Defending national champs fall out of AP poll
LS U is out of The 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 up a top-three match up Saturday when the Crimson Tide hosts the Bulldogs.
Clemson received 59 firstplace votes. Alabama got two and Georgia one. Notre Dame moved up to No. 4 and 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 LSU 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.
Poll points
This is the second straight week that one of college football's traditional powers has fallen from the rankings, with LSU following Oklahoma.
The So one rs remained unranked Sunday, even after beating No. 22 Texas in four overtimes. The Longhorns dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time this season with their second straight l oss, 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 Oklahoma went two straight Top 25s without being ranked was the final two polls of the 2014 season, when the Sooners finished 8-5 and lost their final two games.
Moving into the poll
• No. 22 Kansas State is ranked for the first time this season. The Wildcats made a few brief appearances in the Top 25 last year.
•No .25 Southern California is the latest of the teams still waiting to start their season store-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. When t he conference decided to return in November, following the Big Ten, its teams became eligible to be ranked again.
Del City's Wilson helps Kentucky beat Mississippi State
Former Del City High star Terry Wilson threw a secon d-quarter touch down, and Chris Rodriguez rushed for another after the first of six interceptions that helped Kentucky beat Mississippi State 24-2 late Saturday night.
Jordan Wright sealed the hard-earned victory by scoring on an 8- yard interception return with 6:25 remaining for the Wildcats (1-2,1-2 Southeastern Conference ). Kentucky gained just 157 yards but that was enough thanks to an aggressive defense that shut out the Bulldogs' Air Raid offense. Kentucky picked off K.J. Costello four times, the first of which linebacker Josh Paschal jumped perfectly to return 76 yards and set up Rodriguez's 2-yard TD run that made it 14-0.
Jam in Davis and Jam ar “Boogie” Watson picked off Costello in the end zone and Will Rogers at the goal line respectively, and Kelvin Joseph also intercepted Costello. D'Eryk Jackson's pick of Rogers in the final seconds closed the Wildcats' win.