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10/19 05:10 CDT SEC upheaval opens door for Big 12 to put 3 teams in top 10 of
AP poll and Miami to take over No. 1
SEC upheaval opens door for Big 12 to put 3 teams in top 10 of AP poll and
Miami to take over No. 1
By ERIC OLSON
AP College Football Writer
Just when you thought the SEC and Big Ten were the biggest and baddest
conferences in the land, along comes the Big 12 with three teams in the top 10
of The Associated Press Top 25 and the ACC with the No. 1 team.
Five of the top seven teams lost Saturday, the most on one day in a regular
season since the AP rankings started 90 years ago. In all, eight Top 25 teams
lost in Week 7.
No. 2 BYU, No. 8 Texas Tech and No. 10 Utah landed in the top 10 on Sunday,
largely the result of them getting out of the weekend unscathed amid the
upheaval in the Southeastern Conference with Georgia, Alabama and Texas losing.
The last time the Big 12 was so well-represented in the top 10 was in the final
2021 season poll, when it was Baylor, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
Then there is Miami of the Atlantic Coast Conference at No. 1 this week after
it edged rival Florida State in double overtime. It had been almost six full
seasons since a team from outside the SEC or Big Ten held the top spot. Miami's
69 all-time appearances at No. 1 are eighth most, and Sunday's ascension ended
a 24-year drought.
BYU made the biggest statement with its 24-20 win over No. 2 Notre Dame as a
10.5-point home underdog. The Cougars became the Big 12's highest-ranked team
since TCU was No. 2 in the final 2022 poll.
BYU has opened 6-0 for a third straight year with star running back LJ Martin
sidelined by injury the last two-plus games. Cougars quarterback Bear Bachmeier
has picked up the slack, and then some, and the defense is a top-15 unit
nationally.
The Cougars posted their highest-ranked victory since they took down a No. 1
Miami in 1990, and they got the kind of resume-enhancing win that could help
them in case they need an at-large bid to get into the College Football
Playoff. BYU's toughest remaining regular-season game is against rival Utah on
the road Nov. 7.
Texas Tech came off an open date revved up for its game against a wobbly
Arizona State. The Red Raiders piled up 404 yards while building a 43-10
halftime lead and they finished with 502 in the 53-25 rout. Tech hadn't scored
that many points in the first half of a conference game in 25 years.
The Red Raiders are one of four Bowl Subdivision teams to have scored at least
28 points in every game, but before Saturday they hadn't been as dominant as
the 2025 Big 12 championship team.
"There was a sense of urgency but also anger," Tech coach Joey McGuire said of
his team's frame of mind against ASU. "There's a lot of different people
saying, 'Hey, this doesn't look like last year's team,' Well, it's not last
year's team. But this team is still 6-0 and finding ways to win."
Utah, in the top 10 for the first time in two years, has the nation's longest
win streak at 12 games after escaping Boulder with a 27-24 win over Colorado.
The Utes trailed for the first time in four games when they fell behind in the
third quarter. Devon Dampier led two scoring drives to secure the win, the
second one set up by James Chenault Jr.'s 30-yard interception return late in
the game.
"You look across college football today," Utes coach Morgan Scalley said, "and
every week, winning is hard."
2-loss teams A sign of the week-in, week-out grind of the SEC: There are five two-loss teams in the Top 25, all from that conference --- No. 13 Alabama, No. 18 LSU, No. 19 Texas, No. 20 Florida and No. 22 Missouri. That is the most ranked two-loss teams in a Week 8 poll since there were five in 2022. There were six ranked two-loss teams at this point in 2018 and eight in 2016.
Extra points With five straight wins, No. 12 Kentucky is the hottest team in the SEC. The streak includes two against top-10 opponents, and Saturday's 21-13 victory at Oklahoma was the Wildcats' third on the road. They have their highest ranking since they were No. 7 in late September 2022 and, at 6-1, are bowl eligible for the first time since 2023. ... Wake Forest's 41-7 win at California bumped the Demon Deacons up four spots to No. 17, their highest ranking since October 2022. ... Consecutive losses to Oklahoma and Florida made Texas the first team in 35 years to lose two straight games in the regular season after having been No. 1. In 1991, Florida State got knocked out of the top spot with a loss to Miami and then dropped its following game to Florida. ___ Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here. Visit the Top 25 here and see AP's full college football coverage here.
2-loss teams A sign of the week-in, week-out grind of the SEC: There are five two-loss teams in the Top 25, all from that conference --- No. 13 Alabama, No. 18 LSU, No. 19 Texas, No. 20 Florida and No. 22 Missouri. That is the most ranked two-loss teams in a Week 8 poll since there were five in 2022. There were six ranked two-loss teams at this point in 2018 and eight in 2016.
Extra points With five straight wins, No. 12 Kentucky is the hottest team in the SEC. The streak includes two against top-10 opponents, and Saturday's 21-13 victory at Oklahoma was the Wildcats' third on the road. They have their highest ranking since they were No. 7 in late September 2022 and, at 6-1, are bowl eligible for the first time since 2023. ... Wake Forest's 41-7 win at California bumped the Demon Deacons up four spots to No. 17, their highest ranking since October 2022. ... Consecutive losses to Oklahoma and Florida made Texas the first team in 35 years to lose two straight games in the regular season after having been No. 1. In 1991, Florida State got knocked out of the top spot with a loss to Miami and then dropped its following game to Florida. ___ Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here. Visit the Top 25 here and see AP's full college football coverage here.
