Johnathan Walker:AP Top 25: No. 5 Tennessee continues to climb and Boise State enters poll for first time since 2020

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Tennessee moved up to No. 5 in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday as the Volunteers continued to surge up the rankings, and No. 25 Boise State returned to the AP Top 25 for the first time in four years.

Texas was No. 1 for the second straight week, receiving 44 of 62 first-place votes as the top four teams remained the same. The Longhorns won a game as the top-ranked team in the country for the first time since 2008, cruising past Louisiana-Monroe in quarterback Arch Manning’s first career start.

Georgia held at No. 2, receiving 13 first-place votes, and Ohio State is No. 3 with five first-place votes. Alabama is No. 4.

The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide were each off this past weekend as they prepare to meet next Saturday in Tuscaloosa for a top-five matchup.

The Volunteers welcomed Oklahoma to the Southeastern Conference with a 25-15 road victory that helped Tennessee rise in the rankings for the fourth straight week. The Vols started the season ranked No. 15, then went to No. 14 after Week 1, No. 7 after Week 2 and No. 6 last week.

Tennessee was last in the top five in 2022, peaking at No. 2 on Oct. 30.

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Mississippi slipped a spot to No. 6 and No. 7 Miami, No. 8 Oregon and No. 9 Penn State all moved up one place.

No. 10 Utah moved up two spots after beating Oklahoma State on the road in a matchup of ranked Big 12 teams.

Boise State is making its first poll appearance since a two-week stay in early November 2020. The Broncos, two weeks removed from losing at Oregon on a last-second field goal, improved to 2-1 with a blowout of Portland State on Saturday.

Poll points

The SEC’s stranglehold on the top of the rankings loosened a little, with Missouri’s overtime victory against Vanderbilt dropping the Tigers four spots to No. 11. The conference still reached another milestone.

The SEC had gone two straight weeks holding down six of the top seven spots in the rankings, a first for one league in poll history. No conference previously even held five of the top seven spots, which the now 16-team SEC still has this week.

With Missouri slipping, the SEC still holds five of the top six spots, and it’s on a three-week streak of owning four of the top five. That streak is another AP poll first.

The only other time in the 88-year history of the poll that a conference had four of the top five ranked teams was the SEC on Oct. 19, 2014 (No. 1 Mississippi State, No. 3 Mississippi, No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Auburn). That lasted a week.

In-and-out

Boise State’s absence from the AP rankings had been notable after the Broncos became a poll fixture for nearly two decades.

Boise State went 19 straight seasons making at least one appearance in the AP Top 25, from its first-ever appearance in 2002 to 2020. The Broncos finished the season ranked 13 times during that span.

No. 22 BYU also made its season debut in the rankings. The Cougars (4-0) are in for the first time since Oct. 2, 2022, after routing Kansas State at home Saturday night. The loss dropped the previously unbeaten Wildcats 10 spots to No. 23.

Exiting the rankings this week after brief stays and their first losses of the season were Nebraska and Northern Illinois.

The Cornhuskers fell in overtime to Illinois, a victory that helped the Illini move up five spots to No. 19.

NIU, which had not played since upsetting Notre Dame two weeks ago, lost in overtime to Buffalo in a Mid-American Conference game.

Conference call

SEC — 9 (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 11, 14, 21, 24).

Big Ten — 6 (Nos. 3, 8, 9, 12, 13, 19).

Big 12 — 5 (Nos. 10, 18, 20, 22, 23).

ACC — 3 (Nos. 7, 15, 17).

Mountain West — 1 (No. 25).

Independent — 1 (No. 16).

Ranked vs. Ranked

—No. 2 Georgia at No. 4 Alabama. Bulldogs and Tide played eight times between 2012-23 but only twice in regular-season meetings on each other’s home field. The other six were two national title games and four SEC championships.

—No. 19 Illinois at No. 9 Penn State. Last time the Big Ten rivals met as ranked teams was 2008.

—No. 20 Oklahoma State at No. 23 Kansas State. Second straight game against a ranked Big 12 opponent for the Cowboys. Only third time in 68 meetings both are ranked.

—No. 15 Louisville at No. 16 Notre Dame. Second straight season the Cardinals-Fighting Irish is a ranked matchup.

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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP

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