There was some uproar after Penn State wasn’t ranked in the first College Football Playoff Poll of the season last Tuesday, but that should change this week. In the meantime, the Nittany Lions are ranked in both the AP and USA TODAY Coaches Polls.
While the Lions jumped back into the Coaches Poll, even a win against a solid Maryland squad couldn’t stop the Lions from dropping a spot in the AP Poll.
POLL ALERT: No. 2 Cincinnati narrowly holds off No. 3 Alabama in AP Top 25; No. 5 Oregon jumps No. 6 Ohio St.
Full poll presented by @askRegions >> https://t.co/7DM0yv7RRj pic.twitter.com/ifrOWxJGMS
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) November 7, 2021
Despite some scares for the AP’s top-ranked teams, the Top 4 remains unchanged this week. Georgia (1,575 points, 63 first-place votes) cruised to a 43-6 win over Missouri, but half of the Top 4 struggled.
Cincinnati (1,440 points) remains second after a 28-20 grind against Tulsa, continuing a trend of playing down to its competition. Alabama (1,436 points) remains third after letting LSU hang around, and Oklahoma (1,406 points) stuck at No. 4 after a bye week.
Oregon (1,319 points) and Ohio State (1,293 points) survived upset scares against Washington and Nebraska, respectively, to occupy the fifth and sixth seeds. Notre Dame (1,139 points), Michigan State (1,096), Michigan (1,072 points) and Oklahoma State (1,038 points) round out the Top 10.
Michigan State suffered Week 10’s biggest upset, falling to unranked Purdue 40-29 after last week’s huge win over Michigan.
Ohio State is the new team to beat in the Big 10, MSU’s loss leaving the Buckeyes in the driver’s seat in the conference. Although, Michigan and the Spartans still have time to close ground in the conference.
Iowa (437 points) and the Lions (245 points) are hanging around in the latter half of the poll, but both have lost too many games to truly be considered contenders. Wisconsin (286 points) also jumped into the Top 25, checking in at No. 20.
Purdue (174 points), coming off its second Top 5 win of the season, received the most points of any team outside the Top 25.
After routing Rutgers, @BadgerFootball moved from unranked to inside the Top 25 at No 24 in this week's USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll.
Check out the entire poll here: https://t.co/SWMiuP2OBn pic.twitter.com/YzXKl4pGdM
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) November 7, 2021
Georgia (1,600 points, 64 first-place votes) remains the consensus top-ranked team in the nation, but Alabama (1,483 points) jumped Cincinnati (1,430 points) after both teams struggled against lesser competition in Week 10 — although comparing LSU and Tulsa is a bit different.
Oklahoma (1,423 points) and Ohio State (1,356 points) round out the otherwise unchanged Top 5.
Oregon (1,291 points), Notre Dame (1,182 points) and Michigan (1,099 points) jumped a Michigan State (1,074 points) squad that was upset by Purdue, and Oklahoma State (1,045 points) claimed the final Top 10 spot.
Iowa (636 points) rose two spots to No. 14, the Lions (249 points) stuck at No. 23 and Wisconsin (177 points) jumped into the Top 25 with a 52-3 win over Rutgers.
Purdue (77 points) received the third-most points of any team in the “Others receiving votes” category, and Minnesota (10 points) also featured in the category.
To check out the full AP Poll, click here, and to check out the full Coaches Poll, click here.
