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No. 17 Kentucky leads five newcomers in this week’s AP poll

By Zach BarnettSep 23, 2018, 2:24 PM EST

Carnage littered the AP Top 25 landscape following Week 4’s games, as seven ranked teams lost games — five of them to unranked opponents, and a sixth in horrific fashion.

As such, five new teams are in, led by No. 17 Kentucky. Following a 28-7 smashing of then-No. 14 Mississippi State, Mark Stoops‘s Wildcats are 4-0 overall and off to their first 2-0 start since 1977. As such, they graced the AP Top 25 for the first time since Nov. 11, 2007, and just the second time since 1984. The No. 17 ranking is UK’s highest ranking since Oct. 21, 2007.

Also joining the rankings are No. 18 Texas, who was No. 23 in preseason, did not earn a single vote after losing at Maryland and now has vaulted back into the rankings after back-to-back double-digit wins over ranked opponents (both of whom are now unranked). Elsewhere, a pair of unbeaten Power 5 teams have joined the rankings for the first time this season in No. 22 Duke and No. 24 California, and Texas Tech came in at No. 25 after smashing then-No. 15 Oklahoma State by 24 points in Stillwater.

Only two of the seven losers remained in the poll: Oregon, who actually climbed a spot to No. 19 after blowing a 17-point third quarter lead to No. 7 Stanford and No. 23 Mississippi State for absolutely no reason whatsoever. (I expected this from the good-for-literally-nothing coaches’ poll, but I expected better from you, AP voters.)

Elsewhere, LSU leapfrogged Oklahoma for No. 5 after Army took the Sooners to overtime in Norman, and Penn State jumped Auburn for No. 9 ahead of a massive game Saturday night in Happy Valley.

Michigan, Miami and BYU moved up five spots, while UCF, Wisconsin and Michigan State gained three.

The full poll:

1. Alabama — 1,523 total points (60 first-place votes)
2. Georgia — 1,422
3. Clemson — 1,409 (1)
4. Ohio State — 1,363
5. LSU — 1,238
6. Oklahoma — 1,201
7. Stanford — 1,143
8. Notre Dame — 1,067
9. Penn State — 1,001
10. Auburn — 987
11. Washington — 946
12. West Virginia — 923
13. UCF — 727
14. Michigan — 698
15. Wisconsin — 662
16. Miami — 571
17. Kentucky — 541
18. Texas — 308
19. Oregon — 297
20. BYU — 270
21. Michigan State — 256
22. Duke — 244
23. Mississippi State — 241
24. California — 118
25. Texas Tech — 106

Five ranked-on-ranked matchups await us in Week 5:

No. 12 West Virginia at No. 25 Texas Tech (noon ET, ESPN2)
No. 4 Ohio State at No. 9 Penn State (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
No. 7 Stanford at No. 8 Notre Dame (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC)
No. 20 BYU at No. 11 Washington (8:30 p.m. ET, FOX)
No. 19 Oregon at No. 24 California (10:30 p.m. ET, FS1)

Suspended Virginia Tech DB facing charge for making illicit video without consent

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By John TaylorFeb 22, 2019, 9:36 PM EST

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And now we know a lot more of the rest of what’s turned into a rather sordid story.

After playing in the first two games of the 2018 season, D.J. Crossen didn’t see the field again for Virginia Tech. Earlier this month, it was confirmed that the defensive back has been serving an indefinite suspension since the middle of September for violating “the policies set forth in the Virginia Tech Code of Student Conduct,” the school said in a statement.

Friday, the Roanoke Times reported that Crossen will be arraigned Monday after being charged with making a video of an unclothed woman without her consent. From the Times’ report:

According to last year’s search warrant, a woman accused Crossen of making a video of her while she and Crossen engaged in consensual sex. The woman told investigators that Crossen asked if it would be alright to make a video and she told him no. Later, however, the woman received a Snapchat message that included a video of her “in a state of undress.”

The woman also received a message saying the video would be posted online “everywhere.” Since then, the woman received a number of messages from people asking to meet her, the search warrant said.

While Crossen was permitted to practice with the rest of his Hokie teammates during the in-season portion of the suspension, that won’t be the case during spring practice as the Times also reports that Crossen has since been suspended by the university, which bars him from attending classes or participating in any football-related activities.

Crossen is still listed as a student at the school but is no longer on the football team’s online roster.

Crossen was a three-star member of the Hokies’ 2018 recruiting class, rated as the No. 45 cornerback in the country and the No. 17 player at any position in the state of North Carolina. He was originally committed to North Carolina before flipping to Tech.