AP Top 25 poll: Texas No. 1 for first time since 2008, Miami jumps Penn State in college football rankings

First Texas jumped Ohio State for No. 2 in the AP top 25 poll, and now the Longhorns have taken the No. 1 spot in the college football rankings from Georgia. It’s the first time that Texas has been ranked the No. 1 team in the AP poll since 2008, and marks yet another sign that the Longhorns are, in fact, “back.” 

Texas got the bump over Georgia not just off the strength of a big win against UTSA — complete with plenty of drama as Quinn Ewers left with an injury and Arch Manning scored five touchdowns — but also because of the Bulldogs’ struggles in a 13-12 win at Kentucky. The Longhorns received 35 first-place votes while Georgia received 23. Ohio State, who was off in Week 3, received the final five first-place votes. 

In addition to the change at the top of the rankings, there is some movement in the back half of the top 10. As teams like Tennessee, and Miami continue to win they will enter the debate for those spots at the very top of the rankings.

The Vols have the No. 1 scoring offense (63.7 points per game) and No. 3 scoring defense (4.3 points allowed per game) in the country after blasting Kent State on Saturday night. The Vols crashed the top 10 last week up seven spots after a 51-10 win against NC State in Charlotte, and now eye the top five moving up again to No. 6. And after delivering one of the biggest headline wins of Week 1 Miami has continued to win and climb up the rankings. The Hurricanes took care of business without too much stress or concern, handing Ball State a 62-0 defeat in Hard Rock Stadium. Miami was the only team in the top 20 to move up multiple spots, now to No. 8. 

Further down in the rankings, the losers from the only two ranked-on-ranked games of the week, Arizona and Boston College, both fell out of the top 25. That made room for Illinois to make its top 25 debut at No. 24 and Texas A&M, fresh off a win at Florida, to make a return to the AP poll at No. 25. 

Here’s a look at the full AP Top 25 poll now that the dust has settled from an eventful Week 3. 

AP Top 25 poll

1. Texas (35 first-place votes) 
2. Georgia (23 first-place votes) 
3. Ohio State (five first-place votes) 
4. Alabama
5. Ole Miss 
6. Tennessee
7. Missouri 
8. Miami 
9. Oregon 
10. Penn State 
11. USC 
12. Utah 
13. Kansas State 
14. Oklahoma State 
15. Oklahoma 
16. LSU 
17. Notre Dame 
18. Michigan 
19. Louisville 
20. Iowa State 
21. Clemson
22. Nebraska
23. Northern Illinois 
24. Illinois 
25. Texas A&M 

Dropped out: No. 20 Arizona, No. 24 Boston College 

Others Receiving votes: Memphis 77, Boise St. 62, Syracuse 62, UNLV 54, Boston College 47, Washington St. 30, Arizona 15, Iowa 15, Indiana 13, California 11, Liberty 10, Toledo 9, UCF 6, South Carolina 3, North Carolina 3, Arizona St. 3, BYU 2, Pittsburgh 1.