AP Top 25: Utah falls in latest media poll despite dominant performance
With Alabama losing for a second time and Clemson dropping its first game of the season, you wondered how far the two heavyweights would tumble in the latest media poll — and who they’d force to drop along with them.
That answer was Utah.
LSU jumped from 15th to seventh in the new AP Top 25, released Sunday. That leap came after beating Alabama 32-31 in overtime, and it forced the Crimson Tide down to 10th in the poll. Clemson, which was handled by previously-unranked Notre Dame 35-14, tumbled from No. 5 to No. 12.
Utah’s previous spot.
The Utes now sit at No. 13 in the latest AP Top 25, down one spot even after a dominant win over Arizona in putrid conditions Saturday night.
13 in the AP Poll pic.twitter.com/kb52vct5qM
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) November 6, 2022
Saturday saw the return of quarterback Cameron Rising to the lineup and the re-emergence of a patented overpowering run game. In strong rain and wind, Utah ran for 313 yards (adjusted for sacks) and five scores against Arizona.
Ja’Quinden Jackson had 97 yards and a score on 13 carries. Jaylon Glover had 69 yards on eight carries. Micah Bernard reasserted himself with 48 yards on 12 carries. And Tavion Thomas returned to the field to give the Utes 38 yards on eight carries.
The Utes face Stanford on Saturday at 7 p.m. PT on ESPN. It’ll be one last tune-up before Utah (7-2, 5-1 Pac-12) heads north to battle No. 6 Oregon in Autzen Stadium on Nov. 19.
The rest of the AP Top 25 can be seen below (first-place votes are in parenthesis). The Pac-12 has five ranked teams once again, with Washington swapping spots with Oregon State.
- Georgia (62)
- Ohio State (1)
- Michigan
- TCU
- Tennessee
- Oregon
- LSU
- USC
- UCLA
- Alabama
- Ole Miss
- Clemson
- Utah
- Penn State
- North Carolina
- Tulane
- NC State
- Texas
- Liberty
- Notre Dame
- Illinois
- UCF
- Kansas State
- Washington
- Florida State
Receiving votes: Cincinnati 74, Kentucky 61, Coastal Carolina 46, Wake Forest 34, Oklahoma State 21, Baylor 19, Kansas 10, Mississippi State 8, South Carolina 6, Troy 5, UTSA 5, Louisville 3, Oregon State 3, San Jose State 1