Georgia moved up one spot to No. 4 in The Associated Press college football poll on Sunday, Oklahoma returned to the top 10 and North Texas, ranked for the first time since 1959, is among three Group of 5 teams in the Top 25.
Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M were the top three teams for the fifth consecutive week. Georgia earned its highest ranking since the first week of September and Ole Miss returned to the top five after spending three weeks there midseason.
Oregon and Texas Tech were tied for No. 6, and Oklahoma moved up three spots to No. 8 after its win at Alabama. The last time the Sooners were in the top 10 was the second week of October (when they were ranked No. 6).
Notre Dame remained at No. 9 after a 22-point win at Pittsburgh, and Alabama fell six spots to No. 10 after the Sooners ended their eight-game winning streak.
Ohio State, which beat UCLA to improve to 10-0 for the fourth time in seven seasons, received 57 of 66 first-place votes. Indiana, which beat Wisconsin to finish 11-0 for the first time, earned eight first-place votes. Texas A&M, whose comeback from a 27-point deficit to beat South Carolina was the largest in its history, earned one first-place vote, three fewer than last week.
Georgia's 35-10 victory over Texas was its sixth in a row and its second over a top-10 opponent. Mississippi, which lost at Georgia last month, defeated Florida and is more than 100 points behind the Bulldogs at No. 5.
No. 13 Utah has outscored three opponents by a combined 153-49 since losing at BYU and has its highest ranking of the season.
Miami easily beat NC State and moved up two spots to No. 14. Georgia Tech, which needed a field goal in the final seconds to overtake one-time winner Boston College, fell one spot to No. 15. Voters did what the CFP selection committee did last week, edging Miami over Georgia Tech to make the Hurricanes the top-ranked team in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
No. 17 Texas suffered the biggest drop of the week, dropping seven spots.
The Group of 5 hadn't had three teams in the Top 25 since four appeared in last season's final poll.
James Madison of the Sun Belt Conference defeated Appalachian State to move up three spots to No. 21. North Texas is next at No. 22. The American Conference's Mean Green defeated UAB 53-24 on the road to match its best start in program history.
The last time UNT went 9-1 was in 1959, when the team then known as the Eagles was ranked two consecutive weeks in November, reaching No. 16. That team lost to New Mexico State in the Sun Bowl to finish 9-2. This year's UNT team is already eligible for a second consecutive bowl game and is in the thick of the race for the Group of 5's automatic CFP bid.
North Texas' first appearance at the polls in 66 years ends the longest drought by a Bowl Subdivision team.
No. 23 Missouri returned from a weeklong absence following a win over Mississippi State in which Ahmad Hardy became the first player since 2022 to rush for 300 yards.
No. 24 Tulane has won two straight since losing to UTSA and is ranked for the first time this season.
No. 25 Houston, fifth among teams that also received votes last week and was inactive, was previously ranked for a week in October.
Louisville (19th), Cincinnati (22nd), Pittsburgh (23rd) and South Florida (25th) dropped out.
CONFERENCE
SEC (9): Nos. 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 17, 20, 23.
Big Ten (5): Nos. 1, 2, T-6, 16, 18.
12 large (4): Nos. T-6, 11, 13, 25.
ACC (3): Nos. 14, 15, 19.
American (2): Nos. 22, 24.
Sun belt (1): No. 21.
Independent (1): No. 9.
CLASSIFIED VS. CLASSIFIED
No. 16 USC (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten, No. 17 CFP) at No. 6 Oregon (9-1, 6-1, No. 8 CFP): The winner strengthens their position for a CFP at-large bid and keeps their slim hopes of sneaking into the Big Ten championship game alive.
No. 23 Missouri (7-3, 3-3 SEC) vs. No. 8 Oklahoma (8-2, 4-2, No. 11 CFP): The Sooners did wonders for their playoff resume by defeating Alabama on the road and are now looking for a fifth win over a Top 25 opponent.
