Ranked teams rule: AP Top 25 opens 23-0 vs unranked teams

By admin | September 3, 2019

The Top 25 went 23-0 against unranked teams to open the season, leaving the rankings mostly unchanged with No. 1 Clemson and No. 2 Alabama at the top of the first regular-season AP college football poll of 2019.

The Tigers received 54 first-place votes out of 62 in the media poll, up two from the preseason. The Crimson Tide received the remaining eight in the poll presented by Regions Bank.

The only Top 25 team to lose was Oregon, which slipped to 16 after dropping a thriller to Auburn. The Tigers moved up to 10th.

The last time the Top 25 teams went undefeated against unranked foes in a full, regular-season weekend was October 2017 (15-0 the week of Oct. 15). The last time only one ranked team lost in a full weekend of games was Sept. 21, 2013.

The top seven teams in the preseason rankings held their spots Tuesday. Clemson and Alabama were followed by No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 5 Ohio State, No. 6 LSU and No. 7 Michigan. Notre Dame moved up a spot to No. 8 and Texas was ninth. Florida slipped three spots to No. 11.

POLL POINTS

Another record for Alabama. The Crimson Tide is ranked in the top five for the 56th consecutive week, dating to Nov. 8, 2015. That breaks a tie with Miami, which went 55 straight weeks in the top five from Oct. 8, 2000-Oct. 26, 2003.

MOVING IN, BUT NOT OUT

No. 24 Boise State was the only team to move into the rankings this week, but in an odd quirk, no team fell out. There was a tie at No. 25 between Nebraska and Iowa State. The Broncos are ranked again after rallying from 18 points down to beat Florida State on the road Saturday. Boise State has been ranked for at least one week the last 18 seasons.

The last time there were 26 teams in the top 25, with a tie for the final spot, was Nov. 18, 2012. The last time a full schedule of college football was played and no teams fell out of the rankings was Nov. 6, 2016.

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING

There have been three times since the AP poll expanded to 25 teams in 1989 that no ranked teams lost during a regular-season weekend schedule. In 1996, Top 25 teams went 11-0 leading into the second regular-season poll. The Top 25 had two undefeated weeks in September 2004, going 18-0 the opening weekend of the season and 19-0 a few weeks later.

CONFERENCE CALL

The Southeastern Conference has four teams in the top 10 and six in the top 12. The last conference to represent half of the first dozen teams in the rankings was the SEC on Sept. 7, 2013: No. 1 Alabama; No. 6 South Carolina; No. 7 Texas A&M; No. 9 LSU; No. 11 Georgia; No. 12 Florida.

Big Ten — 7.

SEC — 6.

Pac-12 — 5.

Big 12 — 3.

ACC — 2.

American — 1.

Mountain West — 1.

Independent — 1.

RANKED vs. RANKED

No. 12 Texas A&M at No. 1 Clemson. Rematch of last year’s game in College Station, when the Tigers needed a late stop of a two-point conversion to hold on for the victory.

No. 6 LSU at No. 9 Texas. First regular-season meeting since 1954.

TOP PHOTO: Wisconsin wide receiver Kendric Pryor (3) slips a tackle by South Florida linebacker Patrick Macon (55) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Friday, Aug. 30, 2019, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at https://podcastone.com/AP-Top-25-College-Football-Podcast

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/APTop25CollegeFootballPoll and https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25