Alabama was No. 1 for the fifth week in a row Sunday and extended its streak of consecutive poll appearances to 210, the third longest in the history of The Associated Press college football poll.
The Crimson Tide were the unanimous No. 1 for the third straight week and the top seven teams were unchanged for a fifth consecutive poll.
Notre Dame was No. 2, followed by Ohio State, Clemson and Texas A&M to round out the top five. No. 6 Florida and No. 7 Cincinnati also held their spots.
Alabama’s poll appearance streak passed Florida’s run of 209 under Steve Spurrier from 1990-2002. Up next is Florida State’s streak of 211 during the Bobby Bowden era from 1989-2001. The record belongs to Nebraska at 348 from 1981-2002.
BYU was the only top-10 team to lose, falling in a thriller at Coastal Carolina on Saturday. The Cougars dropped six spots to No. 14 and the Chanticleers jumped three spots to No. 11.
No. 24 Buffalo is ranked for the first time in school history, breaking into the Top 25 this week without playing a down. The Bulls had their game at Ohio called off on Friday while on their way to Athens because the Bobcats were having COVID-19 issues.
Buffalo is the first Mid-American Conference team to be ranked this season, giving every FBS league at least one ranked team during this pandemic-altered season.
While the top seven teams in the rankings remained in a holding pattern, the back half got a shake-up with Buffalo and the Colorado Buffaloes stampeding into poll.
Marshall, Oklahoma State, Oregon and Washington all fell out. For Oklahoma State, its third loss of the season knocked the Cowboys out of the rankings for the first time this season.
The Ducks’ and Huskies’ exits left the Pac-12 with two ranked teams: No. 16 Southern California and No. 21 Colorado..
Texas A&M keeps stating its case as a College Football Playoff contender. The Aggies pulled away from Auburn 31-20 on Saturday, moving to 7-1 on the season. As such, the voters in the latest USA Today Amway Coaches Poll have decided to put A&M in their top five. More notably, the Aggies jump Florida, a team they defeated earlier in the season. The Gators, meanwhile, secured the SEC East this weekend by taking care of Tennessee and will play No. 1 Alabama in Atlanta on Dec. 19.
The top 10 in the Coaches Poll looked largely the same, though Indiana entered the top 10 after beating Wisconsin 14-6, and with the help of BYU and its close loss to Coastal Carolina. The Cougars dropped eight spots to No. 16 while the Chanticleers rose just one spot to No. 13.
Four teams dropped out of the top 25: Marshall, following a devastating shutout loss to Rice, Oklahoma State, Oregon and Washington. Replacing them are No. 20 North Carolina, No. 22 Colorado, No. 23 Texas and No. 24 NC State. Wisconsin fell six spots after its loss to the Hoosiers to round out the top 25.
