AP poll reaction: What’s next for each Top 25 team?
The new AP Top 25 college football poll is out. Week 7 featured two classic rivalries in Oklahoma-Texas and Florida-Tennessee and three matchups of ranked teams.
The No. 1 Texas Longhorns started slow before pulling away for a 34-3 win. Then, the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes went to Eugene to take on the No. 3 Oregon Ducks. The game lived up to the hype with the two teams trading big plays and Oregon winning on a field goal late in the fourth quarter.
What does it all mean for the new AP Top 25? Let’s break down the rankings.
Stats courtesy of ESPN Research.
All times Eastern
Previous ranking: 1
2024 record: 6-0
Week 7 result: Defeated Oklahoma 34-3
Stat to know: With a 49-point win in 2022 and a 31-point win in 2024, Quinn Ewers has been Texas’ quarterback for two of its four biggest wins over Oklahoma.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Georgia, 7:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN+
Previous ranking: 3
2024 record: 6-0
Week 7 result: Defeated Ohio State 32-31
Stat to know: In the win, Dillon Gabriel became the first player with 125 career passing touchdowns and career 30 rushing scores in FBS history.
What’s next: Friday at Purdue, 8 p.m., Fox
Previous ranking: 4
2024 record: 6-0
Week 7 result: Defeated USC 33-30 (OT)
Stat to know: Ty Warren‘s 17 receptions are the most in a game in Penn State history and also ties Emilio Vallez (New Mexico, 1967) and Jon Harvey (Northwestern, 1982) for the most by a tight end in FBS history.
What’s next: Oct. 26 at Wisconsin
Previous ranking: 2
2024 record: 5-1
Week 7 result: Lost to Oregon 32-31
Stat to know: Ryan Day has two losses as a head coach before Thanksgiving. Oregon is responsible for both.
What’s next: Oct. 26 vs. Nebraska
Previous ranking: 5
2024 record: 5-1
Week 7 result: Defeated Mississippi State 41-31
Stat to know: Carson Beck threw for 459 yards in the win. That’s third most in school history.
What’s next: Saturday at Texas, 7:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN+
Previous ranking: 6
2024 record: 6-0
Week 7 result: Idle
What’s next: Saturday at Louisville, noon, ABC/ESPN+
Previous ranking: 7
2024 record: 5-1
Week 7 result: Defeated South Carolina 27-25
Stat to know: Alabama has not lost consecutive conference games since 2007 and has won 80 consecutive home games against unranked opponents.
What’s next: Saturday at Tennessee, 3:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN+
Previous ranking: 13
2024 record: 5-1
Week 7 result: Defeated Ole Miss 29-26 (OT)
Stat to know: Garrett Nussmeier finished with 51 passes, tied for the third most in a game in LSU history.
What’s next: Saturday at Arkansas, 7 p.m., ESPN
Previous ranking: 11
2024 record: 6-0
Week 7 result: Defeated West Virginia 28-16
Stat to know: Iowa State is 6-0 for the second time in program history. The Cyclones won their first seven games in 1938.
What’s next: Saturday vs. UCF, 7:30 p.m.
Previous ranking: 10
2024 record: 5-1
Week 7 result: Defeated Wake Forest 49-14
Stat to know: Phil Mafah had 118 yards rushing. It was his fourth 100-yard game this season. That ties him with Travis Etienne in 2018 for the most 100-yard rushing games through the team’s first six games in the past 20 years.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Virginia, noon, ACC Network
Previous ranking: 8
2024 record: 5-1
Week 7 result: Defeated Florida 23-17
Stat to know: Dylan Sampson is the first FBS player with three rushing scores in each of his team’s first three home games of season in the past 20 years.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Alabama, 3:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN+
Previous ranking: 11
2024 record: 5-1
Week 7 result: Defeated Stanford 49-7
Stat to know: With 229 yards passing, Riley Leonard ended a streak of five straight starts with fewer than 200 passing yards.
What’s next: Saturday at Georgia Tech, 3:30 p.m., ESPN
Previous ranking: 14
2024 record: 6-0
Week 7 result: Defeated Arizona 41-19
Stat to know: BYU has forced multiple interceptions in three straight games. The Cougars are the only FBS team with an active interception streak this season.
What’s next: Friday vs. Oklahoma State, 10:15 p.m., ESPN
Previous ranking: 15
2024 record: 5-1
Week 7 result: Idle
What’s next: Saturday at Mississippi State
Previous ranking: 17
2024 record: 5-1
Week 7 result: Defeated Hawaii 28-7
Stat to know: Ashton Jeanty‘s 1,248 rushing yards and 1,287 scrimmage yards are the second most in both categories over the past 20 seasons.
What’s next: Oct. 25 at UNLV, 10:30 p.m., CBSSN
Previous ranking: 18
2024 record: 6-0
Week 7 result: Idle
What’s next: Saturday vs. Nebraska
Previous ranking: 18
2024 record: 5-1
Week 7 result: Defeated Colorado 31-28
Stat to know: Against Colorado, Avery Johnson had his third career game with multiple passing touchdowns and a rushing score.
What’s next: Saturday at West Virginia, 7:30 p.m.
Previous ranking: 9
2024 record: 5-2
Week 7 result: Lost to LSU 29-26 (OT)
Stat to know: Ole Miss is now 7-10 in overtime games since 1996. The Rebels’ last overtime win came in 2022.
What’s next: Oct. 26 vs. Oklahoma
Previous ranking: 21
2024 record: 5-1
Week 7 result: Defeated UMass 45-3
Stat to know: Mizzou had multiple scoring plays of 60 or more yards for the first time since 2017.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Auburn
Previous ranking: 22
2024 record: 6-0
Week 7 result: Defeated Cal 17-15
Stat to know: Eli Holstein is the first Pitt QB to win each of his first six starts since Dan Marino in 1979-80 (first nine).
What’s next: Oct. 24 vs. Syracuse, 7:30 p.m., ESPN
Previous ranking: 25
2024 record: 5-1
Week 7 result: Idle
What’s next: Saturday at Stanford, 8 p.m., ACC Network
Previous ranking: 23
2024 record: 5-1
Week 7 result: Defeated Purdue 50-49 (OT)
Stat to know: Illinois has scored 40 or more points for the third time in its past six conference games. The 50 points are the most against Purdue since scoring 48 in 2015.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Michigan, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Previous ranking: NR
2024 record: 6-0
Week 7 result: Defeated UAB 44-10
Stat to know: Army is 6-0 to start the season for the first time since 1996 when the Black Knights started 9-0.
What’s next: Saturday vs. East Carolina, noon, ESPN2
Previous ranking: 24
2024 record: 4-2
Week 7 result: Idle
What’s next: Saturday at Illinois, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Previous ranking: NR
2024 record: 5-0
Week 7 result: Idle
What’s next: Saturday vs. Charlotte, 3:30 p.m., CBSSN
Knight’s Choice has won the 2024 Melbourne Cup, defeating Warp Speed and Okita Soushi in a thrilling finish at Flemington on Tuesday afternoon.
The massive outsider saluted for Irish-born jockey Robbie Dolan, who claimed victory in what was his first ever ride in the “race that stops a nation”.
In what was a gripping 164th staging of Australia’s most-watched thoroughbred race, Knight’s Choice proved too strong in a sprint to the finish, pulling over the top of Okita Soushi and holding off Warp Speed by the barest of margins.
Trained by John Symons and Sheila Laxon on the Sunshine Coast, Knight’s Choice was well down the betting across all markets. It was Laxon’s second Melbourne Cup triumph after she trained Ethereal to victory 23 years ago.
“This is the pinnacle of all pinnacles, this is the Melbourne Cup,” Symons said.
Zardozi rounded out the first four.
As the field approached the final few hundred metres it appeared as though Jamie Kah, aboard Okita Soushi, would become just the second woman to ride the winner in the Melbourne Cup. But Okita Soushi was swallowed up as the winning post neared, with Knight’s Choice beating Warp Speed to the line after a peach of a ride from Dolan.
“We’ll be singing tonight after a few beers,” Dolan, who was a contestant on the 2022 edition of “The Voice”, told Channel 9.
“It is amazing and a lot of people doubted this little horse. Doubt me now.”
Laxon was more than happy with the ride, with Dolan threading his way through the field from near last on the bend.
“He started the race, and he knew how to ride him. We didn’t give him instructions, he knew what to do,” she said.
“I love it being down for the Australians. The Australian horse has done it, and Robbie is Australian now as well, so I’m thrilled to win the Cup, and it is the people’s Cup, and that’s what it is all about.”
Knight’s Choice is just the sixth Australian-bred horse to win since 1993, and the first since Vow and Declare back in 2019.
The five-year-old gelding carried only 51kg to victory and was making its first start over the 3200m trip. It had most recently come off a fifth-placed finish in the Bendigo Cup, but had showed sparing little form this preparation otherwise.
“I watched every Melbourne Cup for the last 40 years. I thought my best chance was to get him to stay the trip and, hopefully, he can run home and do the quick sectionals he can on a good track and he proved everybody wrong,” Dolan said.
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