Tennessee moves to No. 3 following win over Alabama
Tennessee moved to No. 3 in The Associated Press poll behind No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Ohio State after knocking off Alabama.
The Crimson Tide was one of five unbeaten teams to fall during a wild weekend and dropped three places to No. 6. Alabama swapped places with the Vols after losing 52-49 on a field goal as time expired Saturday.
Georgia remained No. 1 and received 31 first-place votes and Ohio State had 17 first-place votes.
The Vols received 15 firstplace votes and have their best ranking since starting the 2005 season at No. 3. The last time Tennessee was ranked this highly in the second half of the season was 2001, reaching the top 10 in late October and headed into the SEC championship at No. 2.
No. 4 Michigan moved up a spot, switching places with No. 5 Clemson after the Wolverines blew out now-No. 16 Penn State.
No. 7 Mississippi moved up two spots and No. 8 TCU, No. 9 UCLA and No. 10 Oregon all moved into the top 10.
The Crimson Tide had its string of 40 straight appearances in the top five snapped. It was the longest such active streak in the country.
Georgia now has the longest run of top-five appearances with 24.
The Tide's latest top-five run is only the third longest of the Saban era. The Tide's 68 straight top-five appearances from 2015-19 is the AP poll record, and a string of 48 consecutive top-five rankings from 2011-13 is tied for fourth.
Tennessee made a case to be the No. 1 team in the country, and it swayed some voters.
Those who bought in on the Vols cited a resume that includes four wins against teams that were ranked at the time (at Pitt, Florida, at LSU and Alabama).
“I voted Tennessee No. 1 because the Vols' strength of schedule is far superior to UGA and Ohio State,” said voter Ron Counts of
the Idaho Statesman.
No. 22 North Carolina is ranked for the first time this season.
And No. 25 Tulane is this week's breakthrough team. The Green Wave (6-1) are ranked for the first time since 1998, when quarterback Shaun King led them to an unbeaten season and No. 7 in the final Top 25.
Falling out of the rankings were Kansas and James Madison.
Kansas lost two straight games after snapping a poll drought of 13 years and is unranked again.
James Madison is out after becoming the first team to be ranked in its first season as an FBS member. The Dukes lost 45-38 on the road at new Sun Belt rival Georgia Southern.
SEC fines Volunteers for wild celebration
The SEC fined Tennessee $100,000 for a wild, fieldstorming celebration after a win over Alabama.
Meanwhile, the school has turned to fans to help pay for new goalposts.
The SEC announced the fine Sunday for the school's second violation of the access to competition area policy. The first came after a basketball game against Florida in 2006.
After the Volunteers knocked off Alabama on a last-play at Neyland Stadium — ending a 15-game losing streak to the Tide — fans stormed the field, ripped up one of the goal posts and heaved it into the Tennessee River.
Tennessee turned to crowdsourcing to pay for replacement goalposts. More than $18,000 had been raised as of Sunday afternoon.
Athletic director Danny White tweeted “We had some fun, didn't we?” and asked fans to “help us out.”
SEC policy states that “access to competition areas shall be limited to participating student-athletes, coaches, officials, support personnel and properlycredentialed individuals at all times. For the safety of participants and spectators alike, at no time before, during or after a contest shall spectators be permitted to enter the competition area. It is the responsibility of each member institution to implement procedures to ensure compliance with this policy.”
A third offense and beyond would cost Tennessee $250,000.