Miami takes over No. 1 in AP poll; Kentucky climbs to No. 12

Miami is No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since 2002, No. 2 BYU has its highest ranking since its 1984 national championship season and Notre Dame and Georgia stayed in the top five Sunday after both lost close games.

The wildest and wackiest week of the college football season so far saw five of the top seven teams lose — a first in the AP poll’s 90-year history. Miami and BYU were the biggest beneficiaries of the chaos and were joined by Ohio State in a tightly bunched top three.

Meanwhile, the Kentucky Wildcats (6-1, 4-1 SEC) climbed to No. 12 in the poll by way of their 21-13 win over Oklahoma.

The Hurricanes took over the top spot from Georgia, which lasted one week at No. 1 after losing to Auburn at home. The Bulldogs were the second No. 1 team in two weeks — Texas was the other — to lose to an unranked opponent.

Miami survived end-of-game drama to beat rival Florida State in double overtime and stay unbeaten. The Hurricanes’ two-spot jump made them No. 1 for the first time since the 2002 season ended in the national championship game against Ohio State.

BYU went into its game against Notre Dame as a 10.5-point underdog and came out with a 28-24 win to go 6-0 for a third straight year. Since their championship season 42 years ago, the Cougars hadn’t been higher than No. 4 in a poll or in the top five since 1996.

Every single spot in the Top 25 has a new team this week, but only two teams dropped out of the rankings. A wholesale shakeup of the top 10 did not happen largely because Notre Dame, Georgia and No. 6 Indiana had built-up capital with their 6-0 starts, plus the losses by the Fighting Irish and Hoosiers were against top-10 opponents.

Indiana, which lost at home to Ohio State, was followed by Mississippi, Texas Tech, UCLA and Utah. Texas Tech received the remaining first-place vote.

Alabama’s loss at Tennessee dropped the Crimson Tide seven spots to No. 13 and Texas plummeted 12 rungs to No. 19 after its home loss to Florida.

The last time the SEC’s top team in the rankings — it’s No. 5 Georgia this week — was behind teams from each of the other power conferences was Dec. 3, 2023, when Alabama was No. 5 behind teams from the Big Ten (Michigan), Pac-12 (Washington), Big 12 (Texas) and ACC (Florida State).

The last time the Nos. 1 and 2 teams lost in the same week in the regular season was 2017


(AP Photo Lynn Sladky)