Georgia maintains No. 1 ranking
Georgia extended its streak of No. 1 rankings in The Associated Press college football poll to 19 straight weeks, the third best in the history of the rankings, and Alabama moved back into the top 10 on Sunday.
The Bulldogs received 38 of 63 first-place votes, their second-lowest total of the season, after an off week but still bested No. 2 Michigan, 1,536 points to 1,504.
Georgia's No. 1 streak, which started on Oct. 9, 2022, is behind only Miami's streak of 21 weeks from 2001-02 and USC's 33 in a row from 2003-05.
The Wolverines received 19 first-place votes after their latest blowout, 49-0 against Michigan State.
Ohio State held steady at No. 3 after winning a top-10 matchup with Penn State. The Nittany Lions slipped three spots to 10th. The Buckeyes received three first-place votes, as did No. 4 Florida State.
No. 5 Washington and No. 6 Oklahoma held their spots after close calls against unranked teams at home. No. 7 Texas and No. 8 Oregon each moved up a spot.
No. 9 Alabama returned to the top 10 after falling out in mid-September, which snapped a streak of 128 top10 appearances that dated back to 2015. The Crimson Tide beat Tennessee for their sixth straight win.
The Volunteers dropped four spots to No. 21.
USC, following its 34-32 loss to Utah, fell six spots to No. 24 while UCLA moved up two spots to 23rd after routing Stanford 42-7.
While Washington, Oklahoma and Texas all survived scares against unranked foes, North Carolina was not so fortunate.
The Tar Heels lost to Virginia, the Cavaliers' first win of the season against an FBS team, to become just the second top-10 team to lose to an unranked team this season. The other was then-No. 9 Clemson in Week 1 at Duke.
North Carolina dropped seven spots to No. 17.
Utah's Rising, Kuithe ruled out for season
Utah quarterback Cam Rising and tight end Brant Kuithe will not play for the Utes this season, coach Kyle Whittingham announced shortly after Saturday night's win over USC.
Whittingham said the Utes (6-1, 3-1 Pac-12) don't know whether Rising or Kuithe will return in 2024. Neither veteran had played a snap this season after getting hurt last season, but
Utah publicly held out hope both would play this fall.
“That hopefulness each week is no longer,” Whittingham said. “It's a medical decision to just shut them down.”
Rising was the starting quarterback for both of Utah's back-to-back Pac12 championship teams in the previous two seasons. The Newbury Park High product has passed for 5,572 yards and 46 touchdowns with the Utes, but he hasn't played this season after tearing ligaments in his knee during their Rose Bowl loss to Penn State.
Bryson Barnes and Nate Johnson have played in place of Rising for the Utes, who are improbably in contention for another Pac-12 title despite injuries to several major contributors.
Barnes had the best game of his career in the victory over USC, passing for 235 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for an early score before making the biggest play of the night with a sensational 26-yard scramble in the final minute to get Utah into range for the winning field goal.
Kuithe has 148 catches for 1,882 yards and 16 touchdowns in four seasons at Utah. He tore a knee ligament in late September 2022 against Arizona State, and he hasn't played since.