USC joins AP top four; Michigan up to No. 2 behind top-ranked Georgia

Michigan moved up to No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday, with TCU at No. 3 and USC at No. 4 behind top-ranked Georgia after four top-10 teams lost on the final day of regular-season games.

The Bulldogs (12-0) are No. 1 for the eighth straight week and 11th time this season. Georgia received 58 first-place votes, and Michigan received the other five.

The Wolverines (12-0) reached a season-high No. 2 after beating Ohio State, which dropped the Buckeyes three spots to No. 5.

TCU (12-0) has its highest ranking since reaching No. 2 in the 2015 season, and USC has its best ranking this late in the season since finishing the 2016 season at No. 3.

Other top-10 teams to fall were LSU, Clemson and Oregon. LSU’s loss to Texas A&M dropped the Tigers five spots to No. 11. Clemson’s loss to South Carolina sent it falling three spots to No. 10. The Ducks’ fourth-quarter collapse against Oregon State cost Oregon a spot in the Pac-12 title game and five spots in the poll, where it fell to No. 15.

Alabama was No. 6, just ahead of Tennessee, which beat the Crimson Tide on a last-second field goal at home earlier this season.

No. 8 Penn State and No. 9 Washington both have their best rankings of the season. The Huskies haven’t been in the top 10 since the 2018 season, when they peaked at No. 6.

POLL POINTS

This was the eighth regular-season week since 2017 in which four top-10 teams lost, including the second this season. Three of those weeks occurred in 2017.

The last time five or more top-10 teams lost in the same regular-season week was 2016.

IN

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