Colorado and Texas Rise in AP Top 25 While Alabama Slides

There's still a lot of football left to be played, but several teams made strong statements after the first two weeks of NCAA Football. Colorado continues to be one of the more exciting stories in sports, Texas moved into the top 5, Alabama falls to No. 10 and Miami might finally be back.

The Buffaloes are becoming appointment viewing under first-year head coach Deion Sanders with a bevy of celebrity supporters from Hall of Fame wide receiver and former teammate Michael Irvin to members of legendary rap group Wu-Tang Clan. Networks are getting on board with ESPN bringing their pregame show GameDay to Boulder for the contest against their instate rival. FOX is also doing their pregame show from Colorado's campus even though the game is on ESPN.

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders threw for 393 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday's 36-14 victory against Nebraska, helping the Buffaloes move up four spots in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll. Xavier Weaver had 10 catches for 170 yards in the No. 18 Colorado win.

Any energy drink brand should seek out Travis Hunter as a promoter for NIL deals. He played 152 snaps on offense, defense, and special teams in last week's upset against TCU, which was around 87 percent of the Buffaloes snaps.

The wunderkind participated in 126 of Colorado's 140 snaps against the Cornhuskers. Hunter had three catches and 73 yards as a wide receiver. On defense, he had four tackles and a pass breakup. Head coach Deion Sanders told reporters he wasn't concerned with Hunter's ability to handle the workload.

Texas moves to No. 4 after beating Bama

Quinn Ewers and Steve Sarkisian both joined small fraternities Saturday while leading Texas to a victory against Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Sarkisian joined Kirby Smart and Jimbo Fisher as the only former Saban assistants to defeat him as a head coach for another team. He is the only former Saban assistant to beat him on at Bama's home stadium. Saban is now 28-3 in games against former assistants.

Ewers is the first opposing quarterback to win at Bryant-Denny since Joe Burrow led LSU to a 46-41 victory in 2019. Chad Kelly is the only other quarterback in the last decade in that club, notching a 2015 win with Ole Miss.

Alabama had won 21 consecutive games at home before the loss against Texas, with victories in 93 percent of their home games during Saban's 17 seasons. Saban's Tide is 103-9 at home after the loss.

The Crimson Tide dropped seven spots to No. 10, its lowest ranking since early last November when Alabama also was 10th. It's also the earliest Bama has lost a game since Saban became head coach ending a 57-game regular season undefeated streak against non-conference opponents.

Alabama's streak of weeks in the top 10 continues at 128, which is the second longest in AP poll history behind Miami's run from 1985 to 1993 which went 137 weeks in the top 10.

Is Miami for real?

Miami overcame a 10-0 deficit to beat Texas A&M behind five touchdown passes by quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to move No. 22 in the latest poll.

Miami hosts HBCU Bethune-Cookman on Thursday giving the Hurricanes a chance for WRs Colbie Young and Jacolby George to further establish their connection with Van Dyke under new offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson.

Miami is one of four ACC teams ranked in the poll, which surprisingly doesn't include Clemson. The Tigers dropped out of the rankings despite a win against Charleston Southern. Dabo Swinney's squad had 21 straight appearances in the top-25 before this week's poll.

Pac-12 going out with a bang

Barring some dramatic changes, the Pac-12 will lose 10 of its members to conference realignment after this season. For now, they're one of the most dominant conferences in college football.

No. 5 Southern Cal led, by Heisman trophy winner Caleb Williams, is one of eight Pac-12 squads in this week's AP poll. The SEC is the only conference to place eight teams simultaneously in the history of the AP Top 25 poll.

Washington State and Oregon State are the two Pac-12 schools without a new conference home for next season. Washington State head coach Jake Dickert used the win against then No. 19 Wisconsin at home to remind the world they're still around.

"But at the end of the day, our team belongs at the highest level," Dickert said. "We deserve to be in the Power 5. Our program does. That's in my heart. I believe that. I say that with a meaning."

Full AP Top 25 College Football Poll

Rank Team Record Points (No. 1 votes)

1. Georgia 2-0 1540 (55)

2. Michigan 2-0 1458 (2)

3. Florida State 2-0 1413 (3)

4. Texas 2-0 1338 (2)

5. USC 3-0 1269

6. Ohio State 2-0 1265

7. Penn State 2-0 1204

8. Washington 2-0 1102

9. Notre Dame 3-0 1015

10. Alabama 1-1 953

11. Tennessee 2-0 929

12. Utah 2-0 847

13. Oregon 2-0 827

14. LSU 1-1 667

15. Kansas State 2-0 636

16. Oregon State 2-0 605

17. Ole Miss 2-0 505

18. Colorado 2-0 481

19. Oklahoma 2-0 453

20. North Carolina 2-0 444

21. Duke 2-0 421

22. Miami 2-0 230

23. Washington State 2-0 129

24. UCLA 2-0 107

25. Iowa 2-0 106

Others receiving votes: Clemson 86; Arkansas 33; TCU 19; Kansas 19; Tulane 17; Wisconsin 10; Mississippi State 5; Kentucky 5; Cincinnati 3; Minnesota 3; Fresno State 2; Wyoming 1; James Madison 1; Oklahoma State 1; Maryland 1; Texas A&M 1