Undefeated Mississippi St. cracks top 15 in Week 5 AP poll after huge upset
After a big Week 4, it was only natural the AP poll would get a shakeup. The big riser was Mississippi State, which jumped from unranked all the way up to No. 14 after a win over LSU. The Tigers, previously at No. 8, fell to No. 17. Missouri fell out of the top 25 after a rough home loss to Indiana, and Nebraska climbed to No. 21 after being ranked No. 24 a week ago.
Here is the full top 25 (with first-place votes in parentheses). Three quick thoughts are below.
1 Florida State (34)
2 Oregon (12)
3 Alabama (6)
4 Oklahoma (4)
5 Auburn
6 Texas A&M (4)
7 Baylor
10 Ole Miss
11 UCLA
12 Georgia
14 Mississippi State
16 Stanford
17 LSU
18 USC
19 Wisconsin
20 BYU
21 Nebraska
22 Ohio State
25 Kansas State
1) Shoutout to the Big Ten, which had itself a day on Saturday. In addition to the aforementioned Indiana win over Missouri, Wisconsin claimed a 68-17 win over Bowling Green, Rutgers beat Navy and Iowa beat Pittsburgh. Michigan State is also back in the top ten after pummeling Eastern Michigan. It hasn’t made a big dent in the polls yet, but the conference is far from dead and has nowhere to go but up.
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2) Voters don’t seem to know what to do with teams that lose close games to top teams. Kansas State dropped five spots this week after playing Auburn tough, and Clemson fell out of the polls. But Georgia is ranked above South Carolina even though the Bulldogs lost to the Gamecocks. These things typically work themselves out as the year goes on, but it’s a little puzzling right now.
3) BYU continues its climb, if only slightly, moving from No. 21 up to No. 20. The Cougars would probably have a tough case at cracking the college football playoff even if they have an undefeated season, but they’re making their case in the early going all the same. After a 41-33 win over Virginia, BYU sits at 4-0 and should remain firmly in the poll as long as it keeps on winning.