Tennessee’s thrilling 52-49 victory against Alabama vaulted the Volunteers to No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 college football poll released Sunday.
Georgia (7-0) and idle Ohio State (6-0) held their spots atop the poll and received 31 and 17 of the 63 first-place ballots, respectively. The Bulldogs blanked Vanderbilt 55-0 on Saturday.
Tennessee (6-0) moved up three places and collected the remaining 15 votes after Chase McGrath’s 40-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Crimson Tide (6-1), who fell three spots to No. 6.
The Volunteers have not been ranked this high in the second half of a season since 2001, while the Tide saw their streak of 40 consecutive weeks in the Top 5 snapped.
No. 4 Michigan (7-0) switched places with No. 5 Clemson (7-0). The Wolverines thumped Penn State 41-17, which knocked the Nittany Lions (5-1) down six rungs to No. 16. The Tigers held on for a 34-28 win at Florida State.
After Alabama, Ole Miss (7-0), TCU (6-0), UCLA (6-0) and Oregon (5-1) round out the Top 10.
No. 11 Oklahoma State (5-1) and No. 12 Southern California (12) fell out of the Top 10 after absorbing their first losses of the season. The Cowboys lost in double-overtime at TCU and the Trojans fell 43-42 at Utah (5-2), which jumped five spots to No. 15.
No. 22 North Carolina (6-1) is ranked for the first time this season and No. 25 Tulane is in the poll for the first time since 1998.
Kansas dropped out after its second straight loss and James Madison is out after checking in at No. 25 last week in its first season as an FBS member.
–Field Level Media
