Clemson bumps Oklahoma out of No. 2 spot in AP poll
Defending national champion closes in on No. 1 Alabama
Clemsonmoveduptono.2inthe weekly Associated Press college football poll, jumping Oklahoma and closing in on Alabama after beating a team ranked in the top 15 for the second straight week.
The Tigers received 15 first-place votes, the most the defending national champions have received this season, and 1,446 points Sunday after beating Louisville 47-21 on the road. Alabama remains No. 1 with 45 first-place votes and 1,504 points.
Oklahoma slipped one spot to No. 3. The Sooners received the remaining first-place vote.
Penn State moved up a spot to No. 4, flip-flopping with No. 5 Southern California. Oklahoma State rose three spots to No. 6, its best ranking since late in the 2013 season.
Washington is No. 7 and three Big Ten teams round out the top 10: Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio State. The Buckeyes (2-1) host UNLV (1-1) at 9 a.m. PDT Saturday.
Tiger tale
Clemson started the season at No. 5 because of some uncertainty at quarterback, where it had to replace Deshaun Watson, and other offensive positions. The Tigers quickly have shown they are still a legitimate threat to win a national title by smothering Auburn last week and then routing Lamar Jackson and Louisville on Saturday.
Clemson has been ranked no lower than sixth in the AP poll since Oct. 4, 2015, and has been ranked in the top five for 28 straight polls, the longest such active streak in the country. Alabama is second at 26 straight weeks.
Welcome in
Six ranked teams lost on Saturday, including five to unranked teams, shaking up the bottom of the Top 25:
■ No. 17 Mississippi State made the biggest move among the newcomers, entering the rankings for the first time this season at No. 17. The Bulldogs bashed Louisiana State 37-7 in Starkville. Mississippi State had not been ranked since Nov. 22, 2015.
■ No. 22 San Diego State beat a Pac-12 team for the second straight week — this time Stanford — to enter the rankings. The Cardinal fell out, but two more Pac-12 teams moved into the rankings.
■ No. 23 Utah and No. 24 Oregon are offto3-0starts.
Heading out
Joining Stanford in tumbling out of the rankings were:
■ Kansas State, which lost 14-7 at Vanderbilt.
■ Tennessee, which was beat by Florida on a last-play touchdown pass.
■ UCLA, which lost 48-45 at Memphis.
Moving up
■ No. 16 Texas Christian jumped four spots with its third straight double-digit margin victory. The Horned Frogs beat Southern Methodist 56-36.
■ No. 20 Florida moved up four spots, thanks in part to losses by a few other teams near the bottom of the rankings.
Sliding down
■ No. 25 LSU dropped 13 spots, barely holding on to a spot in the rankings.
Ranked vs. ranked No. 16 TCU at No. 6 Oklahoma State (12:30 p.m. PDT, ESPN):
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The Cowboys get most of their toughest Big 12 games at home, starting with the Horned Frogs.
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Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald faces Georgia’s nasty defense.
No. 17 Mississippi State at No. 13 Georgia (4 p.m. PDT, ESPN): Late Saturday San Diego State 20, No. 19 Stanford17—
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At San Diego, Christian Chapman threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end David Wells with 54 seconds left, capping a wild ending sparked by a darkness delay as the Aztecs (3-0) beat the Cardinal (1-2).
Six plays before Wells’ score, the game was delayed nearly 25 minutes when most of the lights went out at 50-yearold City of San Diego Stadium. The city has fallen behind on maintenance of the facility, previously known as Qualcomm
Stadium.
■ At Salt Lake City, Tyler Huntley threw for 341 yards and four touchdowns, three of them to Darren Carrington, and the Utes (3-0) raced past the Spartans (1-3).
Huntley became the first Utah QB since Brian Johnson, who led the 2008 Sugar Bowl champion squad, to have 300-yard passing games on back-toback outings.
■ At Berkeley, California, Ross Bowers threw a touchdown pass and Cameron Goode returned an interception for a touchdown to seal the game as the Golden Bears won their third straight game to open the season under new coach Justin Wilcox, beating the Rebels (2-1).
California withstood two long TD passes by Rebels quarterback Shea Patterson but didn’t allow a score over the final 43 minutes to end the nonconference season undefeated.
Utah 54, San Jose State 16 — California 27, Mississippi 16 —