Win over ’Bama vaults No. 3 Vols
Tennessee moved to No. 3 in The Associated Press college football 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 in the AP Top 25. Alabama swapped places with the Vols after losing to them, 52-49, on a field goal as time expired Saturday.
Georgia remained No. 1 and received 31 first-place votes and Ohio State notched 17 first-place votes.
The Vols received 15 firstplace votes and have their best ranking since they started the 2005 season at No. 3. The last time Tennessee was ranked this highly in the second half of the season was 2001, when they reached the top 10 in late October and headed into the SEC championship at No. 2.
Fourth-ranked Michigan moved up a spot, switching places with No. 5 Clemson after the Wolverines blew out now-No. 16 Penn State.
Seventh-ranked 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 saw 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 201519 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 victories against teams that were ranked at the time (at Pitt, Florida, at LSU and Alabama).
For comparison, Georgia has played just one team (Oregon) that has been ranked at any point this season. Ohio State has played three, though only one was ranked at the time (Notre Dame) and all of those opponents have at least three losses.
Plus, beating Alabama doesn’t happen often and holds a lot of weight with voters. No team this season has beaten a team with a better ranking at the time the game was played than Tennessee.