Ohio State, Georgia tied at No. 3 in AP Top 25

Ohio State and Georgia are tied at No. 3 in The Associated Press college football poll, and Florida surged to No. 7 after a big victory.

No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Clemson held their spots Sunday after a week off for both, but the Buckeyes caught up to the Bulldogs in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank. The Crimson Tide received 32 first-place votes and 1,503 points, and the Tigers had 15 first-place votes and 1,433 points. Georgia got three first-place votes and 1,393 points. Ohio State, which was fourth last week, received 10 first-place votes and 1,393 points.

The last time there was a tie in the top three was Sept. 20, 2015, when TCU and Mississippi shared third.

No. 5 LSU received two first-place votes. Oklahoma stayed No. 6.

Florida moved up three spots after beating Auburn on Saturday. The Tigers slipped five to No. 12.

Poll points

No. 22 Baylor is ranked for the first time since 2016, the season following the offseason firing of coach Art Briles. The school fired Briles amid the university’s failures in its handling of sexual assault cases. An investigation led to the president of the university and athletic director also losing their jobs.

The Bears started the ’16 season ranked under interim coach Jim Grobe and rose all the way to No. 8 in the country with a 6-0 start. They then lost their last six regular-season games and the program descended even further from there. After the 2016 regular season, Matt Rhule was hired away from Temple, where he had taken a typically downtrodden team and won double-digit games in each of his final two seasons. With no Texas connections, the former Penn State player and NFL assistant seemed like an odd fit in Waco, Texas.

With a depleted roster, Baylor went 1-11 in 2017. The Bears improved to 7-6 with a bowl victory last year and are now 5-0 to start this season, including a convincing victory at Kansas State on Saturday.

Baylor returns home this week to face Texas Tech.

In/out

The American Athletic Conference lost one team in the ranking but gained two.

Central Florida is unranked for the first time since the Knights moved into the Top 25 on Oct. 1, 2017. UCF saw its 19-game conference winning streak snapped by Cincinnati on Friday night. The 25th-ranked Bearcats were rewarded with their first ranking of the season. No. 23 Memphis also is ranked for the first time this season.

Sliding out of the ranking after losing for the second time this season along with UCF were Washington, Oklahoma State and Michigan State (which was tied for 25th).

Conference call

For the fifth straight week, the SEC has three top-five teams.

SEC — 66 (Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 12, 24).

Big Ten — 5 (Nos. 3, 8, 10, 16, 17).

American — 3 (Nos. 21, 23, 25).

ACC — 3 (Nos. 2, 19, 20).

Big 12 — 3 (Nos. 6, 11, 22).

Pac-12 — 3 (Nos. 13, 15, 18).

Mountain West — 1 (No. 14).

Independent — 1 (No. 9).

Ranked vs. ranked

No. 1 Alabama at No. 24 Texas A&M. The Aggies will face the top-ranked team for the second time this season, which has happened 28 times previously (including postseason games). The last team to do it during in the regular season was Tennessee in 2009, when it lost to both Florida and Alabama.

No. 7 Florida at No. 5 LSU. The Gators will play in consecutive top-10 matchups.

No. 11 Texas vs. No. 6 Oklahoma. Red River is cool again.

No. 10 Penn State at No. 17 Iowa. The Hawkeyes often give ranked teams a hard time at Kinnick Stadium under the lights.

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