Associated Press Oct 29, 2023, 2:15 PM ET4 Minute Read
Paul Finebaum’s top 5 teams after Week 9
Paul Finebaum names his top five teams after Week 9 of the college football season.
The Oklahoma Sooners fell four spots to No. 10, the top five teams retained their spots and Kansas and Kansas State both took part in The Associated Press college football poll on Sunday.
Georgia is No. 1 for the 20th consecutive year, receiving 48 of 63 first-place votes. That distanced Georgia from No. 2 Michigan after the Bulldogs beat Florida on Saturday.
The Wolverines, off Saturday after being in the headlines for a week because of an NCAA investigation, received nine first-place votes. No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Florida State each received three first-place votes.
Washington remained at No. 5, one spot ahead of Pac-12 rival Oregon. The Ducks moved up two spots to No. 6 after a dominant win at Utah, dropping them five spots to No. 18.
Texas remained at No. 7, while Alabama moved up to No. 8 and Penn State moved up to No. 9.
The Sooners lost to Kansas for the first time this season and first since 1997 and then fell in the rankings behind Big 12 rival Texas, which Oklahoma defeated in a thriller three weeks ago.
Kansas climbed back up to No. 22 in the rankings after one of the biggest wins in program history, and Kansas State moved back up to No. 25 ahead of a big matchup at Texas next Saturday.
Sunflower State’s rivals have a long history of bad football.
Kansas State turned around one of the country’s unluckiest programs in the 1990s under Hall of Fame coach Bill Snyder, and the Wildcats have remained competitive to varying degrees since then, winning three Big 12 titles – including last season .
Historically, Kansas has had several other winning streaks, although the Jayhawks’ last conference championship came in the Big Eight in 1968. From 2010 to 2020, Kansas was the benchmark for Power Five ineptitude, winning a total of 21 games.
Kansas’ 5-0 start last season put the Jayhawks and Wildcats in the AP Top 25 together for two weeks, the first time that happened since 2007.
Additionally, between 1995 and 1996, there were 17 AP polls in which both Kansas and Kansas State were represented. And that’s it.
With both teams sitting at 6-2 heading into the final month of the season, the Jayhawks and Wildcats have a good chance to finish the season ranked No. 1 for the second time in the 87-year history of the AP Poll.
In 1995, Kansas State was ranked No. 7 and Kansas was ranked ninth in the final top 25.
abstract
Atlantic Coast Conference rivals North Carolina and Duke both dropped from the rankings.
The Tar Heels, who suffered their second straight loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday, are unranked for the first time this season.
Duke had been ranked since beating Clemson in Week 1, but the Blue Devils lost two straight to fall to 5-3 on the season. Duke was shut out by Louisville on Saturday.
telephone conference
SEC: 6 (No. 1, 8, 11, 13, 14, 19).
Pac-12: 6 (No. 5, 6, 16, 18, 20, 24).
Big 12: 4 (No. 7, 10, 22, 25).
Big Ten: 3 (No. 2, 3, 9).
ACC: 2 (No. 4, 15).
Mountain West: 1 (No. 17).
American: 1 (No. 21).
Sun belt: 1 (No. 23).
Independent: 1 (No. 12).
Rank vs. rank
No. 14 Missouri at No. 1 Georgia: First meeting with both teams since 2014.
No. 5 Washington at No. 24 USC: For the second straight year, the Huskies and Trojans will meet in the rankings, something that hasn’t happened since 1994-95.
No. 25 Kansas State at No. 7 Texas: First top-25 matchup since 2012, when the Wildcats were ranked No. 7 and the Longhorns were ranked No. 23.
No. 13 LSU at No. 8 Alabama: The 31st Ranked vs. Ranked match of the series and the 18th since 2002.