AP Poll Top 25 Ranking after Week 3: Nick Saban's Alabama, Deion Sanders' Colorado drop as Oregon and Texas rejoice
The AP Poll Top 25 list has come out after Week 3 of college football. The Alabama Crimson Tide and the Colorado Buffaloes both have dropped from last week. The Oregon Ducks crack into the top 10 while the Texas Longhorns move up to third in the nation.
One of the exciting teams from their Week 3 performance that did not move too many spaces was the Crimson Tide. They were 10th last week, and after their disappointing 17-3 road win over the South Florida Bulls, they dropped three spots to 13 in college football.
While there are still ten weeks to go in the season, there seems to be a consensus with some of these teams. Alabama cannot afford another loss if they want a shot to make this season's chase for the College Football Playoff. As it stands, four different conferences would be represented in the playoffs.
Below is the entire AP Poll Top 25 with the team's record:
It is also important to note that some teams received votes but not enough to be inside the Top 25. The 14 teams that received at least one vote and did not make the list are Clemson, Missouri, Kansas State, TCU, Fresno State, Kansas, Tulane, Kentucky, Maryland, BYU, Wisconsin, Syracuse, Louisville, and Auburn.
What was the biggest surprise in this week's AP Poll Top 25?
With the AP Poll Top 25 coming out as we head into Week 4, there are a lot of interesting stories. We already discussed the Alabama Crimson Tide's ranking, but the Tennessee Volunteers are another team to be looked at.
The Vols entered yesterday's game as the 11th-ranked program as they were on the road against an unranked Florida Gators program in a Southeastern Conference battle. The Third Saturday in September rivalry went all one way as Florida held a 26-7 lead heading into halftime, and the final score was 29-16. Tennessee dropped 12 spots as they are now the 23rd-ranked program in college football.
The AP Poll Top 25 stayed the same in terms of the programs slated for the College Football Playoffs, as the Georgia Bulldogs, Michigan Wolverines, Texas Longhorns, and Florida State Seminoles would be the teams competing for the national championship if the season ended today.
The Seminoles have a tough matchup coming up as they are on the road against the Clemson Tigers. It will be intriguing to see if there is any shakeup inside the top four programs by this time next week.