College football rankings: AP top 25 poll for Week 7 announced
We're six full weeks into the 2022 college football season and now it's time to get our first look at the updated AP top 25 rankings.
Six teams came out on the wrong end of the scoreboard on Saturday, but none in the top 10, even if top-ranked Alabama came very, very close.
The defending SEC champions and College Football Playoff runner-up survived a scare from unranked Texas A&M, which came down to the 2-yard line and had a chance to win the game as time expired, but the Crimson Tide held firm to stay undefeated.
That sets up another major tilt in the SEC next weekend as Alabama pays a visit to a resurgent Tennessee, itself undefeated behind college football's No. 1 total offense, and coming off a statement win in the conference.
Where do things stand in the new poll? Here's your first look at the latest AP top 25 rankings heading into the Week 7 schedule of games.
College football rankings: AP top 25 poll for Week 7 announced
Week 7 AP top 25 college football rankings
USA Today Images
1. Georgia (32 1st-place votes)
2. Ohio State (20)
3. Alabama (11)
4. Clemson
5. Michigan
6. Tennessee
7. USC
8. Oklahoma State
9. Ole Miss
10. Penn State
11. UCLA
12. Oregon
13. TCU
14. Wake Forest
15. NC State
16. Mississippi State
17. Kansas State
18. Syracuse
19. Kansas
20. Utah
21. Cincinnati
T-22. Kentucky
T-22. Texas
24. Illinois
25. James Madison
AP top 25 note: Georgia received the most points overall (1,535), followed by Ohio State (1,507 pts), and Alabama (1,489). Texas and Kentucky both received 150 votes each, tying at No. 22.
Others receiving votes
North Carolina 98, Baylor 91, BYU 61, Coastal Carolina 61, Notre Dame 58, Florida 56, Tulane 42, Purdue 34, Florida State 18, South Carolina 12, Washington State 10, Minnesota 5, LSU 4, Maryland 4, San Jose State 1
Schools dropped out
No. 16 BYU. Lost to Notre Dame
No. 21 Washington. Lost to Arizona State
No. 25 LSU. Lost to Tennessee
AP top 25 biggest movers
No. 3 Alabama (Down 2). Not a huge drop in itself, but the Crimson Tide got punished for a close win over unranked Texas A&M, dipping from the No. 1 spot heading into the Tennessee game.
No. 11 UCLA (Up 7). A nice jump for what looks like Chip Kelly's best team by far at Westwood, coming off a win over Utah
No. 16 Mississippi State (Up 7). After losing to LSU, the Bulldogs have won 3 straight, including 2 impressive wins in the SEC West.
No. 20 Utah (Down 9). Make that 2 losses for the defending Pac-12 champs, who have an uphill climb to repeat in the conference.
No. 22 Kentucky (Down 9). Two straight losses for UK, which suffered badly without Will Levis at quarterback.
Three teams that were unranked, including: Texas, Illinois, James Madison
College football top 25 losers
Rankings reflect last week's AP poll
No. 11 Utah. Make that two losses on the year for the defending Pac-12 champion Utes, who finally had no answer for the dynamic duo at still-undefeated UCLA. There's still enough time to take a stab at the conference title chase, but the matter is no longer in Utah's control; it needs other contenders to mess up along the way, too.
No. 13 Kentucky. UK's offense died on the vine without Will Levis in at quarterback and suddenly this team has lost two straight after climbing into the top 10 not long ago. South Carolina handled the Wildcats in a 24-14 victory in Shane Beamer's first win over a ranked team. Kaiya Sheron was under 200 yards passing and Kentucky is heading down the rankings with 2 major games coming up against MSU and Tennessee.
No. 16 BYU. Catholics vs. Mormons in Las Vegas went in Notre Dame's favor after it built up a 25-6 lead, but BYU stormed back in a big way when Jaren Hall threw for a 53 yard score and Christopher Brooks ran for one from 28 yards out, but it wasn't enough to surmount the original Irish advantage and the Cougars fall to 4-2 with Arkansas coming up next week.
No. 19 Kansas. The run is finally over for the Jayhawks, but not without a fight, coming within seven to TCU and its 2nd ranked offense at home. And that was without its starting quarterback: Jalon Daniels went down with a shoulder injury, allowing Jason Bean to step in, throwing 4 TDs and keeping KU in the game until the very last second.
No. 21 Washington. A second-straight L for the Huskies, two weeks ago at UCLA and a stunner on Saturday against now 2-win Arizona State. Michael Penix put the ball in the air 53 times, but none of those went for touchdowns, while UW's defense broke down a few too many times.
No. 25 LSU. A fumble on the opening kickoff and the Tigers just weren't able to recover at home to Tennessee and that flashy Vol offense. It's been a theme in Brian Kelly's otherwise stellar coaching career, an inability to come up big in games against highly ranked teams. Something to watch going forward as the SEC West schedule approaches.
Undefeated college football teams remaining
SEC: Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee
Big Ten: Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State
ACC: Clemson, Syracuse
Big 12: Oklahoma State, TCU
Pac-12: USC, UCLA
Sun Belt: Coastal Carolina, James Madison