Ohio State remains No. 3 in AP Top 25 college football poll after bye week

03.11.2019 22:06

NBC4i.com

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Ohio State remains No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 college football poll after a bye week.

With nine ranked teams off this weekend, including four of the top five, there was little movement throughout the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank. LSU is No. 1 for a second consecutive week and Alabama is No. 2.

The Tigers and Crimson Tide on Saturday will play the first regular-season 1-2 game since the same two did it in 2011.

Navy joins fellow AAC members No. 17 Cincinnati, No. 19 Memphis and No. 23 SMU in the Top 25. Four ranked teams matches a high for the 7-year-old American, which was born from the collapse of the Big East.

Ohio State is No. 3 as the margin among the top three teams widened a bit after last week’s historically close vote.

The first-place vote distribution stayed the same.

The Tigers received 1,479 points and 17 first-place votes, Alabama had 1,472 points and 21 first places, and Ohio State got 1,467 points and 17 firsts. No. 4 Clemson received the other seven first-place votes and Penn State remained No. 5.

Georgia jumped two spots to No. 6 after beating Florida in the weekend’s biggest game. The Gators slipped four spots to No. 10.

The Buckeyes were off this coming weekend, after their 38-7 win against the Badgers, at the Shoe last weekend.

Chase Young and Buckeyes’ defense held Jonathan Taylor, the No. 3 rusher in the nation, to 52 yards and only allowed 83 total rushing yards.

Young tied a school record recording four sacks while also forcing two fumbles.

Running back J.K. Dobbins rushed for 163 yards against a Wisconsin defense that had limited opponents to 58.4 yards per game. He had 112 of those yards and scoring runs of 9 and 14 yards in the second half after the rain let up some.

The Buckeye’s next game comes against Maryland, noon, November 9 at Ohio Stadium.

POLL POINTS

The first College Football Playoff selection committee rankings come out Tuesday night.

Since the selection committee started ranking teams around this point in the season, only last year did it have the same four teams in the top as the AP poll that was released two days earlier. And never has the first CFP rankings’ first four matched the preceding AP top four.

Top fours in order:

2014

AP: Mississippi State, Florida State, Alabama, Auburn

CFP: Mississippi State, Auburn, Florida State, Mississippi

2015

AP: Ohio State, Baylor, Clemson, LSU

CFP: Clemson, LSU, Ohio State, Alabama

2016

AP: Alabama, Michigan, Clemson, Washington

CFP: Alabama, Clemson, Michigan, Texas A&M

2017

AP: Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Wisconsin

CFP: Georgia, Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson

2018

AP: Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, LSU

CFP: Alabama, Clemson, LSU, Notre Dame

OUT

Appalachian State was the only team to fall out of the rankings this week. The Sun Belt Conference’s lone representative lost for the first time this season, falling at home to Georgia Southern on Thursday.

CONFERENCE CALL

The American also had four ranked teams on Nov. 8, 2015 (Houston, Temple, Navy, Memphis). The Midshipmen are ranked for the first time since 2017 and already have more than doubled their win total from last season’s disappointing 3-9 finish.

Big Ten — 6 (Nos. 3, 5, 13, 14, 16, 19)

SEC — 5 (Nos. 1, 2, 6, 10, 12)

American — 4 (Nos. 17, 19, 23, 25)

Big 12 — 3 (Nos. 9, 11, 20)

ACC — 2 (Nos. 4, 22)

Pac-12 — 2 (Nos. 7, 8)

Mountain West — 2 (Nos. 21, 24)

Independent — 1 (No. 15)

RANKED vs. RANKED

No. 1 LSU at No. 2 Alabama. A playoff eliminator? Or is this just for seeding?

No. 5 Penn State at No. 13 Minnesota. Coach P.J. Fleck’s unbeaten Gophers could row the boat right into playoff contention.

No. 19 Iowa at No. 18 Wisconsin. Huge game in the Big Ten West.