit, they scored 24 unanswered points and their defense came through with a late forced fumble that set up the game-winning, poll-smashing field goal to take down the Bulldogs in Athens.
Welcome aboard, Miami. There was an argument that BYU would overtake everyone at the top after the Notre Dame win, but AP voters still thought the Hurricanes had the better overall resume.
Who jumped in the rankings?
BYU (Up 6). A hard-fought win over the Irish keep the Cougars undefeated and in the Big 12 title hunt.
Houston (Up 6). Taking down ranked Oklahoma State keeps the Cougars around the top of the Big 12 heading into a road test against undefeated Utah.
Florida (Up 12). AP pollsters have reacted intensely to everything the Gators have done the last few weeks, including putting them back in the rankings after knocking off Texas on the road.
Who the pollsters dropped in Week 8
Texas (Down 12). The biggest negative mover in the Week 8 poll, the Longhorns are on a two-game slide and their playoff hopes are vanishing into thin air.
Alabama (Down 7). A second-straight loss for the Crimson Tide, scoring just 10 points at Tennessee, once again raises the question of a ground offense that isn't tough enough in the trenches.
What teams missed the AP poll this week?
Oklahoma State 128, Oregon 79, Auburn 61, James Madison 52, Mississippi State 30, New Mexico 6, Oregon State 3.
Rankings: Coaches Poll | ESPN Top 25
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