Wildcats ranked No. 23
Bama takes top spot from Clemson; Indiana at its highest since ’69
Look who’s back in the AP poll. For the first time since the 2018 season, Northwestern is ranked. The Wildcats, who improved to 3-0 with a 21-13 victory Saturday against Nebraska, came in Sunday at No. 23, 10 points behind No. 22 Liberty (7-0). Northwestern finished the 2018 season ranked 21st.
Alabama took the top spot for the first time this year, extending its record of consecutive seasons with at least one week at No. 1 to 13.
Notre Dame moved up two spots to No. 2 after upsetting Clemson in a dramatic double- overtime game. Ohio State remained No. 3. Clemson gave up the top spot for the first time this season and landed at No. 4.
The Crimson Tide, who had an open date, received 59 of 62 firstplace votes. Notre Dame, which has its best ranking since it was No. 1 at the end of the 2012 regular season, received two first-place votes. Ohio State got one.
Texas A&M moved up two spots to No. 5, the Aggies’ best ranking since they finished fifth to end the 2012 season.
Florida jumped two spots to No. 6 after beating Georgia to snap a three-game losing streak against its SEC East rival. The Bulldogs fell eight spots to a season-low 13th.
No. 8 BYU, No. 9 Miami and No. 10 Indiana round out the top 10. The Hoosiers moved up three spots after beating Michigan to receive their best ranking since they were No. 10 in 1969.
Poll points
It’s no surprise when Alabama reaches No. 1, but it’s always historic.
The Crimson Tide’s streak of seasons with at least one appearance at No. 1 started in Nick Saban’s second year as coach in Tuscaloosa. The Tide reached the top of the poll for the first time under Saban on Nov. 2, 2008, the day af
ter beating Arkansas State.
No. 1 Texas lost that week at Texas Tech — Graham Harrell to Michael Crabtree in the final seconds as the Red Raiders shocked the Longhorns — to open the door for Alabama.
The second-longest streak of consecutive years appearing at No. 1 in AP poll history belongs to Miami, which went seven seasons from 1986 to ’92.
This No. 1 appearance is the 92nd under Saban and Alabama’s record 123rd overall. Take away Alabama’s other No. 1 appearances, and just Saban’s appearances at No. 1 would rank as the fourthmost in college history behind Ohio State’s (105), Oklahoma’s (101) and
Notre Dame’s (98). That’s also one more than USC (91) has ever had.
They’re in
Joining Northwestern in the poll is No. 25 Louisiana-Lafayette, which returns to the rankings after cracking them earlier this season for the first time in almost 80 years.
They’re out
Boise State dropped out after getting run over by BYU on Friday. Michigan is out for the first time this season after falling to 1-2. The Wolverines were last unranked while eligible for the poll at the end of 2017. Earlier this season, Big Ten teams were ineligible for the AP Top 25 because the conference was not planning to play a fall schedule.
Utah-UCLA moved to Saturday
The Pac-12 moved Utah’s game at UCLA to Saturday. It originally was scheduled for Friday, but Utah has had a rise in positive COVID-19 cases. The game will begin at 9:30 p.m. and be televised by Fox.
The Utes’ opener against Arizona scheduled for this past weekend was canceled when the number of positive cases put them below the conference’s minimum of 53 available scholarship players under its game cancelation policy.
It was the second of two Pac-12 games that were called off, joining Washington- California.