Week 3's results have provided some opportunity for movement in the new AP Top 25 college football rankings, and Penn State was ready to take advantage after an impressive win at Auburn on Saturday. The Nittany Lions were methodical early and explosive late in a 41-12 rout of the Tigers, and the AP Top 25 voters took note and have James Franklin's squad up eight spots to No. 12 in the latest poll.
Georgia remained No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll after its thorough dismantling of South Carolina, followed by Alabama, Ohio State and Michigan all holding their spots following equally lopsided results. In fact the entire top 10 remained the same with every team in its same position from last week except for Kentucky (No. 9 to No. 8) and Oklahoma State (No. 8 to No. 9) swapping spots.
The Nittany Lions move to No. 14 now has them positioned as the third-highest ranked team from the Big Ten, a note that also impacted by Michigan State's fall from No. 11 to unranked after losing 39-28 at Washington. In terms of ranking movement that result did more for the Huskies, who did not have a single voting point in last week's balloting but makes their 2022 AP Top 25 debut at No. 18 after the win. The Pac-12 picked up another impressive non-conference win with Oregon's 41-20 win against BYU, and that victory shot the Ducks up 10 spots to No. 15 and sent the Cougars down seven spots from No. 12 to No. 19.
Other notable movers in the AP poll were No. 11 Tennessee, No. 12 NC State and No. 16 Ole Miss, all teams who moved up four spots thanks to some of the shake-up inside the top 20. Part of that shake-up was a dramatic 12-spot fall for Miami down to No. 25 following its road defeat at the hands of Texas A&M.
Let's check out the full top 25 from the AP voters (first-place votes in parenthesis):
Week 3 AP Top 25 poll
1. Georgia (59)
2. Alabama (3)
3. Ohio State (1)
4. Michigan
5. Clemson
6. Oklahoma
7. USC
8. Kentucky
9. Oklahoma State
10. Arkansas
11. Tennessee
12. NC State
13. Utah
14. Penn State
15. Oregon
16. Ole Miss
17. Baylor
18. Washington
19. BYU
20. Florida
21. Wake Forest
22. Texas
23. Texas A&M
24. Pitt
25. Miami
Also receiving votes: Michigan State 91, Florida State 85, Appalachian State 77, North Carolina 72, Washington State 62, Cincinnati 52, Oregon State 49, Minnesota 48, Kansas 23, Syracuse 7, LSU 6, Wisconsin 4
