AP College Football Poll 2018: Week 5 Top 25 Rankings Announced
On the heels of a week in which the top 12 teams in the Associated Press Top 25 poll won, the Alabama Crimson Tide maintained their spot at No. 1 as expected.
Here is a rundown of the rankings from the AP with first-place votes in parentheses:
1. Alabama (60)
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
2. Georgia
3. Clemson (1)
4. Ohio State
5. LSU
6. Oklahoma
7. Stanford
8. Notre Dame
9. Penn State
10. Auburn
11. Washington
12. West Virginia
13. Central Florida
14. Michigan
15. Wisconsin
16. Miami
17. Kentucky
18. Texas
19. Oregon
20. BYU
21. Michigan State
22. Duke
23. Mississippi State
24. California
25. Texas Tech
The Crimson Tide faced their toughest test this season in the form of the Texas A&M Aggies, but Bama had little trouble beating the then-22nd-ranked team in the country 45-23.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa's Heisman Trophy candidacy was bolstered by a performance in which he threw for 387 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for another score.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Alabama is off to its most dominant start in nearly 40 years:
Arguably the most impressive victory came courtesy of the Stanford Cardinal, who overcame a 24-7 third-quarter deficit to beat the Oregon Ducks 38-31 in overtime.
Despite the win, Stanford stood pat at No. 7 in the rankings.
The Cardinal appeared to be dead to rights late in the third quarter with the Ducks driving to potentially take a 31-7 lead, but Joey Alfieri scooped a bad snap over Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert's head and returned it 80 yards for a touchdown:
Stanford cut further into its deficit with a 22-yard touchdown run by running back Bryce Love on its next drive.
A Ducks touchdown with 4:39 remaining appeared to put the game away at 31-21, but the Cardinal scored quickly to restore the three-point deficit and then recovered another fumble with 51 seconds remaining.
After Jet Toner's 32-yard field goal forced overtime, tight end Colby Parkinson made a remarkable 23-yard touchdown catch by tipping K.J. Costello's pass to himself in the end zone:
Stanford's Alameen Murphy then intercepted Herbert on a fourth-down pass to the end zone to seal the most improbable comeback of the season.
Oregon had a win probability as high as 99 percent in the second half of Saturday's game:
The Ducks stood to rise significantly in the rankings with a win, but instead they moved up just one spot from 20th to 19th.
Georgia and Clemson enjoyed double-digit victories over conference opponents Saturday with the Bulldogs beating Missouri 43-29 and the Tigers beating Georgia Tech 49-21.
Ohio State also destroyed Tulane 49-6 in head coach Urban Meyer's first game back on the sideline following his suspension.
The one team near the top of the rankings that struggled to defeat an inferior opponent was Oklahoma, as Army pushed the Sooners to overtime.
The Black Knights dominated time of possession 44:41-15:19 by rushing for 339 yards.
That kept Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray off the field, but he rushed for 71 yards and a touchdown while completing 11 of his 15 pass attempts for 165 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
The most important touchdown came in overtime when Murray hit wide receiver CeeDee Lamb from 10 yards out for what turned out to be the game-winning score:
Saturday's win wasn't pretty, but it didn't have a major impact on the Sooners' ranking, as they dropped from fifth to sixth.
Several ranked teams lost Saturday, including Virginia Tech, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, TCU and Boston College.
The worst loss of the bunch belonged to the Hokies, as they fell 49-35 to an Old Dominion team that was 0-3 with losses to Liberty, Florida International and Charlotte.
The Monarchs had never beaten a Power Five school, and their win was the biggest upset of an ACC opponent in four decades:
Virginia Tech starting quarterback Josh Jackson injured his ankle in the fourth quarter and was carted off the field.
The Hokies are no longer ranked after they checked in at No. 13 last week.
The AP Top 25 could experience a significant shake-up next week with No. 9 Penn State hosting No. 4 Ohio State and No. 7 Stanford traveling to take on No. 8 Notre Dame.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
