Thanks to Alabama’s upset loss to Texas A&M Saturday, the only question heading into Sunday was whether Kansas State or Oregon would take over the top spot in the Associated Press Top 25.
With three weeks left in the regular season, Ducks, you’re up.
In the AP’s latest release, Oregon has staked its claim to the No. 1 ranking held by Alabama for the past 10 weeks. While the Ducks received 45 of the 60 first-place votes, they are far from a going-away pick for the top spot.
In last week’s poll, the Tide held a 79-point lead over the Ducks. The Ducks’ lead over No. 2 Kansas State? Just 34 points, the closest margin between 1-2 since the preseason poll was released in late August.
Two other teams received first-place votes: No. 2 K-State (14) and No. 3 Notre Dame (1).
As for the Tide, the defending BcS champions dropped a mere three spots to No. 4. The Aggies received a significant boost from the upset, jumping up six spots to No. 9.
With the Aggies move, the SEC now holds exactly half of the spots in the Top 10, the others being Georgia (No. 5), Florida (No. 7) and LSU (No. 8). With South Carolina at No. 12, the SEC owns half of the top dozen spots despite three of those teams owning two losses apiece.
No. 6 Ohio State (T-No. 5 last week) and No. 10 Florida State (No. 8) round out the Top 10.
The biggest loser of the week was Louisville. The Cardinals went from unbeaten and ranked No. 11 a week ago to No. 20 in the latest poll thanks to their loss to unranked Syracuse.
Mississippi State (No. 22) and Toledo (No. 23) both dropped out of the rankings, replaced by Michigan (T-No. 23) and Kent State (No. 25). The Golden Flashes are ranked in the AP poll for the first time since 1973.
