Alabama returned to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll for the first time in two years Sunday after its dizzying victory over Georgia, making this 16 of 17 seasons the Crimson Tide held the top spot at some point.
UNLV, unbeaten through four games for the first time in its Division I history, also cracked the rankings for the first time days after losing its starting quarterback over a NIL dispute. The Rebels are tied for No. 25 with Texas A&M.
Alabama received 40 of 63 firstplace votes and leapfrogged three teams to take No. 1 from Texas, which tussled with Mississippi State deep into the second half as a five-touchdown favorite and slipped to No. 2. The Longhorns got 19 first-place votes, well off last week's 44.
Ohio State remained No. 3 with four first-place votes. Tennessee, which had an open date, moved up a spot to fourth. Georgia, whose only three losses since 2021 have come to Alabama, dropped to No. 5.
Oregon, Penn State, Miami, Missouri and Michigan rounded out the top 10.
Mississippi and Utah took the biggest falls. The Rebels, upset by Kentucky at home, dropped from No. 6 to No. 12. The Utes, who lost to Arizona at home, went from No. 10 to No. 18.
The Tide are No. 1 for the 141st time, most of any team since the AP rankings began in 1936, and for the 105th time since 2009 when Nick Saban won the first of his six national championships at Alabama.
Nebraska, which improved to 4-1, is receiving votes at No. 28.
More poll notables: Conference call:
The SEC holds four of the top five spots for the fourth straight week, an ongoing first in the AP poll. The league also holds nine spots in the Top 25, one off its own record for number of ranked teams from one conference.
The Big Ten has four teams in the top 10 for the first time since October 2021 and seven in the Top 25.
Hoosiers in: Indiana entered the poll at No. 23. The Hoosiers, 5-0 for the first time since 1967, hadn't been ranked since they were No. 17 in the 2021 preseason poll.
Purdue's OC out
One day after a 28-10 home loss to Nebraska, Purdue offensive coordinator Graham Harrell was fired.
"Decisions like this are never easy," coach Ryan Walters said Sunday in press release. "After evaluating our start to the season, I felt that it was best for our team to make a change now. We are appreciative of Graham's contributions to our program and wish him the best going forward."
The Boilermakers didn't score in the first half against the Huskers and dropped to 1-3, 0-1 Big Ten with their next game coming up at Wisconsin.