College Football Rankings: AP Top 25 Teams Moving Up, Down in Week 9

Few expected there was going to be as much chaos as there was last weekend, but the Week 8 college football slate still proved pretty dramatic in its own right, and once again leaves AP top 25 pollsters with some consequential decisions when voting on the new rankings.

With a total of seven AP ranked teams losing their games, there is a little more confusion for the voters to straighten out entering the Week 9 action. Who is moving where?

Rankings reflect AP top 25 poll

Moving up: Texas

College Football Rankings: AP Top 25 Teams Moving Up, Down in Week 9 — IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Last week’s ranking: No. 19

Give it to the Longhorns. Sitting on a two-game losing streak to unranked opponents and watching their College Football Playoff hopes hanging on by their fingernails, they did whatever they had to and put together their best half of football all season.

Then came the other half. For a time, Bad Arch made an unwelcome comeback, fumbling away a touchdown that kicked off 21 unanswered Ole Miss points to erase an early 24-3 lead, and an ominous third-straight loss looked imminent.

But the Longhorns held onto a double-digit lead this time, as Manning orchestrated a signature 80-yard touchdown drive capped off by his rushing score, and a field goal late gave them some breathing room to eventually take down the Rebels.

For all the flak that Steve Sarkisian gets, his teams perform against highly-ranked competition. Under his watch, Texas is 5-2 in the regular season against AP top-ten opponents since last season, the most wins of any FBS team in that span.

Moving down: Ole Miss

Last week’s ranking: No. 7

At first, the Rebels simply couldn’t find their footing. Trinidad Chambliss was unable to get into rhythm. They couldn’t establish the run game. Even the defense failed to contain Arch Manning early on, resulting in that three touchdown deficit.

Even after mounting a comeback bid to tie the game in the second half, the Rebels were doomed by what they couldn’t do when they had to do it most. They couldn’t turn a late takeaway into points. They couldn’t really stop the run when it counted.

On the one hand, they played with the fight to potentially beat a ranked team on the road. On the other, they made the mistakes of a team that has shown it can be too vulnerable in important moments.

Now at 3-2 in SEC play, the Rebels’ playoff hopes are in real peril, losing a ton of the momentum they built early on this season.

Moving down: BYU

Last week’s ranking: No. 2

Already? Just when the Cougars moved up, now they’re set for a fall. There were concerns that the Big 12 title hopefuls were walking into a trap after an emotional win over Notre Dame, and the cross-country trip to UCF did in fact deliver even more rankings mayhem in a marquee upset.

Now, AP voters are faced with a dilemma. They dropped the Irish just two spots to No. 4 in last week’s poll while promoting BYU to No. 2. Do they now drop the Cougars below the Notre Dame team they beat, and which was idle this weekend?

Miami should stay firm at No. 1 and Ohio State, also idle, will jump to No. 2. Losing to unranked UCF would normally put pollsters in a punishing mood, but the Irish placement could end up cushioning BYU’s drop just one place to No. 3.

That would be good form for the Big 12, which saw another convulsion this week at the top of its standings thanks to other losses by conference contenders.

Moving up: LSU

Last week’s ranking: No. 18

You may have heard about it coming into this weekend, but LSU was 0-2 on the road in Lane Kiffin’s debut season as head coach. Make that 1-2 after a spirited effort from the Tigers’ offense that enabled a dominant 38-17 win at Auburn.

Sam Leavitt was on fire in the first half, in particular. The LSU quarterback cut through the Auburn secondary for 261 yards in the air and threw 3 touchdowns in a 21-point third quarter.

AP voters will reward the Tigers with a nice bump in the rankings, but they’ll have to earn the promotion going forward. After taking next Saturday off, they host Alabama and Texas and then go to Tennessee in a make-or-break stretch for their playoff hopes.

Moving down: Texas Tech

THE RED RAIDERS ARE UNDEFEATED NO MORE‼️

Cincinnati holds down home turf and takes down No. 8 Texas Tech! pic.twitter.com/a2gzF0Ufwb
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) October 24, 2026

Last week’s ranking: No. 8

A single AP pollster gave a first-place vote to the Red Raiders in last week’s rankings, but now that vote and several more will be directed elsewhere after the reigning Big 12 champs took a surprising loss on the road against Cincinnati.

Texas Tech was outclassed and overwhelmed, especially on the ground, as the Bearcats ran through what was college football’s fifth-ranked run defense coming in. It hadn’t allowed a single rushing touchdown all year.

The 58-yarder they surrendered on Saturday not only iced the upset, but adds more confusion to what was already a competitive Big 12 title race.

One more loss by a highly ranked contender forces voters into another decision, dropping the Red Raiders out of the top-ten and in some dire straits going forward.

Moving down: Tennessee

Last week’s ranking: No. 11

The SEC giveth, and the SEC taketh away. Once again, South Carolina had the honors, delivering another Cocktober surprise by taking down the Vols on a last-second field goal, throwing some more malarkey into the top of the conference this month.

Trailing by two TDs early on, the Vols leaned on their strong defense and ground attack to maul their way back in on the road. But the Gamecocks’ pass rush got home on quarterback George MacIntyre, forcing and recovering a fumble that led to the game-winning kick.

Tennessee could be saved a dramatic drop in the rankings because the game was so close and away from home, a fact that tends to help SEC teams in the eyes of pollsters.

But any second loss, much less to an unranked opponent, is tough for a playoff hopeful, and it will have to play much better in matchups against Kentucky and LSU going forward to make up for it.

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