Tennessee moved into a tie with Ohio State for No. 2 in the Associated Press college football poll Sunday to set up a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup with top-ranked Georgia next weekend.
Georgia-Tennessee will be the 25th regular-season game matching the top two teams in the AP poll and the third straight involving SEC teams. Neither the Bulldogs nor the Volunteers have ever played in a 1-2 game in the regular season.
Georgia remained No. 1 for the fourth straight week, receiving 30 first-place votes and 1,528 points.
The Volunteers moved up a spot, receiving 18 first-place votes and 1,500 points to match Ohio State. The Buckeyes received 15 first-place votes.
On Saturday, Tennessee routed Kentucky 44-6, and Ohio State won 44-31 at Penn State.
Tennessee has not been ranked this high since it was No. 2 in 2001, a season in which the Vols finished fourth.
No. 4 Michigan, No. 5 Clemson, No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 TCU and No. 8 Oregon held their spots in the rankings. USC moved up a spot to ninth and with No. 10 UCLA gave the Pac-12 three teams in the top 10 for the first time since November 2016.
The last time both Los Angeles schools were in the top 10 was September 2015.
The first College Football Playoff rankings of the season will be released Tuesday night.
POLL POINTS
The past two 1-2 regular-season games both involved Alabama and LSU.
The Tigers were No. 1 in 2019 when they beat the second-ranked Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on the way to an SEC and national championship.
In 2011, the top-ranked Tigers won at No. 2 Alabama in overtime, and the two SEC West rivals played again in the BCS national championship game. The Tide won the rematch and finished No. 1.
Including postseason games, this will be the 53rd game matching AP’s No. 1 and No. 2 since the poll began in 1936.
IN
Three teams are making their season debuts in the Top 25 this week.
– No. 23 Liberty is ranked for the first time since 2020, when the Flames were ranked for eight weeks and peaked at No. 17 in the final poll of the season.
– No. 24 Oregon State becomes the latest Power 5 school to snap a long absence from the rankings. The Beavers had not been ranked since they were No. 25 in the 2013 preseason poll. They had not been ranked in the regular season since 2012, when they finished 20th.
Earlier this year Kansas broke a 13-year rankings drought, which had been the longest in Power 5. Then Illinois broke the next-longest dry spell, moving into the rankings for the first time since 2011.
Rutgers currently holds the longest AP Top 25 drought among Power 5 teams, dating back to 2012. Vanderbilt is next. The Commodores have not been ranked since the 2013 season.
– No. 25 UCF is ranked for the first time since Sept. 27, 2020.
OUT
SEC East rivals Kentucky and South Carolina both dropped out of the poll after absorbing their third losses of the season. The Gamecocks are out after just one week ranked. The Wildcats are unranked for the first time this season.
Cincinnati also dropped out of the rankings after losing to UCF.
CONFERENCE CALL
SEC – 5 (Nos. 1, 2, 6, 11, 15).
ACC – 5 (Nos. 5, 17, 20, 21, 22).
Pac-12 – 5 (Nos. 8, 9, 10, 12, 24).
Big Ten – 4 (Nos. 2, 4, 14, 16).
Big 12 – 3 (Nos. 7, 13, 18).
American – 2 (Nos. 19, 25).
Independent – 1 (No. 23).
RANKED vs. RANKED
Big weekend in the SEC as both division leads will be up for grabs.
No. 6 Alabama at No. 15 LSU. First ranked matchup for the Crimson Tide and Tigers since that 2019 1 vs. 2 game.
No. 20 Wake Forest at No. 21 NC State. For the second straight year, the Demon Deacons and Wolfpack will meet as ranked opponents.
The days leading up to the 2025 NHL trade deadline were a furious final sprint as contenders looked to stock up for a postseason run while rebuilding clubs added prospects and draft capital.
After the overnight Brock Nelson blockbuster Thursday, Friday lived up to expectations, with Mikko Rantanen, Brad Marchand and other high-profile players finishing the day on different teams than they started with. All told, NHL teams made 24 trades on deadline day involving 47 players.
Which teams and players won the day? Who might not feel as well about the situation after trade season? Reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski identify the biggest winners and losers of the 2025 NHL trade deadline:
There are some who saw what the Carolina Hurricanes did at the trade deadline — or perhaps failed to do after they traded Mikko Rantanen — and believe they’re cooked when it comes to the Stanley Cup playoffs. However, based on the projections from Stathletes, the Canes remain the team with the highest chances of winning the Cup, at 16.7%.
Standing before them on Sunday are the Winnipeg Jets (5 p.m. ET, ESPN+). The Jets had a relatively quiet deadline, adding Luke Schenn and Brandon Tanev, though sometimes these additions are the types of small tweaks that can push a contender over the edge. As it stands, the Jets enter their showdown against the Canes with the sixth-highest Cup chances, at 8.7%.
Carolina has made two trips to the Cup Final: a loss to the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 and a win over the Edmonton Oilers in 2006. The Canes have reached the conference finals three times since (2009, 2019, 2023). Winnipeg has yet to make the Cup Final, and was defeated 4-1 in the 2018 Western Conference finals by the Vegas Golden Knights in the club’s lone trip to the penultimate stage.
Both clubs are due. Will this be their year?
There is a lot of runway left until the final day of the season on April 17, and we’ll help you keep track of it all here on the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide detail on all the playoff races — along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
Points: 43 Regulation wins: 12 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 17 Points pace: 54.3 Next game: vs. NSH (Tuesday) Playoff chances: ~0% Tragic number: 8
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the draw for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process can be found here. Sitting No. 1 on the draft board for this summer is Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters.
Hintz extended his stick toward Henrique, whose wrist shot sent the puck under Hintz’s visor during his club’s 5-4 loss to the Oilers. He was on the ice, with his face in a towel, as the team’s medical staff assessed him and helped him skate toward the dressing room.
After the loss, Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said Hintz was at a local hospital, receiving tests. The coach added that the initial report was fairly optimistic for Hintz, 28, who has 25 goals and 52 points.
“Everyone’s optimistic that it’s not ‘serious, serious,'” DeBoer said. “But we won’t know until we get testing.”
The short-handed Stars rallied from a 5-1 deficit before eventually losing. Trade deadline acquisition Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist in his debut for Dallas, which had its four-game winning streak stopped. Wyatt Johnston, Jamie Benn and Matt Dumba also scored for the Stars.