College Football Rankings: AP Top 25 Teams Moving Up, Down in Week 10

Halloween provided its fair share of tricks and treats for college football contenders as the final action in October kicked off around the country. Once again, AP top 25 pollsters are faced with some consequential decisions when voting on the new rankings.

While there won’t be any change at the No. 1 position this time, a surprise top-five loss will redefine expectations for one preseason national championship favorite.

Rankings reflect AP top 25 poll

Moving down: Ohio State

College Football Rankings: AP Top 25 Teams Moving Up, Down in Week 10 — USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Last week’s ranking: No. 2

All the talk around the Buckeyes this week was naturally around the quarterback position. Julian Sayin’s injury paved the way for true freshman Luke Fahey to get the start, but if anything, he was hardly the one to blame for a surprise loss at USC.

You could argue that Ohio State wouldn’t have defeated the Trojans even with Sayin on the field. This time, it was a pretty good defense that couldn’t do its job.

Missed tackles, uncharacteristic penalties, special teams flubs, and dropped passes all eventually conspired to give the Buckeyes a costly second loss. Still, the offense also failed in the clutch: despite out-gaining Southern Cal 464-338, they simply couldn’t finish drives when they had to.

Fahey wasn’t supposed to be perfect in his first start, but he needed the rest of this roster to help him out and play their usual game. They didn’t. Ohio State now faces a fall potentially out of the top five going into a home tilt against a suddenly resurgent Oregon.

Moving up: Georgia

Last week’s ranking: No. 3

Coming out of the loss to Auburn that cost the Bulldogs their No. 1 ranking two weeks ago, they got back on track with a dominant win over rival Florida, but still have some questions that need answered. Particularly around their ability to move the ball in the air.

Able to lean on the ground offense and especially their defensive front this time, Georgia still struggled in the pass game. That’s not ideal against a Florida secondary that ranks as the SEC’s third worst and places 126th among 138 FBS teams in defensive passing success rate.

The reigning SEC champs will move up again with Ohio State’s loss, but need answers against a future schedule that features some solid quarterback play. Georgia goes to Ole Miss next week, and matchups against Missouri and South Carolina follow.

Moving down: Florida

Last week’s ranking: No. 17

Sitting with those two ugly losses to South Carolina and Missouri, the Gators needed to be on their best behavior against rival Georgia. They weren’t.

Any credible path to an upset relied on Florida running the ball with authority, but Jadan Baugh finished with just 38 yards on 11 carries. Issues blocking for the ground game extended to pass protection, as the line surrendered 11 tackles for loss.

Tramell Jones entered the game at quarterback after Aaron Philo’s early struggles, and should remain the QB1 going forward. He had two turnovers, but also led Florida’s only touchdown drive, and combines impressive accuracy with decent running ability.

That won’t put the Gators back in any realistic College Football Playoff conversation after a third loss. Nor will it stop AP voters from likely dropping them out of the rankings entirely this week.

Moving up: Texas Tech

Last week’s ranking: No. 13

With their backs against the wall and facing a potential second-straight loss after getting dunked on at Cincinnati last week, the Red Raiders needed a statement against Arizona.

Mission, accomplished. The reigning Big 12 champs came out swinging after surrendering a halftime deficit to eventually put away ranked conference insurgent Arizona, no less than saving their entire season and College Football Playoff ambitions.

The matchup illustrated once again why Texas Tech can be so hard to beat consistently. They dominated in the trenches, pushing bodies to open up the run game for over 300 yards, and generated consistent pressure up the middle to eventually ground Arizona’s very real aerial passing threat. That’s a recipe for postseason success.

Moving down: Arizona

Last week’s ranking: No. 22

Entering this week in a three-way tie for second-place in the Big 12 and with a golden opportunity to propel themselves into playoff contention, the Wildcats… didn’t.

For a time they did. Arizona built a 17-10 lead at Texas Tech going into halftime. Fifita put up over 400 yards passing, but only scored 1 touchdown, and Arizona ran for 12 net yards on the day. The Wildcats surrendered 24 second-half points while scoring just 9.

Fifita had two scoring chances in the final frame, the first resulting in a turnover on downs and the other a punt. Tech responded with a 64-yard TD run to ice it and drop Arizona to 3-2 in Big 12 play.

Moving down: Wisconsin

Last week’s ranking: No. 25

So long, Badgers. After one blissful week in the rankings following a big win over USC, pollsters will drop them right back out after a dismal showing in a 30-0 loss at Iowa.

Make no mistake: Luke Fickell’s team has made important improvements this season when his job was on the line. Unfortunately, none of them were evident against Iowa’s defense on the road.

The Hawkeyes put Wisconsin in a blender. No points, 3 turnovers, 235 total yards, 52 rushing yards, 4 of 13 on third down. Their longest drive, 86 yards, resulted in a turnover on downs. No other Badger drive covered more than 21 yards.

Most of those 125 votes from the AP ballot will vanish, along with much of the goodwill around Fickell, this week, probably in favor of Iowa, which effectively ranked 26th a week ago with 76 points and could get back in the rankings this week with this dominant win.

Moving down: SMU

Last week’s ranking: No. 19

One of the few College Football Playoff hopefuls from the ACC effectively played themselves out of that talk with a stunning 30-27 upset loss at Syracuse.

Give credit to the Orange. They engineered a confident 68-yard touchdown drive to eat up much of the fourth quarter, and put the Mustangs in disaster territory as a result, almost certainly out of the playoff conversation with this loss.

It creates a problem for the ACC and its ambition to put multiple teams in the national championship field. SMU’s game against Wake in a couple weeks was supposed to be a play-in for the conference title. Now, not so much.

Even Notre Dame took a hit with the Mustangs’ loss. They were hoping to use a win against a ranked SMU to build up their playoff bona fides. Not anymore.

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