Arch Manning, Texas and Franklin, Penn State Fall Out of Top 25 AP Poll After Losses
The top two teams in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll have fallen out of the rankings completely coming off losses to unranked teams on Saturday.
The latest AP poll had the Texas and Penn State listed second and third in the others receiving votes category. The Longhorns were defeated by Florida for their second loss of the season.
Penn State has lost back-to-back games, including a 42-37 defeat on Saturday against a UCLA team that entered play with an 0-4 record.
Texas became just the third team in the Top-25 era and first since USC in 2012 to fall out of the rankings after starting as preseason No. 1, per Ralph D. Russo of The Athletic.
Week 7 AP Top 25
1. Ohio State
2. Miami
3. Oregon
4. Ole Miss
5. Texas A&M
6. Oklahoma
7. Indiana
8. Alabama
9. Texas Tech
10. Georgia
11. LSU
12. Tennessee
13. Georgia Tech
14. Missouri
15. Michigan
16. Notre Dame
17. Illinois
18. BYU
19. Virginia
20. Vanderbilt
21. Arizona State
22. Iowa State
23. Memphis
24. South Florida
25. Florida State
Both teams were still ranked in the top 10 last week despite having one loss at the time. Texas' previous defeat was on the road against an Ohio State team that entered the season ranked No. 3, so there's no shame in losing that game.
Saturday was another road loss for the Longhorns against Florida, but one in which the 29-21 final score makes it look closer than it actually was. The Gators had a 457-341 advantage in total yards, held the ball for more than 34 minutes and sacked Arch Manning six times.
Texas' defense, which had played well in its first four games, allowed a season-high 29 points. Florida quarterback D.J. Lagway threw for 298 yards and completed 75 percent of his attempts.
As disappointing the Longhorns' loss was, it really pales in comparison to what happened with Penn State. Head coach James Franklin's team was coming off another disappointing home loss to a top-10 opponent the previous week against Oregon.
That defeat dropped Franklin's record to 4-21 against teams ranked in the AP top 10. This week, even though it was a road game on the west coast, was supposed to be an easy bounce back for the Nittany Lions.
UCLA has been a program in disarray, including firing head coach Deshaun Foster on Sept. 14 after an 0-3 start. Interim head coach Tim Skipper did lead the Bruins to a more respectable performance in his first game, a 17-14 loss at Northwestern on Sept. 27.
But there was nothing to suggest that Penn State, which entered the game favored by 24.5 points, would struggle in this matchup. Nico Iamaleava accounted for five touchdowns (three rushing) and ran for a career-high 128 yards to lead the Bruins to their first win since Nov. 30, 2024.
Penn State hadn't allowed a player to run for 100 yards in a game all season prior to Iamaleava.
This marks the first time that Texas and Penn State have been unranked since the 2022 season. The last time two top-10 teams dropped out of the poll entirely in the same week was September 1986.
