Colorado moves back up to No. 20 after wins vs. Washington schools

Colorado returned to No. 20, where it was two weeks ago, in The Associated Press’ Top 25 poll Monday.

The Buffaloes defeated Washington State and Washington last week to improve to 16-4 (5-2 Pac-12). On the strength of those victories the Buffs moved up three spots from No. 23.

Meanwhile, Baylor is No. 1 for a second straight week in a poll that had no major changes at the top, a rare bit of stability in a wildly unpredictable season.

The Bears stayed well ahead of No. 2 Gonzaga in the poll, part of an unchanged top seven for the first time this season. The only change in the top 10 came with Villanova moving up a spot to No. 8 to swap positions with No. 9 Duke. That comes in a season that has seen seven different teams reach No. 1 this season, matching a record set during the 1982-83 season.

Baylor (17-1) hopped over Gonzaga last week to reach No. 1 for the second time in program history, though the Bears lasted only a week on top in its previous stint in January 2017. This time, they earned 44 of 64 firstplace votes to keep a firm hold on the top spot after beating Oklahoma and Florida last week.

“I think our staff’s done a better job this time with (avoiding) all the distractions and more focus on we want to be No. 1 at the end of the year,” coach Scott

Drew said after the win against the Sooners.

So far this season, Michigan State, Kentucky, Duke, Louisville, Kansas and Gonzaga have seen time at No. 1 before Baylor made its jump to the top. The Zags stayed on top for four consecutive weeks, but none of the other top-ranked teams lasted more than two weeks at No. 1.

Gonzaga (21-1) earned 19 firstplace votes to remain either No. 1 or No. 2 in the poll since the middle of December. Mark Few’s Zags have won 13 straight games since suffering their only loss to MIchigan in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game in the Bahamas.

Kansas was third, followed by San Diego State — the last unbeaten team in Division I — and Florida State. Louisville, Dayton, Villanova, Duke and Seton Hall rounded out the top 10.

Houston made the biggest jump in a week that featured only modest climbs or slides, rising four spots to No. 21. No. 20 Colorado moved up three spots, while No. 12 West Virginia, No. 13 Kentucky, No. 15 Maryland and No. 19 Illinois each rose two spots.

In all, nine teams moved up in this week’s poll.

Michigan State and Butler had the biggest slides of the week.

The Spartans — who started the year at No. 1 — fell three spots to No. 14 after losing at Indiana. The Bulldogs also fell three spots to No. 16.

The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 12, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:

1. Baylor (44) 17-1 1,578 1

2. Gonzaga (19) 21-1 1,552 2

3. Kansas (1) 16-3 1,434 3

4. San Diego St. 21-0 1,408 4

5. Florida St. 17-2 1,318 5

6. Louisville 17-3 1,277 6

7. Dayton 18-2 1,163 7

8. Villanova 16-3 1,110 9 9.Duke 16-3 1,084 8

10. Seton Hall 15-4 1,055 10

11. Oregon 17-4 926 12

12. West Virginia 16-3 874 14

13. Kentucky 15-4 839 15

14. Michigan St. 15-5 751 11

15. Maryland 16-4 650 17

16. Butler 16-4 631 13

17. Auburn 17-2 619 16

18. Iowa 14-5 545 19

19. Illinois 15-5 483 21

20. Colorado 16-4 314 23

21. Houston 16-4 29625

22. LSU 15-4 260 —

23. Wichita St. 17-3 161 —

24. Penn St. 14-5 114 —

25. Rutgers 15-5 102 24 Others receiving votes: Creighton 59 (points), Arizona 55, Texas Tech 33, Ohio St. 16, Indiana 15, ETSU 14, N. Iowa 13, Memphis 11, Southern Cal 9, Purdue 6, Rhode Island 6, Florida 4, Arkansas 3, Saint Mary’s (Cal) 3, SMU 3, Tulsa 3, Akron 1, Harvard 1, Wisconsin

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