Week 9 was not one of action among the top five teams in the AP poll. Three of them took the week off, actually, and the other two won by scores of 59-10 and 42-22.
The same cannot be said for the bottom half of the poll.
Eleven ranked teams lost in Week 9 games and nine of them were to unranked opponents, so as a result there are seven new teams in this week’s AP top 25.
There’s Houston, a 57-36 winner over previously unbeaten and 21st-ranked South Florida, at No. 17. The Cougars are trailed by the first of two Mountain West newcomers, No. 18 Utah State. Fresno State trails at No. 20. Mississippi State is back in the poll for a third time this year, as the 5-3 Bulldogs rejoined at No. 21 after a 28-13 win over then-No. 16 Texas A&M. The 5-3 Aggies hung on to their ranked status, checking in at No. 25. Mississippi State is trailed by three ACC teams -- No. 22 Syracuse, No. 23 Virginia and No. 24 Boston College.
Syracuse is in the AP poll for the first time since Jan. 4, 2002. Virginia was last ranked on Nov. 20, 2011, while Boston College hadn’t been ranked since Nov. 30, 2008.
Utah State, meanwhile, is in the AP poll for the first time since ending the 2012 season at No. 16. It’s just the second season in which the Aggies have been ranked since 1961.
Elsewhere, Texas plummeted from No. 6 to No. 15 after a 38-35 loss at Oklahoma State, while Florida was docked four spots to No. 13 for a 36-17 loss to Georgia, who inched up to No. 6 with the Texas loss.
Utah was this week’s biggest climber, moving seven spots to No. 16 after a 41-10 win over UCLA, while Washington State moved four spots to No. 10 for a 41-38 win at then-No. 24 Stanford. Idle Ohio State moved up three spots to No. 8.
The full rankings:
1. Alabama -- 1,500 total points (60 first-place votes)
2. Clemson -- 1,433
3. Notre Dame -- 1,374
4. LSU -- 1,317
5. Michigan -- 1,240
6. Georgia -- 1,202
7. Oklahoma -- 1,132
8. Ohio State -- 1,022
9. UCF -- 1,014
10. Washington State -- 938
11. Kentucky -- 905
12. West Virginia -- 891
13. Florida -- 734
14. Penn State -- 733
15. Texas -- 719
16. Utah -- 593
17. Houston -- 403
18. Utah State -- 340
19. Iowa -- 323
20. Fresno State -- 261
21. Mississippi State -- 204
22. Syracuse -- 192
23. Virginia -- 175
24. Boston College -- 169
25. Texas A&M -- 132
Ranked-on-ranked action in Week 10:
No. 12 West Virginia at No. 15 Texas (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX)
No. 6 Georgia at No. 11 Kentucky (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS)
No. 14 Penn State at No. 5 Michigan (3:45 p.m. ET, ESPN)
No. 1 Alabama at No. 4 LSU (8 p.m. ET, CBS)