LSU drops out of AP Top 25 for the first time since 2017
LSU is out of Associated Press college football poll for the first time since 2017 and is the first defending national champion to drop from the rankings in nine years.
No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia held steady at the top of the rankings Sunday, setting upa top-three matchup Saturday when the Crimson Tide host the Bulldogs.
Clemson received 59 firstplace votes. Alabama got two andGeorgiaone. NotreDame moved up to No. 4and North Carolina is No. 5.
LSU dropped out from No. 17 after falling to 1-2 with a 45-41 loss at previously winless Missouri. The Tigers had been ranked in 43 straight polls, dating to Nov. 5, 2017. That was the seventh-longest active streak in the nation.
The last defending national champion to be unranked was Auburn in 2011. Following Cam Newton’s departure, the Tigers spent much of the ‘11 season outside the Top 25, finishing 8-5 and unranked.
This is the second straight weekthatoneofcollege football’s traditional powers has fallen fromtherankings, with LSUfollowing Oklahoma.
The Sooners remained unranked Sunday, even after beating Texas in four overtimes. The Longhorns droppedoutoftheTop25for the first time this season with their secondstraight loss, but that’s hardly big news at this point.
Texas has not had a season in which it was ranked from beginning to end since 2009.
The last time both Oklahoma and LSU were unranked was also the last time before this season the Soonerswereoutofthepolls: Sept. 25, 2016. That was a one-week departure for OU, whichwentontowintheBig 12 after starting 1-2.
The last time Oklahoma went two straight Top 25s without being ranked was the final twopolls of the 2014 season, when the Sooners finished 8-5 and lost their final two games.
No. 22 Kansas State is ranked for the first time this season. TheWildcats madea few brief appearances in the Top 25 last year.
No. 25SouthernCalifornia is the latest of the teams still waiting to start their seasons to re-enter the Top 25. The Trojans were ranked in the preseason and then became ineligible when the season started and the Pac-12 was looking at trying to play in the winter/spring. Whenthe conference decided to return in November, following the Big Ten, its teams became eligible to be ranked again.
No. 11 Texas A&Mjumped 10 spots after beating No. 10 Florida in athriller at College Station. The Gators slipped six spots.
No. 13 Miami dropped six spots after losing for the first time this season. The Hurricanes received a serious dose of reality, losing 42-17 at Clemson.
A week after having four top-10teamsforthefirsttime, the Atlantic Coast Conference reached another milestone with three top-five teams. North Carolina has its best ranking since early November 1997, the height of coach Mack Brown’s first stint in Chapel Hill.