MORGANTOWN — With Ohio State’s blowout loss at Purdue and LSU’s 19-3 win over Mississippi State, the Tigers made their way into the top four of my Week 9 AP top 25 ballot. The Tigers move into the third spot behind No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Clemson and ahead of Notre Dame, which came in at No. 4.
Group of 5 Central Florida is on the outside looking in at No. 5, while the rest of the top 10 is rounded out by Michigan, Georgia, Ohio State, Texas and Oklahoma.
West Virginia moved up one spot from 13th to 12th during its bye week, passing Oregon, which fell to Washington State on the road. The Cougars moved from 21st to 15th with the win.
The Mountaineers will host Baylor at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Dropping out of the rankings are N.C. State, Cincinnati and Mississippi State, and jumping in are Utah (23rd), Wisconsin (24th) and Appalachian State (25th).
The Utes continued their impressive stretch, knocking of USC and scoring 40-plus in their third straight game. Wisconsin was my first team out last week and after a dominant win over Illinois, the Badgers are back in. Appalachian State keeps finding ways to win after an overtime loss to Penn State to open the season.
The AP poll will be released at 2 p.m. Sunday.
- Alabama
- Clemson
- LSU
- Notre Dame
- Central Florida
- Michigan
- Geogia
- Ohio State
- Texas
- Oklahoma
- Florida
- West Virginia
- Washington
- Kentucky
- Washington State
- Iowa
- South Florida
- Penn State
- Oregon
- Texas A&M
- Virginia
- Miami
- Utah
- Wisconsin
- Appalachian State
