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Arizona State football sits just outside the AP Top 25 after the win

Arizona State football sits just outside the AP Top 25 after the win

After a win over then-No. 16 Utah, Arizona State football nearly made its first appearance in the Associated Press Top 25 under Kenny Dillingham.

Friday’s win knocked the Utes out of the poll, earning seven points and receiving votes, while ASU received 39 votes. Only Vanderbilt (68) and Nebraska (62) are ahead on the outside.

The Sun Devils received the second-most votes in the Coaches Poll among those who did not vote, while Utah fell to two spots behind them.

ASU is 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Big 12, with a 9 a.m. road game against Cincinnati scheduled for a chance to secure the program’s first bowl-eligible season since 2021.

The conference has three teams ranked between No. 9 Iowa State, No. 13 BYU and No. 17 Kansas State in the AP poll. The Sun Devils play Kansas State and BYU, which received no votes after a 3-3 loss to the Cougars, in the two weeks before the Territorial Cup against Arizona.

Texas Tech, responsible for the Sun Devils’ only loss to date, collected 18 votes, making them the closest Big 12 team behind the Sun Devils.

Oregon and Penn State continue to rise

Oregon and Penn State each advanced one spot with thrilling wins in high-profile games, and top-25 freshmen Navy and Army are ranked together for the first time since 1960.

Texas solidified its position at No. 1 with its 31-point win over Oklahoma. The Longhorns received 56 of 62 first-place votes, four more than last week and the most since they were unanimously No. 1 in October 2008.

Oregon’s 32-31 home win over Ohio State featured seven lead changes and moved the Ducks to No. 2 with the other six first-place votes. It’s their highest finish since they finished the 2014 season at No. 2 after finishing in the lost to the Buckeyes in the first College Football Playoff championship game.

Penn State rose to No. 3 with a 33-30 overtime win at Southern California, the Nittany Lions’ highest ranking in seven years.

Penn State-USC was one of four games involving AP Top 25 teams that went to OT on Saturday, including three in the top 10.

Ohio State fell two spots to No. 4 and Georgia remained at No. 5. Miami, Alabama, LSU, Iowa State and Clemson rounded out the top 10.

Army, which beat UAB 44-10, and Navy, which did nothing, managed to finish in the rankings at the same time for the first time since October 3, 1960.

Their simultaneous appearance this season only lasted a week. Army was 3-0 and ranked 18th before losing two straight games to finish 6-3-1. Navy had entered the rankings a week earlier at No. 17 and finished the season at 9-2 and No. 4.

Army (6-0) and Navy (5-0) have not each been undefeated at this point in a season since 1945, weeks after the end of World War II and during the era when military academies were the sport’s powerhouses.

  1. Texas (56)
  2. Oregon (6)
  3. Penn State
  4. Ohio State
  5. Georgia
  6. Miami
  7. Alabama
  8. LSU
  9. Iowa State
  10. Clemson
  11. Tennessee
  12. Notre Dame
  13. BYU
  14. Texas A&M
  15. Boise State
  16. Indiana
  17. Kansas State
  18. Ole Miss
  19. Missouri
  20. Pittsburgh
  21. SMU
  22. Illinois
  23. army
  24. Michigan
  25. marine

Others received votes: Vanderbilt (68), Nebraska (62), Arizona State (39), Oklahoma (36), Washington State (32), Iowa (29), Texas Tech (18), Syracuse (13), Arkansas (13 ). ), Utah (7), Louisville (6), USC (5), Liberty (2), UNLV (1).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.