Miami makes AP top 5 for first time since 2007 – Winston-Salem Journal

Oregon, Georgia, Penn State and Ohio State remained the top four teams, and Washington State and Colorado entered the Top 25 for the first time this season.

Led by Heisman Trophy candidate Cam Ward, Miami improved to 8-0 with its win over Florida State on Saturday. The Hurricanes have been in the top 10 in eight straight polls, but not as high since they spent two weeks at No. 2 in November 2017.

Texas, which fell from No. 1 to No. 5 after its home loss to Georgia, dropped another spot to No. 6 after a three-point win against Vanderbilt.

Notre Dame, knocked out of the top 10 after its Week 2 loss at Northern Illinois, moved up four spots to No. 8 after its 51-14 win over Navy.

No. 9 BYU went on the road and defeated UCF 8-0 and has its highest ranking since 2020, when the Cougars started with nine straight wins.

Texas A&M’s 38-23 win over LSU was its second of the season against a top-10 opponent, and first-year coach Mike Elko’s Aggies were rewarded with a four-spot move up to No. 10. It’s their highest ranking since were sixth in September 2022.

No. 1 Oregon received 61 of 62 first-place votes — two more than last week — after a 38-9 win over Illinois. No. 2 Georgia, which was idle, received the other first-place vote.

Penn State overcame the loss of quarterback Drew Allar to injury just before halftime to win at Wisconsin and stay No. 3 in this weekend’s home game against No. 4 Ohio State after fighting back for a 21-17 victory at home against nearly four touchdowns underdog Nebraska.

Notre Dame and Texas A&M made the biggest upside moves. LSU’s drop from No. 8 to No. 16 was the biggest drop.

BYU has moved up in six straight polls since coming in at No. 22 on Sept. 22. Pittsburgh has climbed in four straight since making its season debut at No. 22 on Oct. 6.

With Texas dropping to No. 6, this is the first poll this season in which the Southeastern Conference has only one representative in the top five. This is the fourth straight week the Big Ten has had three of the top four teams.

Miami is the first Atlantic Coast Conference team in the top five since Florida State was No. 4 in the first week of last December.

Washington State (7-1) beat San Diego State for its third straight win and moved in at No. 22 to become the top ranked team this season from what remains of the Pac-12 (Oregon State is the only other current member).

Colorado (6-2) has won five of six since beating Cincinnati and is No. 23, the first ranking for Deion Sanders and his Buffaloes since appearing in three straight polls at the start of last season.

Vanderbilt’s first ranking of the 2013 season lasted just one week. The Commodores, who were No. 25, received the most votes among teams outside the Top 25.

Navy, in the poll for two straight weeks, was knocked out after committing six turnovers in its 37-point loss to Notre Dame. Rival Army (7-0) moved up two spots to No. 21.

SEC — 8 (Nos. 2, 6, 7, 10, 14, 16, 19, 25).

Big Ten — 5 (Nos. 1, 3, 4, 13, 24).

ACC — 4 (Nos. 5, 11, 18, 20).

Large 12 — 4 (No. 9, 11, 17, 23).

Independent — 1 (No. 8).

Mountain West — 1 (No. 15).

• No. 4 Ohio State at No. 3 Penn State. This will be the fourth meeting between the top 5 teams this season. The Buckeyes have won seven in a row in the series. Both teams have health issues, none bigger than Penn State’s Allar’s knee injury.
• No. 18 Pittsburgh at No. 20 SMU. Of the four undefeated teams in ACC play, these two are the biggest surprises. Pitt was picked 13th in the conference in the preseason media poll and SMU was seventh.