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SALT LAKE CITY — Chaos erupted around Utah over the weekend as two Top 10 teams dropped games. But the Utes stayed put in the national rankings as they sat at home watching the madness unfold around them on the team’s second bye week of the season.
Entering the bye week at No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and No. 9 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, Utah stayed put in both polls Sunday. Penn State, which lost to Minnesota over the weekend, dropped below the Utes, but Minnesota, which was previously ranked No. 13 in both polls, jumped the Utes to claim the No. 7 spot.
Alabama, who lost to then-No. 1 LSU in the AP poll Saturday, stayed above Utah at No. 4. The Crimson Tide had been previously ranked No. 2 in the AP poll and No. 1 in the Coaches Poll.
Utah is joined in the Pac-12 by Oregon at No. 6 in the AP poll and No. 7 in the Coaches Poll as the conference’s top-ranked team. The Ducks also had a bye weekend and benefited from Penn State losing. No other program from the Pac-12 is ranked this week, but USC and Washington are receiving votes in the AP poll but none in the Coaches Poll.
Voters in both polls shook up their top programs, with LSU being crowned the No. 1 overall team in the country following their 46-41 win over the Crimson Tide. The Tigers have beat four Top 10 programs this season and have the most Top 25 wins of any team in the country.
Behind the Tigers in the poll is No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Clemson, No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Georgia in both polls. Ohio State, which beat up on Maryland over the weekend in a 73-14 win, remains the No. 1 overall team in the College Football Playoff rankings. The playoff selection committee will release its latest rankings Tuesday at 5 p.m. on ESPN.
The upcoming week features four games with ranked opponents playing each other, including No. 5 Georgia on the road against No. 13 Auburn, No. 7 Minnesota against No. 23 Iowa, No. 10 Oklahoma meeting up with an undefeated No. 12 Baylor, and No. 21 Navy traveling to South Bend, Indiana, to take on No. 16 Notre Dame.
