Georgia vaults to No. 2 in AP poll
Georgia jumped three spots to No. 2 behind Alabama in The Associated Press Top 25 released Tuesday, giving the Southeastern Conference the top two teams in the country for the 30th time in the 85-year history of the college football poll.
It is the second time in the past three seasons and the third in the past five that the SEC is sitting 1-2 in the AP Top 25, which is presented by Regions Bank. Alabama and LSU had a four-week run as Nos. 1 and 2 in the 2019 season before they played each other.
The Crimson Tide strengthened its hold on No. 1 after it throttled Miami in the first full week of the regular season. Alabama received 59 first-place votes, up from the 47 it had in the preseason poll.
Georgia received four first-place votes after beating Clemson 10-3 in the opening weekend’s biggest game.
Ohio State moved up to No. 3 and Oklahoma dropped two spots to No. 4. Texas A&M is fifth, giving the SEC three teams in the top five.
Clemson fell three spots to sixth, marking the first time the Tigers have been out of the top four since 2017. Clemson dropped as low as No. 7 that season before finishing fourth.
No. 7 Cincinnati and No. 8 Notre Dame moved up one spot each. Iowa State dropped two places to No. 9, one spot ahead of No. 10 Iowa, heading into their rivalry game on Saturday.
Penn State, boosted by its road win over Wisconsin, vaulted to No. 11.
Georgia Tech
A stunning season-opening loss to Northern Illinois has third-year Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins forced to defend the state of his rebuilding process. The health of quarterback Jeff Sims could be a key to Collins’ hopes of showing progress in 2021.
Collins is 6-16 in his third season in Atlanta. The Yellow Jackets, who play FCS state rival Kennesaw State on Saturday, have lost six of seven since a 2-2 start to the 2020 season.
Among low points in Collins’ three seasons, perhaps only a loss to The Citadel in his 2019 debut season compares with last Saturday’s 22-21 loss to Northern Illinois. Georgia Tech was favored by 18½ points.
LSU
As McNeese State quarterback Cody Orgeron prepares to live out a childhood dream of playing in LSU’s Tiger Stadium this week, he promises with a grin that he won’t hold it against his father for trying to ruin it.
“I really think my dad’s going to tell them to get after me,” Cody Orgeron said of LSU head coach Ed Orgeron, who also helps oversee defensive linemen. “It’s no harsh feelings. It’s his job to do it and it’s my job to execute. I expect them to come at me full speed and I’m ready.”
Ed Orgeron said one of his old friends and colleagues, former NFL special teams coordinator Bobby April, advised him to cherish sharing the stage with his son, even as they try to beat each other. “He said, ‘Man, enjoy this. This is a special moment.’ And it is,” Ed Orgeron recalled, adding that this game also marks the first time in his more than three decades of coaching that he received a ticket request from an opposing QB.
Pac-12
The Pac-12 opened the season with five ranked teams and was expected to have a competitive race to the conference championship, maybe even get a team into the College Football Playoff for the first time in five years.
The big league out West got off to a shaky start.
The Pac-12 became the first Power Five conference to lose six games on opening weekend since the SEC in 2016. All six were to unranked teams, too, second most by a Power Five conference in 21 years.
Things didn’t go quite so well for other programs across the conference, particularly the North Division, which went 1-5 during the opening weekend.
No. 12 Oregon was the lone North team to win its opener but even the Ducks had trouble shaking Fresno State, needing a touchdown with 2:57 left to win, 31-24.
The biggest surprise in the Pac-12, perhaps in all of college football, was No. 20 Washington’s 13-7 home loss to Montana. Expected to contend for the Pac-12 North title, the Huskies sputtered throughout opening night, becoming the first ranked FBS team to lose to an FCS opponent in five years.
Elsewhere
Sam “Bam” Cunningham, the Hall of Fame running back from USC credited with helping integrate college football in the early 1970s, died Tuesday. He was 71. Cunningham was widely known for leading an integrated Trojan squad into Birmingham and scoring two touchdowns in a lopsided win over all-white Alabama in 1970.