UCLA now No. 18; USC is out of poll
Mississippi’s Southeastern Conference teams have never been this good and this close.
Mississippi and Mississippi State are tied for third in the Associated Press college football poll after a wild day of unexpected results brought major changes to the top 25.
Just about the only thing that didn’t change this week was No. 1: Florida State is still top- ranked, with 35 first- place votes.
Auburn, the only other team in the top six to win, moved up three spots to No. 2 and received 23 first- place votes. Then came Ole Miss and Mississippi State, in the top five together for the first time after the Rebels beat Alabama and the Bulldogs beat Texas A& M on Saturday.
The Bulldogs received two first- place votes.
The Rebels haven’t been ranked this high since 1963, when they also were No. 3 and won their last SEC title. The Bulldogs have their best ranking ever. Their previous best was No. 7 in 1981 and their only SEC championship came in1941.
Between them, the Rebels and Bulldogs have won the SEC West just twice since the league split into two divisions in1992.
“You’ve never arrived, but I think we’ve changed the culture,” Mississippi State Coach Dan Mullen said Sunday. “And that was the goal coming in here, was we wanted to change the culture.”
Baylor rounds out the top five and Notre Dame is No. 6.
The USA Today coaches’ poll had Florida State, Auburn, Baylor, Ole Miss and Notre Dame in the top five. Mississippi State was sixth.
For the second time in the 78- year history of the AP poll, four of the topsix teams lost and for the first time five of the top eight teams went downin a single regular-season week.
The top eight teams to lose and poll reaction:
— Oregon dropped 10 spots after losing, 31- 24, at home to Arizona on Thursday night. The Wildcats went from unranked to No. 10, the biggest jump into the poll since the rankings went to 25 teams in 1989. The previous best was No. 13 Iowa on Sept. 27, 2009.
— Alabama dropped four spots to No. 7.
— Oklahoma dropped seven spots to No. 11 after losing to Texas Christian. The Horned Frogs moved up 16 spots to No. 9. They play at Baylor nextweek.
— Texas A& M dropped eight spots to No. 14.
— UCLA dropped 10 spots to No. 18 after losing, 30- 28, at home to Utah. The Utes moved into the rankings at No. 24.
Arizona State moved back into the top 25 at No. 20 after beating USC, 38- 34, on a Hail Mary. Unbeaten Georgia Tech moved into the rankings for the first time this season at No. 23.
USC, Louisiana State, Brigham Young and Wiscons in all dropped out of the rankings after losses. Etc.
Illinois Coach Tim Beckman says quarterback Wes Lunt has a broken left leg and is expected to be sidelined four to sixweeks. Beckman said in a news release late Sunday that the redshirt sophomore broke his fibula Saturday in the Illini’s 38- 27 loss to Purdue. . . . Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. will be sidelined three to six weeks after breaking two bones in his right foot during the Eagles’ 56- 53 victory over Idaho State on Saturday.