AP Top 25 takeaways: Georgia makes No. 1 statement, hope for Vols, Tulane’s big stage

College Football Playoff rankings season has arrived, and there’s plenty to debate after Georgia beat Tennessee and Clemson and Alabama lost on the same day for the first time since Nov. 30, 2013. Consider Sunday’s AP Top 25 release an appetizer. Let’s get to my thoughts on the poll and how I voted:

1. The No. 1 ranking has floated around a bit this year, with the top spot in the AP poll passed between Alabama and Georgia, while Tennessee was No. 1 in the first College Football Playoff rankings. My own vote has jumped around from the Crimson Tide to the Bulldogs to Ohio State, which has appeared as high as No. 2 in each of the past seven seasons but hasn’t been No. 1 since 2015.

At some point, the debate was bound to resolve itself. That time has finally arrived. Georgia has earned the No. 1 ranking, and 62 of 63 voters agreed, making the Bulldogs the overwhelming choice atop the AP rankings this week. They’ll surely jump from No. 3 to No. 1 in the CFP rankings on Tuesday as well.

I was ready to move the winner of Georgia-Tennessee to the top of my ballot ahead of Ohio State regardless of who won, but given that 1) Georgia largely dominated the Vols and 2) the Buckeyes sleepwalked against lowly Northwestern, the choice became even more obvious.

Both Georgia and Ohio State are in the top eight in yards per play on both offense and defense, and Ohio State’s resume did get a boost this week by Notre Dame beating Clemson. Ohio State — or Michigan — could still end up proving to be better than Georgia by the end of the season. For now, though, Georgia is the well-rounded team that has beaten No. 5 Tennessee by 14 points and No. 6 Oregon by 46 points. It’s No. 1, and it should be No. 1.

2. There’s still some hope for Tennessee, which fell only three spots. Saturday was the 25th regular-season game between teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the AP poll. Of the six 1-2 games in the past 30 years, three losers went on to win the national title (2011 Alabama, 1996 Florida, 1993 Florida State) compared to just one winner (2019 LSU) — though, going back to the first 1-2 game in 1943, 11 winners of such games have won national titles compared to those three losers.

No. 5 is still well within striking distance of a championship. And excluding the two tie games, 20 of 22 losers of regular-season 1-2 matchups have gone on to finish in the top 10, including 12 in the top five. It’s hard to imagine the Vols falling far. Yes, they lost to Georgia, but they have wins against No. 10 Alabama and No. 7 LSU, the latter by 27 points, and they’re very much in the Playoff hunt.

3. A debate can be had about who should be No. 2 between Ohio State and Michigan, although like Tennessee vs. Georgia, it’s an argument that will soon be rendered moot by an on-field matchup. The Buckeyes and Wolverines both looked lousy for at least a half against inferior competition on Saturday, but Michigan emphatically slammed the door shut against Rutgers while Ohio State sort of limped to a 14-point win against Northwestern.

Still, the Buckeyes are first in yards per play on offense and seventh on defense. In addition to the road win at Penn State, they beat Notre Dame — the value of which has gone up after the Irish pummeled Clemson and reentered the poll at No. 20. Michigan, meanwhile, played one of the worst nonconference schedules in the country. A case can be made that Michigan is better than Ohio State, but I give the edge to the Buckeyes’ body of work.

If their rankings hold over the next few weeks, their Nov. 26 showdown in Columbus will be the third time both teams are ranked in the AP top three for their rivalry game, joining Ohio State’s wins in 2016 and 2006.

4. Both the AP poll and selection committee sort of snubbed TCU in putting it seventh last week, and the Horned Frogs responded by falling behind, again, against Texas Tech, before winning 34-24. A case could still be made to rank Tennessee ahead of TCU, but the Frogs keep finding ways to win and navigating a tricky Big 12 race. Winning is hard, and because they’re now one of four remaining undefeated teams I didn’t hesitate to rank them fourth this week, and most voters agreed. Next up? TCU will go to polarizing Texas as an underdog for a prime-time game that will be yet another prove-it moment.

Unbeaten TCU moved up to No. 4 in the AP poll. (Raymond Carlin III / USA Today)

5. How did the first CFP rankings compare to the AP poll? For the fourth time in nine years, the No. 1 team was different. The CFP chose Tennessee, while the AP had Georgia. The two sets of rankings will surely align at the top this week. And, as is usually the case, the top four differed: Only twice in nine years (2018 and 2020) have the top four been the same, in any order. This time, the committee picked Clemson and the AP poll picked Michigan at No. 4. Georgia, Ohio State and Michigan should be locks for the top four in both this week. The question is whether the CFP follows suit in ranking TCU No. 4 or keeps Tennessee in the top four.

Overall, 24 of the 25 teams were agreed upon. The AP poll had Liberty ranked, while the CFP chose Texas. Liberty has a better chance to crack the CFP rankings now after winning at Arkansas.

6. Saturday was the ninth time LSU has beaten an Alabama team ranked in the AP top 10. Surprisingly, it was only the second time it has done so at home in Baton Rouge, joining 2010. All nine wins have been nail-biters by 10 points or less.

LSU deservedly jumped to No. 7 in the poll, making it the highest-ranked two-loss team. The Tigers’ only losses were to No. 5 Tennessee and new No. 25 Florida State on a missed PAT, and they own wins against two top-11 teams in Alabama and Ole Miss.

Alabama fell to No. 10, a spot lower than I have it at No. 9. An Alabama team that loses is always divisive and tricky to rank. On one hand, everyone feels like it gets the benefit of the doubt, and it’s true that the Crimson Tide could have easily lost to Texas and/or Texas A&M as well. On the other hand, Alabama’s two losses came by a total of four points on the final play against teams now ranked No. 5 and No. 7. At the very least, Bryce Young still gives the Tide a chance against anybody.

7. Sunday’s poll is the first in more than seven years in which neither Alabama nor Clemson is ranked in the top five. Alabama was already sixth and fell to 10th after its loss. Clemson tumbled from No. 5 to No. 12 after getting blown out by Notre Dame. The last time neither was in the top five was Oct. 18, 2015, before the Crimson Tide and Tigers went on to meet for the national championship that season.

Clemson still received three votes as high as No. 6 but one as low as No. 17, per College Poll Tracker. I was right in the middle at No. 12, in line with the consensus.

Notre Dame is perhaps the strangest team to evaluate. The 6-3 Irish own wins against No. 12 Clemson and No. 15 North Carolina by double digits. They also at least held their own defensively against Ohio State. But Notre Dame has losses to Marshall (5-4) and Stanford (3-6), too. I voted the Irish 23rd, three spots behind where they ended up at No. 20. The bottom of the poll continues to be fluid, and it feels right to reward the Irish anywhere in that area for quality wins that most other teams in that ballpark can’t measure up to.

8. Washington’s resume still isn’t particularly deep, but it’s 7-2 and just beat a good Oregon State team. All two-loss Power 5 teams deserve a Top 25 spot at this point, and the Huskies now appear in the poll and on my ballot. The messier question is which of the 17 — seventeen! — Power 5 teams that are 6-3 should be ranked. Given that they all have three losses, they all have holes in their resumes, and head-to-head is a nightmare to unwind. Ultimately, I chose Texas, Florida State, Kansas State and Notre Dame — the same four that ended up in the poll. I received a lot of backlash for ranking Texas last week, but the CFP committee did the same thing and the Longhorns ended up winning at Kansas State to solidify the choice. They have a chance to further bolster their poll position in hosting TCU Saturday night.

Florida State is also tricky to evaluate, but the Seminoles’ resume was boosted by LSU’s surge into the top 10. The only teams that have a win against the current AP top 10? Georgia, Tennessee, Oregon, LSU, Utah and Florida State.

9. The Pac-12 is in a quiet holding pattern, though that will soon change. Oregon is the second-highest-ranked one-loss team at No. 6. Its resume is thin beyond being the only team to beat UCLA, but Bo Nix has become a Heisman candidate and its only loss was to Georgia in Week 1, even if the final score was embarrassing. In the poll, USC is next among Pac-12 teams at No. 8, followed by No. 9 UCLA and No. 13 Utah.

I disagree and have it Oregon-UCLA-Utah-USC. It’s true that USC’s only loss was by a point to Utah, but the Trojans have edged Arizona and Cal in one-possession games since that loss and haven’t beaten a currently ranked team. UCLA, meanwhile, beat Utah and lost only to Oregon.

We’ll learn plenty more soon, though. UCLA still has to play USC, which also plays Notre Dame. And Oregon hosts Washington and Utah the next two weeks.

No. 16 Tulane is set to host No. 22 UCF in Week 11. (Brett Rojo / USA Today)

10. We’ll finish with a couple of landmark oddities. First, congratulations to Kansas: The Jayhawks ended a 45-game losing streak to AP-ranked opponents by dominating Oklahoma State 37-16. It was Kansas’ first ranked win since September 2010 and tied for its third largest margin of victory against a ranked team. The longest ranked win droughts among the Power 5 belong to Rutgers (November 2009), Boston College (September 2014) and Nebraska (September 2016).

Next up: Tulane hosts a ranked matchup. When No. 22 UCF visits No. 16 Tulane on Saturday, it will be the Green Wave’s first ranked matchup since losing the 1973 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl to Houston and their first at home since losing to LSU in 1949. Tulane has four all-time wins in ranked-vs.-ranked matchups, most recently at No. 6 Ole Miss in 1956. It was still a member of the SEC at the time.