Alabama is back in a familiar place atop the AP Top 25 college football poll, vaulting from No. 4 to No. 1 in the rankings after its 41-34 win against Georgia on Saturday. The Bulldogs fell from No. 2 to No. 5.
With the best win of the season so far, Alabama ended Texas’ two-week stay atop the poll and received 40 first-place votes. The Longhorns (19 votes) are No. 2, followed by Ohio State (four votes). Tennessee and Georgia round out the top five.
No program has spent more weeks ranked No. 1 in the history of the AP poll than Alabama, which was first nearly 40 percent of the time from 2007-23 under Nick Saban, according to College Poll Archive. Kalen DeBoer is the first coach not named Saban to lead Alabama to No. 1 since Gene Stallings won the 1992 national title.
This week’s Top 25 actually includes 26 teams, as Texas A&M and newcomer UNLV are tied at No. 25. It’s the first appearance in the AP poll for UNLV in program history. UNLV, which dominated Fresno State after the departure of quarterback Matthew Sluka, had been ranked the past two weeks in the coaches poll, where Texas passed Georgia for No. 1 and Alabama is No. 2 this week.
The SEC continues to dominate the AP poll, with four of the top five, seven of the top 13 and nine ranked teams overall.
| Rank | Team | Record | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
 Alabama (40) |
4-0
|
4
|
|
2
|
 Texas (19) |
5-0
|
1
|
|
3
|
 Ohio State (4) |
4-0
|
3
|
|
4
|
 Tennessee |
4-0
|
5
|
|
5
|
 Georgia |
3-1
|
2
|
|
6
|
 Oregon |
4-0
|
8
|
|
7
|
 Penn State |
4-0
|
9
|
|
8
|
 Miami |
5-0
|
7
|
|
9
|
 Missouri |
4-0
|
11
|
|
10
|
 Michigan |
4-1
|
12
|
|
11
|
 USC |
3-1
|
13
|
|
12
|
 Ole Miss |
4-1
|
6
|
|
13
|
 LSU |
4-1
|
14
|
|
14
|
 Notre Dame |
4-1
|
16
|
|
15
|
 Clemson |
3-1
|
17
|
|
16
|
 Iowa State |
4-0
|
18
|
|
17
|
 BYU |
5-0
|
22
|
|
18
|
 Utah |
4-1
|
10
|
|
19
|
 Oklahoma |
4-1
|
21
|
|
20
|
 Kansas State |
4-1
|
23
|
|
21
|
 Boise State |
3-1
|
25
|
|
22
|
 Louisville |
3-1
|
15
|
|
23
|
 Indiana |
5-0
|
NR
|
|
24
|
 Illinois |
4-1
|
19
|
|
t-25
|
 UNLV |
4-0
|
NR
|
|
t-25
|
 Texas A&M |
4-1
|
24
|
Others receiving votes: Arizona 106, Pittsburgh 42, Nebraska 30, Boston College 18, Iowa 17, James Madison 13, Oklahoma State 8, South Carolina 8, Rutgers 7, Kentucky 6, Navy 6, SMU 4, Army 2, Colorado 1
How Week 5 impacted the rankings
Alabama-Georgia was a top-five matchup, and both teams are still in the top five. Two top-10 teams, however, stumbled at home against unranked opponents and dropped: Ole Miss fell from No. 6 to No. 12 after losing to Kentucky and Utah fell from No. 10 to No. 18 after losing to Arizona.
The other biggest drops belonged to Louisville (seven spots to No. 22) and Illinois (five spots to No. 24) after their losses to Notre Dame and Penn State, respectively. Oklahoma State, which was blown out by Kansas State, is the only team to fall out of this week’s rankings.
Joining UNLV as a newcomer this week is Indiana, which is 5-0 and ranked for the first time since tumbling from preseason No. 17 to a 2-10 record in 2021.
What’s next?
Week 6 is a bit of a lull on the college football calendar, as the only matchup between ranked teams will be No. 9 Missouri at No. 25 Texas A&M. No. 2 Texas is one of eight ranked teams that have idle weeks.
After their dramatic showdown on Saturday night, No. 1 Alabama hits the road to Vanderbilt and No. 5 Georgia hosts rival Auburn. No. 3 Ohio State’s offense will face its biggest challenge thus far with a visit from Iowa, and No. 10 Michigan heads to Washington for a national championship game rematch.
UNLV’s first game as an AP-ranked team will be on Friday against Syracuse. Late on Saturday night, No. 8 Miami will play a cross-country ACC game at Cal at 10:30 p.m. (ET).
(Photo of Jalen Milroe: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
