AP Top 25: Rivalry week with ranked matchups

Intense and tradition-rich rivalries are fun no matter the stakes. They get even juicer when both teams are ranked.

This year rivalry week includes five matchups of ranked teams, though one of them is Cincinnati at Memphis, which is definitely a big game in the American Athletic Conference, but doesn’t really qualify as a big rivalry.

Here are the ones that do:

No. 2 Ohio State at No. 10 Michigan

The Game has been a lot more interesting since coach Jim Harbaugh’s arrival at Michigan five years ago, even though he has not won one yet. This is the fourth time the Buckeyes and Wolverines are both ranked. Only once in the seven years pre-Harbaugh were both ranked. Ohio State is 21-20-4 when both teams are ranked, including seven straight victories. The Buckeyes are 11-9-2 when both are in the top 10, including the last three.

No. 5 Alabama at No. 16 Auburn

The Iron Bowl will match ranked teams for the third time in the last four years and fifth time in the last seven. Auburn leads the series 13-9 when both are ranked, including 3-2 since Nick Saban has been at Alabama.

No. 7 Oklahoma at No. 21 Oklahoma State

This is the best era of Bedlam. Saturday’s matchup will be the fourth time in last five years that both teams are ranked and the ninth time since 2008. There have been only 16 ranked matchups out of 105 games in the series, with the Sooners going 15-1.

No. 13 Wisconsin at No. 9 Minnesota

The Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe will be a ranked vs ranked game for just the seventh time 127 meetings, and first time since 2014. The Badgers are 6-0 when both teams are ranked.

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No. 2 Ohio State gained some ground on No. 1 LSU in The Associated Press college football poll and Oregon dropped out of the top 10 after being upset by Arizona State.

The Tigers remained No. 1 for the fifth straight week in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank, receiving 50 first-places votes. The Buckeyes got nine first-place votes, up from five last week. No. 3 Clemson received three first-place votes. No. 4 Georgia and No. 5 Alabama also held their spots.

Ohio State is coming off a 28-17 victory over Penn State that dropped the Nittany Lions three spots to No. 12.

Oregon dropped eight spots to No. 14 after losing 31-28 at Arizona State. That allowed Utah to move up a spot to No. 6 and Oklahoma to No. 7. Florida, Minnesota and Michigan round out the top 10.

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POLL POINTS

Alabama has now been ranked for 209 consecutive weeks, starting with the 2008 preseason poll, tying Florida (Sept. 9, 1990-Oct. 5, 2002) for the third-longest streak in poll history. Nebraska has the longest streak at 348 weeks (21 years, Oct. 12, 1981-Sept. 22, 2002) and Florida State is second with 211 weeks (12 years, Sept. 24, 1989-Nov. 11, 2001).

The Tide should tie Bobby Bowden’s Seminoles this season and surpass them in next year’s preseason poll. There are typically 16 polls in a season, counting preseason and final. At that rate, Alabama would pass the record Nebraska set under coach Tom Osborne in Week 5 of the 2029 season.

FYI, Nick Saban would be about a month shy of his 78th birthday.

IN

— No. 24 Navy jumped into the rankings, knocking out American Athletic Conference rival SMU.

— No. 25 Southern California finished its regular season by beating rival UCLA and jumping back into the rankings. The Trojans have had two previous one-week stays in the poll this season.

OUT

— Texas A&M fell out after a brief return to the AP Top 25. The Aggies lost for the fourth time, this time to Georgia. All of A&M’s losses have come against teams ranked in the current top 16. It gets no easier for the Aggies next week. They will face No. 1 LSU and become the first team in the history of the AP poll, which dates to 1936, to face a No. 1 three times in one season. Playing the No. 1 team twice in one season has happened 30 times previously, and that’s including seven teams that played one of those games in the postseason.

Texas A&M lost to No. 1 Clemson 24-10 in September and to No. 1 Alabama 47-28 in October.

CONFERNCE CALL

Big Ten — 6 (Nos. 2, 9, 10, 12, 13, 19).

SEC — 5 (Nos. 1, 4, 5, 8, 16).

American — 3 (Nos. 17, 18, 24).

Big 12 — 3 (Nos. 7, 11, 21).

Pac 12 — 3 (Nos. 6, 14, 25).

ACC — 2 (Nos. 3, 23).

Mountain West — 1 (No. 20).

Sun Belt — 1 (No. 22).

Independent — 1 (No. 15).

AP TOP 25

RANK		TEAM	PV RANK	POINTS
1		LSU (11-0)	1	1,537
2		Ohio State (11-0)	2	1,486
3		Clemson (11-0)	3	1,440

4.		Georgia (10-1)	4.	1,347
5		Alabama (10-1)	5	1,283
6		Utah (10-1)	7	1,231
7		Oklahoma (10-1)	8	1,189
8		Florida (9-2)	10	1,058

9		Minnesota (10-1)	11.	996
10.		Michigan (9-2)	12	913
11		Baylor (10-1)	13	910
12		Penn State (9-2)	9	903
13		Wisconsin (9-2)	14	791
14		Oregon (9-2)	6	784
15		Notre Dame (9-2)	15	701
16		Auburn (8-3)	16	635
17		Memphis (10-1)	18	535
18		Cincinnati (10-1)	17

19		Iowa (8-3)	19.	510
20		Boise State (10-1)	20	410
21		Oklahoma State (8-3)	22	266
22		Appalachian State (10-1)	23	206
23		Virginia Tech (8-3)	25	147
24		Navy (8-2)		99
25		USC (8-4)		79