AP Top 25 college football poll: Oklahoma jumps to top 5; ACC still has five ranked teams

Thanks to surging Oklahoma’s upset win over No. 3 Texas on Saturday, the ACC landed a team back among the top four in the new Associated Press Top 25 poll, which was released Sunday.

Florida State (5-0) moved up one spot to No. 4, just behind Ohio State (5-0), in the new rankings while Texas (5-1) tumbled six spots to No. 9 following its 34-30 loss. The Sooners (6-0) rose seven spots to No. 5.

The ACC landed five teams in the poll for the second consecutive week. Following the No. 4 Seminoles are No. 12 North Carolina (5-0), No. 14 Louisville (6-0), No. 17 Duke (4-1) and No. 25 Miami (5-1).

Louisville had the biggest move up of the week, jumping 11 spots after it defeated Notre Dame, 33-20, on Saturday night. That loss caused the Irish (5-2) to tumble 11 spots to No. 21.

The Tar Heels beat Syracuse, 40-7, and moved up two spots. Duke also improved it’s poll position by two spots while enjoying an open week.

Miami remained in the poll despite an inexplicable 23-20 loss to Georgia Tech when the Hurricanes opted against taking a knee to run out the clock and instead ran a play and lost a fumble. The Yellow Jackets subsequently scored the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds causing the Hurricanes top drop eight slots in the poll.

Fresno State (5-1) and Missouri (5-1) both departed the poll after suffering their first losses of the season on Saturday. That allowed No. 18 UCLA (4-1) to re-enter the poll on the strength of its 25-17 win over Washington State, which fell six slots to No. 19.

No. 23 Kansas (5-1) also returned after it pounded UCF, 51-22.

Latest AP poll football rankings

Steve Wiseman’s ballot

We’re still waiting for a separation Saturday this college football season. But we certainly saw another impactful shuffling in Week 6 of the season.

After going 6-7 last season, Oklahoma served notice it is back as a College Football Playoff contender with its thrilling 34-30 win over previously unbeaten Texas.

Georgia and Michigan, the top two teams in the poll and on my ballot, rolled to easy wins in league play. Florida State looked strong. Ohio State started slowly against Maryland before posting a 37-17 win.

Louisville will rocket up the rankings following an impressive 33-20 win over Notre Dame. North Carolina deserves to be considered a top-10 team after it came off an open week with a 40-7 hammering of Syracuse.

I kept Georgia (6-0) and Michigan (6-0) atop my ballot and moved Oklahoma (6-0) to No. 3, just ahead of Ohio State (5-0) and Florida State (5-0). Penn State, Washington and Oregon — all 5-0 — remained in their places, but I think all three have potential to be top-four teams that can make the playoff.

I moved the Tar Heels (5-0) up to No. 9 because I think the Tar Heels have an outside chance to be a playoff team, too. It will take beating Florida State in a possible ACC title game matchup, but don’t rule it out.

Texas (5-1), which still has that road win over Alabama and is the only team to beat Kansas this season, sticks at No. 10.

That’s because USC (6-0) keeps winning, but doing so in such unimpressive fashion that I continue to drop the Trojans on my ballot. They were in the middle of the top-10 when the season began but their defensive woes, evident once again in Saturday’s 43-41 triple-overtime win over mediocre Arizona, continue to be concerning.

Louisville (6-0) comes in at No. 14 in my rankings. It’s unfortunate for the Cardinals I saw them struggle to beat N.C. State, 13-10, but that factored into the decision to not put then higher.

UCLA (4-1) beat Washington State, 25-17, and moves up the poll ahead of the Cougars (4-1).

The bottom of the ballot is starting to be a quagmire of “meh.” An easy decision down there was to boot Miami after it’s embarrassing 23-20 loss to Georgia Tech. Where do we begin, Hurricanes? Ridiculous.

I seriously considered dropping both LSU and Missouri from the poll after that 49-39 result went in favor of LSU (5-2). In the end, that result won out so Missouri (4-1) falls out. LSU’s two losses are to ranked teams (Florida State, Mississippi).

I also reluctantly kept Kentucky (5-1) in the poll despite Georgia hammering the Wildcats, 51-13. But a loss to the No. 1 team, even in blowout fashion, doesn’t merit banishment.

Wyoming (5-1) enters the poll at No. 25 after beating Fresno State, 24-19, to eject the Bulldogs from the poll. The Cowboys have only lost to Texas this season