Houston Holds No. 17 in the AP Top 25 as Ohio State Falls Out of the Top 10 for the First Time in Five Years
The Cougars (6-2, 590 points) are one of five Big 12 teams in Sunday's poll, which Miami leads for a third straight week while the Buckeyes' 86-poll top-10 streak ends and New Mexico is ranked for the first time in program history.
HOUSTON - The Houston Cougars hold the No. 17 spot in the Associated Press Top 25 at 6-2 with 590 points, one of five Big 12 teams in a Sunday poll that reshuffled the top of college football again.
Miami is No. 1 for the third straight week, at 8-0 with 62 of 70 first-place votes and 1,740 points, and the Hurricanes visit No. 4 Notre Dame on Saturday. Georgia moved up to No. 2, followed by Utah, Notre Dame and UCLA. The Big 12's five ranked teams are No. 3 Utah, No. 7 BYU, No. 13 Texas Tech, Houston at No. 17 and No. 24 Arizona; the SEC placed ten teams, led by Texas at No. 10.
The poll's biggest fall belonged to Ohio State, which dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in five years, sliding from No. 2 to No. 11 after a 30-18 loss at Southern California. The Buckeyes had spent 86 consecutive polls in the top 10, a streak running back to Sept. 26, 2021, and their loss made it four straight weeks in which the No. 1 or No. 2 team has lost to an unranked opponent. USC's win, the biggest of Lincoln Riley's tenure there, put the Trojans back in at No. 18.
Two climbs made history. UCLA, 8-0 under first-year coach Bob Chesney after a 27-0 shutout of Nevada, reached the top five for the first time in 25 years, and New Mexico - playing football since 1892 - earned the first AP ranking in program history at No. 22 after a 21-16 win at San Jose State. SMU, Northwestern, Oklahoma State and Wisconsin dropped out.
For Houston, the No. 17 line keeps the Cougars in the ranked tier of a Big 12 whose championship race runs through No. 3 Utah and No. 7 BYU, who meet in a top-10 Holy War matchup this week.
