AP college football rankings: Arizona falls out of top 25, ASU gets votes

The Arizona Wildcats fell out of The Associated Press Top 25 college football rankings for the first time this season after a loss to then-No. 14 Kansas State.

Meanwhile, rival ASU received three votes for consideration, still fewer than Arizona’s 15 but a sign the national view of the Sun Devils is turning after a 3-0 start thanks to a Thursday victory against Texas State. It’s the first time ASU has received votes in the AP poll since head coach Kenny Dillingham took over at the start of the 2023 season.

Arizona was ranked No. 20 the past two weeks.

Texas is No. 1 in the AP college football rankings for the first time in 16 years, replacing Georgia on Sunday after the Bulldogs struggled to remain unbeaten.

The Longhorns moved up a spot from No. 2 and received 35 first-place votes and 1,540 points. The Bulldogs, who have been No. 1 since the preseason poll, received 23 first-place votes and 1,518 points.

Ohio State received five first-place votes and stayed at No. 3 during an off week. No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Mississippi held their places and Tennessee moved up a spot to No. 6, flip-flopping with Southeastern Conference rival Missouri.

The last time the Longhorns were No. 1 was the middle of the 2008 season, when they spent three weeks at the top of the polls before losing a memorable game at Texas Tech in early November. The Longhorns are likely to settle into the top spot for at least another week with a home game against Louisiana-Monroe up next, possibly with Arch Manning as the starting quarterback.

Manning, the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, stepped in Saturday night against UTSA when Quinn Ewers went out with an abdomen injury that coach Steve Sarkisian said was not serious.

“There’s nothing like being in the game. Playing in front of 105,000 people is not the easiest thing to do. I’m really proud of Arch,” Sarkisian said.

A week after the SEC became the first conference to hold six of the first seven spots, the league repeated the feat.

There was some shuffling at the back of the top 10, with No. 8 Oregon and No. 9 Miami each moving up a spot and Penn State slipping back to No. 10.

In and out

Boston College joined fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Georgia Tech in the brief-stay-after-a-long-drought club. The Eagles lost at Missouri and fell out of the rankings after moving in last week for the first time since 2018.

Arizona is also out for the first time this season after getting thumped by Kansas State.

Moving in for the first time this season was Illinois at No. 24. Texas A&M jumped back into the rankings at No. 25.

Conference call

The 18-team Big Ten matched a conference record (reached 11 times previously) with seven ranked teams.

SEC — 9 (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 15, 16, 25).

Big Ten — 7 (Nos. 3, 9, 10, 11, 18, 22, 24).

Big 12 — 4 (Nos. 12, 13, 14, 20).

ACC — 3 (Nos. 8, 19, 21).

MAC — 1 (No. 23).

Independent — 1 (No. 17).

AP college football rankings top 25 – Sept. 15

	Record	Pts	Prv
1. Texas (35)	3-0	1540	2
2. Georgia (23)	3-0	1518	1
3. Ohio St. (5)	2-0	1461	3
4. Alabama	3-0	1358	4
5. Mississippi	3-0	1316	5
6. Tennessee	3-0	1188	7
7. Missouri	3-0	1127	6
8. Miami	3-0	1094	10
9. Oregon	3-0	1093	9
10. Penn St.	2-0	1050	8
11. Southern Cal	2-0	1008	11
12. Utah	3-0	912	12
13. Kansas St.	3-0	836	14
14. Oklahoma St.	3-0	742	13
15. Oklahoma	3-0	649	15
16. LSU	2-1	537	16
17. Notre Dame	2-1	477	18
18. Michigan	2-1	447	17
19. Louisville	2-0	418	19
20. Iowa St.	2-0	354	21
21. Clemson	1-1	291	22
22. Nebraska	3-0	266	23
23. Northern Illinois	2-0	151	25
24. Illinois	3-0	137	–
25. Texas A&M	2-1	82	–

Others receiving votes: Memphis 77, Boise St. 62, Syracuse 62, UNLV 54, Boston College 47, Washington St. 30, Arizona 15, Iowa 15, Indiana 13, California 11, Liberty 10, Toledo 9, UCF 6, South Carolina 3, North Carolina 3, Arizona St. 3, BYU 2, Pittsburgh 1.

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