Missouri hasn’t allowed a point in its two games this season and has moved up to No. 6 in The Associated Press college football poll that was released Sunday. That’s their highest ranking entering Week 3 since 2008, when they also were sixth.
MU rose three slots from last week, as the Tigers have passed Oregon (fell from No. 7 to No. 9 after barely beating Boise State), Penn State (stayed at No. 8 following a close game with Bowling Green) and Notre Dame (dropped from No. 5 to 18th after losing at home to Northern Illinois).
The poll surveys media members. The Tigers are No. 8 this week in the USA Today rankings, which are voted on by coaches.
MU is one of six Southeastern Conference teams to be ranked in the Associated Press’ top seven this week — a first in the 88-year history of the AP poll.
Georgia received 54 out of a possible 63 first-place votes to keep a firm hold on No. 1. No. 2 Texas jumped a spot after dominating defending national champion Michigan on the road and received four first-place votes. The Longhorns have their best ranking since finishing second in 2009.
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The Wolverines were down to No. 17.
No. 3 Ohio State from the Big Ten Conference slipped a spot. Then it was four more SEC teams. Alabama held steady at No. 4 and Mississippi moved up a spot to No. 5. Next is Missouri followed by Tennessee, which made a big jump from No. 14 to No. 7 after routing North Carolina State in Charlotte.
With the SEC bigger (16 teams) — and seemingly better — than ever given the additions of Texas and Oklahoma, the circumstances were right for an early season takeover like never before.
Not only are six of the top seven teams from one conference a record for a poll, but never before had a single league held as many as five of the top seven places.
Those teams will start playing each other in the coming weeks so it is unlikely the SEC can keep this up, but it’s a stark example of what’s possible in the superconference era.
Especially after the first huge upset of the college football season. Notre Dame’s 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois marked the first time a top-five team lost to an unranked team since the 2022 season, when Purdue knocked off then-No. 2 Iowa on Nov. 5, 2022.
The Huskies’ victory, the first top-five win for a Mid-American Conference team in league history, landed Northern Illinois at No. 25 in the rankings. NIU is ranked for the first time since 2013 and is the first team from non-Power Four conference to be ranked this season.
Rounding out the top 10 were No. 8 Penn State and No. 9 Oregon of the Big Ten and No. 10 Miami. The Ducks slipped two spots after a wild, comeback victory against Boise State.
Poll points
Northern Illinois is one of four teams to move into the rankings this week for the first time this season, a group that also includes Nebraska at No. 23.
The Cornhuskers are ranked for the first time since 2019 after easily handling Colorado at home. That was a brief stay. After starting that season ranked No. 24, the Huskers lost in Week 2, fell out the rankings and had been gone ever since.
The last sustained season in the rankings for Nebraska was 2016, though even that season ended with the Huskers unranked. They have not finished a season ranked since 2012. That’s what second-year coach Matt Rhule and freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola are aiming for.
Just a reminder: Nebraska still owns the record for the longest streak of poll appearances with 348 under coach Tom Osborne from 1981-2002. The second-best streak is Alabama’s active 264 straight weeks ranked.
In and out
The turnover came from the bottom of the rankings, where Kansas, Iowa, Georgia Tech and North Carolina State all fell out after losses.
No. 21 Iowa State essentially switched places with its Cy-Hawk rivals by beating Iowa.
Last week, Georgia Tech made its first appearance in the AP Top 25 since 2015, snapping one of the longest active droughts among power conference teams. The Yellow Jackets lasted only a week after losing at Syracuse, but another Atlantic Coast Conference team snapped its own lengthy drought.
No. 24 Boston College is ranked for the first time since 2018.
Ranked vs. ranked
No. 20 Arizona at No. 14 Kansas State, Thursday. A Big 12 game that’s not actually a Big 12 game. This is a nonconference matchup that already was set before realignment.
No. 24 Boston College at No. 6 Missouri, Saturday. An unexpectedly ranked ACC-SEC matchup.