Indiana moved up to No. 3 in the latest AP Top 25 college football poll released on Sunday, the highest ranking in program history. It comes one day after the Hoosiers beat Oregon 30-20 for their first-ever top-five road win, which also earned them three first-place votes. The Ducks fell five spots to No. 8.

Ohio State remained No. 1 after beating Illinois, receiving 50 first-place votes, ahead of No. 2 Miami, which got 13 first-place votes after an idle week. Texas A&M and Ole Miss round out the top five behind Indiana, followed by Alabama, Texas Tech, Oregon, Georgia and LSU in the rest of the top 10. No. 7 is Texas Tech’s highest ranking since 2008.

Indiana did not appear in the AP poll at all from 1995 until its rise to the top 10 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. After three subsequent losing seasons from 2021-23, Tom Allen was replaced by coach Curt Cignetti, who immediately guided the Hoosiers to the College Football Playoff and their first top-10 finish since 1967. Now, Indiana has broken into the top three for the first time. The Hoosiers previously reached highs of No. 4 in 1945 and 1967.

Elsewhere, preseason No.1 Texas moved back into the poll at No. 21 after its rivalry win over Oklahoma, which fell from No. 6 to No. 14.

AP Top 25 after Week 7

Rank

  

Team

  

Ralph’s vote

  

Record

  

Prev

  

1

1

6-0

1

2

2

5-0

2

3

5

6-0

7

4

3

6-0

5

5

7

6-0

4

6

4

5-1

8

7

6

6-0

9

8

10

5-1

3

9

8

5-1

10

10

12

5-1

11

11

9

5-1

12

12

13

6-0

13

13

15

4-2

16

14

11

5-1

6

15

20

6-0

18

16

14

5-1

14

17

22

5-1

20

18

23

5-1

19

19

16

5-1

24

20

17

5-1

NR

21

24

4-2

NR

22

25

6-0

23

23

21

5-1

NR

24

19

5-1

NR

25

18

5-1

NR

Others receiving votes: Illinois 113, Michigan 73, Washington 36, UNLV 30, Navy 11, Mississippi State 8, Tulane 2, San Diego State 2

Also considered by Ralph: Washington, UNLV, Louisville

How I voted

It is becoming apparent that two particular results from the first half of the season are going to be problematic for voters — depending upon just how much they want to cling to them.

At this point I’m treating Florida State’s victory over Alabama as an outlier and Oregon’s overtime victory at Penn State somewhat similarly.

Clearly, neither Alabama nor Florida State truly revealed itself in Week 1 in Tallahassee. The Seminoles have now lost three straight ACC games and are off my ballot.

I had cut them some slack after an OT loss at Virginia and getting thumped by Miami. Losing to Pitt at home was the breaking point — though, frankly, the Panthers look like a new team since inserting Mason Heintschel at quarterback.

Alabama has played as well as any team in the country since Week 1. The loss to FSU is going to put a cap on the Tide. I had Bama at No. 4 ahead of a few undefeated teams. Surely, that will rub some the wrong way, but the Tide have now beaten three teams that haven’t lost to anyone else in Georgia, Vanderbilt and Missouri.

As for that Oregon-Penn State game, the Nittany Lions have full-on collapsed since Drew Allar’s OT interception gave the Ducks what looked like an impressive victory.

Downgrading Penn State should also ding Oregon. Especially after the Ducks lost at home to Indiana.

What’s going on at Penn State feels unprecedented. None of it really makes sense. When Florida State fell apart in 2024 after going undefeated in the regular season in 2023, almost all of the best players from the CFP contender were gone. It was a very different team. That’s not the case with Penn State. Yes, the Nittany Lions had to replace two top-15 NFL Draft picks, but otherwise the majority of the team that went 13-3 returned. Now they’ve lost consecutive games to UCLA and Northwestern.

And they fired coach James Franklin on Sunday

It’s hard to get your head around it. It feels as if the Oregon game pushed Penn State off a ledge and it can’t stop falling.

I can’t argue that what the Ducks did in Happy Valley should be viewed exactly as it was that night. But I also can’t help but think that the Ducks got the best of Penn State and played a large part in breaking the Nittany Lions.

I have Oregon No. 10 after losing a competitive game to Indiana. It seemed a little high, but so did all the alternatives.

In and out

Previous No. 15 Michigan (lost to USC), No. 17 Illinois (lost to Ohio State), No. 21 Arizona State (lost to Utah), No. 22 Iowa State (lost to Colorado) and No. 25 Florida State (lost to Pitt) all fell out of the Top 25.

Replacing them in the poll are No. 20 USC, No. 21 Texas, No. 23 Utah, No. 24 Cincinnati and No. 25 Nebraska.

What’s next

Week 8 will feature five matchups of ranked teams:

No. 5 Ole Miss at No. 9 Georgia. The unbeaten Rebels had a close call on Saturday against Washington State and now host Georgia — who they upset last year — in the first top-10 matchup in Oxford since 2014.

No. 11 Tennessee at No. 6 Alabama. The Vols have won two of the past three in the series but haven’t won in Tuscaloosa since 2003.

No. 20 USC at No. 13 Notre Dame. This is the 36th ranked matchup in the storied rivalry, third-most behind Michigan-Ohio State (49) and Oklahoma-Texas (44).

No. 23 Utah at No. 15 BYU. Both teams are ranked in the Holy War for just the fourth time ever, joining 2009, 2008 and 1994.

No. 10 LSU at No. 17 Vanderbilt. Vandy is hosting a ranked matchup for just the third time since 1947. It lost to Texas last year and beat Auburn in 2008.