No. 1 Georgia led an unchanged top five in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday, while the rest of the Top 25 was shuffled after eight ranked teams lost — including two big upsets in the Pac-12.
For the second straight week, the Bulldogs received all but one of the 63 first-place votes in the AP Top 25. No. 2 Ohio State received the other first-place vote.
No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 TCU and No. 5 Tennessee held their spots after victories Saturday, with only the Horned Frogs facing a real challenge.
Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan and Tennessee won by a combined 203-60 against conference opponents.
Home losses by Oregon (to Washington) and UCLA (to Arizona) shook up the rest of the top 10. No. 6 LSU and No. 7 USC each moved up a spot.
The last time two top-10 Pac-12 teams lost at home during the same weekend was Oct. 2-4, 2014, when No. 2 Oregon fell 31-24 to Arizona and No. 8 UCLA was defeated 30-28 by Utah.
Alabama climbed two spots to No. 8 this week after it fell to a season-low No. 10 last week. Clemson moved up three spots to reenter the top 10 at No. 9, and Utah rose to No. 10.
POLL POINTS
Georgia is closing in on a school record.
The Bulldogs are No. 1 for the ninth time this season, matching their total from last season, when they won the national title for the first time in 41 years.
Georgia has been at No. 1 a total of 33 times in school history, one behind Michigan for 12th most in the history of the AP poll.
The Bulldogs are at Kentucky next week and close the regular season against Georgia Tech. Barring a major upset, they will go into the SEC championship game against LSU with 11 weeks as the country’s top-ranked team.
IN
Of the four teams that moved into the rankings this week, Coastal Carolina is the only one making its season debut. The 23rd-ranked Chanticleers have now reached the Top 25 in each of the past three seasons.
• No. 22 Cincinnati is back in. The Bearcats give the American Athletic Conference a season-high three ranked teams along with No. 17 Central Florida and No. 21 Tulane.
• No. 25 Oregon State is also back. The Beavers broke a nine-year poll drought two weeks ago, immediately lost a close game at Washington and dropped out, then moved back in Sunday after beating California.
OUT
Texas‘ season in the rankings: unranked for the first two polls, moved in for two weeks in September, out for two weeks, in for two weeks, back for a week and now gone again.
• Illinois tumbled out after a second straight home loss.
• NC State is unranked for the first time this season after the Wolfpack were upset at home by Boston College.
• Liberty‘s time in the Top 25 lasted two weeks. The Flames followed up a victory at Arkansas by losing at UConn to fall out.
CONFERENCE CALL
The Ducks and Bruins getting toppled crushed the Pac-12’s hopes of putting a team in the College Football Playoff. One consolation prize: The conference now has more ranked teams than it has since Sept. 15, 2019.
Browne committed to rejoining the Boilermakers on Friday after entering his name in the NCAA transfer portal Wednesday.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound redshirt sophomore started two games for Purdue in 2024 but moved on amid the program’s head coaching change and went through spring practice under new Tar Heels coach Bill Belichick.
North Carolina landed a commitment from South Alabama transfer quarterback Gio Lopez on Thursday.
Browne and freshman Bryce Baker were North Carolina’s lone scholarship quarterbacks available for spring practice and were competing with three walk-ons while sixth-year senior Max Johnson recovers from a broken leg.
Browne threw for 636 yards, rushed for 240 yards and scored four touchdowns while appearing in nine games as Hudson Card’s backup over the past two seasons at Purdue, earning starts in losses to Illinois and Oregon.
Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood showed glimpses of the growing pains he will experience as a freshman and flashes of the promise that made him the nation’s top-rated high school football recruit in the Wolverines’ spring game Saturday.
Underwood was 12 of 26 for 187 yards with a scrimmage-ending, 88-yard pass to tight end Jalen Hoffman on a reverse flea-flicker in a 17-0 win for the Blue over the Maize.
He also recovered his fumble, had a pair of delay-of-game penalties, several errant throws – high and wide – and some dropped. Underwood lost 12 yards on two sacks and gained 17 yards on three runs.
“He did well,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “Made some really, good throws and had some things we need to clean up and get better at.”
As the Wolverines wrapped up spring football in front of about 40,000 fans at the Big House, all eyes were on Underwood and he has become comfortable with that.
“It’s just the pressure that came with my arm,” Underwood told The Detroit News earlier this spring. “I can’t stop that.”
Underwood was sacked on his first snap and his first completion went for a loss. He did throw some darts, usually in the flat, and was quick enough to escape collapsed pockets to pick up yardage with his feet.
Underwood is expected to compete with sophomore Jadyn Davis and Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene for playing time ahead of the season-opening game on Aug. 30 at home against Fresno State.
“It’s a battle,” Moore said. “It’s going to go all the way to fall camp.”
Underwood is motivated to start and kick off a legacy-building career with lofty goals.
“A couple of Heismans and at least one natty,” Underwood said last month in an interview on the Rich Eisen Show.
Underwood knows there will be people doubting he can live up to the hype.
‘He’s just a freshman. He won’t be good enough,'” Underwood said. “I might keep that chip my whole three years.”
He attended at Belleville High School, which is about 15 miles east of Ann Arbor, and flipped his commitment to Michigan after telling LSU coaches last year he intended to play there.
Tom Brady, a former Wolverine and seven-time Super Bowl winner, talked with Underwood during the school’s recruitment via FaceTime and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people, also connected with him.
Jay Underwood told the Wall Street Journal that his son is expected to make more than $15 million at Michigan, but that doesn’t guarantee he will take the first snap next fall.
“He wants to earn everything,” Moore has said. “He doesn’t want to be given anything.”
Hoffman said Underwood has simply blended in with his teammates.
“He’s really humble, like not a big head, ego, nothing like that,” he said. “Comes into work and every day, he wants to get better every day. He’s not riding off his success in high school. He’s really trying to be one of those top players in college football.”
Underwood participated in practices with the team before it beat Alabama in a bowl game, enrolled in classes in January and gained a lot experience in 14 private practices before a public scrimmage.
“Football is football,” he told MLive.com. “School is a little bit more overwhelming now.”
Missouri State senior football player Todric McGee died early Saturday from what police believe was a “possible accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
A spokesperson for the Springfield (Missouri) Police Department said they found McGee at his residence while performing a wellness check Friday morning. He was transported to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.
He was 21.
“Our football family is in shock and in mourning at the loss of Todric,” Bears head football coach Ryan Beard said in a statement. “We ask everyone to please respect the privacy of his family and our MoState football team at this time as we begin the healing process. Join us in praying for Todric and the people who loved him.”
McGee, a fifth-year senior, started each of the past two seasons for the Bears. He earned All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honors in 2023.
“This tragedy has shaken our football program to the core, and we want them to know we are here to support them in every way possible at this extremely difficult time,” athletic director Patrick Ransdell said in the school’s statement.
The investigation into McGee’s death is ongoing, police said.