Alabama now unanimous No. 1 in poll after rout
Alabama is now a unanimous No. 1in The Associated Press college football poll, and Northwestern moved up to No. 11 on Sunday for its best ranking in 24 years.
For the second straight week, the top eight teams in the poll held their spots. The Crimson Tide received all 62 first-place votes after beating Kentucky 63-3, making Alabama the first unanimous No. 1 this season and the first team to do it in the regular season since 2018.
NotreDamewas No. 2, followed by Ohio State, Clemson and Texas A&M. Florida was No. 6, and No. 7 Cincinnati and No. 8 BYU also held their spots.
The rest of the top 10 was No. 9 Oregon and Miami.
Northwestern moved up eight spots after beating Wisconsin 17-7 to improve to 5-0. The Badgers slipped eight spots to 18th.
The Wildcats were last ranked this highly in 1996. The year after their surprising run to the Rose Bowl, coach Gary Barnett’s team reached a high of No. 10.
No. 12 Indiana dropped three spots after putting a scare into Ohio State in the Big Ten’s other top-25 matchup Saturday. The Buckeyes beat the Hoosiers 42-35 after leading 35-7.
This is the 80th time in the history of the AP poll, which dates back to 1936, there has been a unanimous No. 1.
It was a rare occurrence in the early days of the poll, when college football was more regional. From 1936-66, only twice was there a unanimous No. 1.
Southern California was a unanimous No. 1 twice during the 1967 season, but not until the1990s did the unanimous No. 1 become a common occurrence.
From1992, when Alabama finished the season by getting all the first-place votes in the poll, to last season when LSU did the same, the AP Top 25 had a unanimous No. 1 on 67 occasions.
The unanimous No. 1 for Alabama is its 22nd overall, most of any school, and its 21st since 2012.
LATE SATURDAY
●No. 13 Georgia 31, Mississippi State 24: JT Daniels made quite a debut between the hedges, throwing for 401 yards and four touchdowns in the host Bulldogs’ victory over Mississippi State. Playing for the first time since the 2019 opener with Southern California, Daniels, a transfer from USC, became the third quarterback to start for the Bulldogs (5-2, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) this season.
18Oklahoma41, No. 14 Oklahoma State 13: Spencer Rattler passed for 301 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another score to help the host Sooners (6-2, 5-2) rip the Cowboys (5-2, 4-2). Rhamondre Stevenson ran for a career-high 141 yards, and Theo Wease caught two touchdown passes for the Sooners in their fifth straight victory.
●No. 20 Southern California 33, Utah 17: Kedon Slovis threw for two touchdowns and the visiting Trojans used a strong defensive performance to overpower the Utes. Slovis completed 24 of 35 passes for 264 yards for USC (3-0, 3-0 Pac-12. Utah (0-1, 0-1) was the final major conference team to make its 2020.
●North Carolina State 16, No. 21 Liberty 14: North Carolina State blocked Alex Barbir’s 39-yard field goal attempt with1:18 left to beat the visiting Flames (8-1).
●No. 23 Auburn 30, Tennessee 17: Monday returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown and the host Tigers (5-2 ) beat the Volunteers (2-5) after a slow start.