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Pac-12 Back in AP Poll, but No Pac-12 teams in Top 10

Pac-12 does not play any games until Nov. 6, and none of its teams is ranked higher than 14th this week
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Pac-12 teams were back in the Associated Press top-25 college football poll released Sunday, but they were barely included.

AP did not include Pac-12 teams last week, but with the Pac-12's decision on Thursday to restart its fall program on Nov. 6, the wire service decided to include Pac-12 and Mountain West Conference teams this week.

The Pac-12 had no teams ranked in the top 10 on Sunday, and the only Pac-12 team ranked at all in the top 25 was Oregon, at No. 14. That represents a drop of five spots from the Ducks' preseason ranking of No. 9.

It seems unlikely the Ducks will gain much ground over the next few weeks since they don't play a game for six weeks.

The only other Pac-12 teams to receive votes were USC, Utah and Washington. USC, which was ranked 17th in the preseason, got enough votes to be ranked 29th, while the Utes, 22nd in preseason, would have been 35th this week. Washington received four voting points, which would have placed the Huskies 39th.

Cal and Arizona State were listed among the others receiving votes in the preseason AP poll, but neither got any votes Sunday.

It is possible voters were reluctant to vote for Pac-12 teams until they start playing games.

Only four Big Ten teams were ranked in this week's top 25, and that conference does not play its first game until Oct. 24. Ohio State, which was second in the preseason poll, is only sixth this week.

Clemson and Alabama remained first and second in this week's rankings, but Florida moved up to No. 3. Oklahoma, which was No. 3 last week, slipped to No. 18 after losing to Kansas State, while LSU, which was No. 6 a week ago, dropped to No. 20 after losing to Mississippi State.

Mississippi State, behind the play of former Stanford quarterback KJ Costello and the coaching of former Washington State head coach Mike Leach, moved into the rankings at No. 16.

No Mountain West teams received any votes.

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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