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Spartans up to No. 5 in AP Top 25 Poll after beating Michigan, Wolverines drop to No. 9

Paul Bunyan Trophy Michigan State Football
Posted at 2:03 PM, Oct 31, 2021
and last updated 2021-10-31 14:13:31-04

Michigan State moved up to No. 5 in The Associated Press college football poll and Wake Forest became a top-10 team on Sunday for the first time in school history.

Georgia is a unanimous No. 1 for the fourth straight week in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank. The rest of the top four was unchanged from last week, with Cincinnati at No. 2, Oklahoma at No. 3 and Alabama at No. 4.

Star running back Kenneth Walker and the Spartans jumped three spots by beating Michigan in the weekend’s biggest game. The last time Michigan State broke into the top five was 2015 when the Spartans made the College Football Playoff.

The first CFP selection committee rankings of the season will be released Tuesday night.

In the AP poll, Ohio State slipped a spot to No. 6 despite holding off Penn State and Oregon was No. 7.

No. 8 Notre Dame, Michigan and Wake Forest rounded out the top 10.

POLL POINTS

The Demon Deacons have their best ranking in program history, topping the No. 11 they reached in 1947. Wake Forest had been the only team in a Power Five conference that had never been ranked in the top 10.

The Demon Deacons reached another first on Saturday, improving to 8-0 with a victory against Duke.

IN

— No. 20 Houston is ranked for the first time under coach Dana Holgorsen after handing SMU its first loss of the season. The last time the Cougars were in the Top 25 was 2018.

Houston is the 45th different team to appear in the Top 25 this season.

— No. 24 Louisiana-Lafayette is back in the Top 25 after being in the preseason poll and falling out after losing its opening game.

— No. 25 Fresno State also returned to the rankings after handing San Diego State its first defeat in a crucial Mountain West game.

OUT

— Pittsburgh dropped from No. 17 to out after losing at home to Miami.

— Iowa State is out again after losing at West Virginia. The Cyclones jumped back into the rankings last week, but it turned out to be a brief stay.

— San Diego State fell out after a four-week run.

CONFERENCE CALL

Two Power Five leagues, the Atlantic Coast Conference and Pac-12, have just one ranked team while two from the Group of Five, the American Athletic Conference (three) and Sun Belt (two), have multiple teams ranked.

SEC — 6 (Nos. 1, 3, 12, 13, 15, 18).

Big Ten — 5 (Nos. 5, 6, 9, 19, 22).

Big 12 — 3 (Nos 4, 11, 14).

American — 3 (Nos. 2, 20, 23).

Sun Belt — 2 (Nos. 21, 24).

Mountain West — 1 (No. 25).

ACC — 1 (No. 10).

C-USA — 1 (No. 16).

Pac-12 — 1 (No. 7).

Independents — 2 (Nos. 8, 17).

RANKED vs. RANKED

No. 12 Auburn at No. 13 Texas A&M. Third time the Tigers and Aggies have met while both are ranked since A&M joined the SEC in 2011.

The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Oct. 30, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:

Record Pts Prv
1. Georgia (63) 8-0 1575 1
2. Cincinnati 8-0 1455 2
3. Alabama 7-1 1413 3
4. Oklahoma 9-0 1382 4
5. Michigan St. 8-0 1340 8
6. Ohio St. 7-1 1296 5
7. Oregon 7-1 1233 7
8. Notre Dame 7-1 1067 11
9. Michigan 7-1 1048 6
10. Wake Forest 8-0 1025 13
11. Oklahoma St. 7-1 915 15
12. Auburn 6-2 853 18
13. Texas A&M 6-2 847 14
14. Baylor 7-1 833 16
15. Mississippi 6-2 678 10
16. UTSA 8-0 460 23
17. BYU 7-2 450 25
18. Kentucky 6-2 409 12
19. Iowa 6-2 342 9
20. Houston 7-1 338 -
21. Coastal Carolina 7-1 237 24
22. Penn St. 5-3 182 20
23. SMU 7-1 176 19
24. Louisiana-Lafayette 7-1 161 -
25. Fresno St. 7-2 151 -

Others receiving votes: Pittsburgh 117, NC State 104, Wisconsin 91, Mississippi St. 79, Arkansas 72, Minnesota 51, San Diego St. 50, Appalachian St. 23, Utah 11, Iowa St. 9, Nevada 2.