AP Top 25: Northwestern Falls Out After the Oregon Loss, Ohio State Drops to No. 11, and Miami Stays No. 1
The Wildcats lead the list of teams receiving votes and hold No. 23 in the Coaches Poll — close enough to climb back, with the first College Football Playoff rankings arriving Tuesday night.
Northwestern's stay in the AP Top 25 is over — for now, and by a whisker. A day after the Wildcats fell 34-26 at Oregon after leading into the fourth quarter, Sunday's new Associated Press poll dropped them out of the Top 25 entirely. They did not fall far: Northwestern leads the others-receiving-votes list with 79 points, the first team out, and the coaches still have them ranked, at No. 23 in the US LBM Coaches Poll.
The top of the poll reshuffled around them. Miami stayed No. 1 with 62 first-place votes after holding off North Carolina 38-35, Georgia rose to No. 2, and unbeaten Utah and UCLA climbed to Nos. 3 and 5 — UCLA's highest ranking since 2001. The week's biggest fall belonged to Ohio State, which dropped nine spots to No. 11 after a 30-18 loss at USC, its first game without starting quarterback Julian Sayin; USC re-entered at No. 18, and Iowa — the other ranked Big Ten team in the poll — came in at No. 21.
For Northwestern, the split verdict between the two polls frames the month ahead. The AP voters punished the Oregon loss; the coaches treated a competitive road defeat against a ranked opponent more gently. The first College Football Playoff rankings arrive Tuesday night, and those — not either Sunday poll — are the ones that decide what November is worth.
The Wildcats' case is simple enough: they were a fourth quarter away from winning at Oregon, and their ranking in one major poll says the season's work still counts. What they cannot afford is another loss while sitting first in line outside the Top 25 — the teams behind them in the voting, Oregon itself among them, are close enough to pass a team that stands still.
