Utes drop to No. 18 in latest AP Top 25 ahead of first CFP rankings

SALT LAKE CITY — With ESPN College GameDay in town, Saturday's Pac-12 matchup that featured two top-15 teams was expected to be a competitive environment where both teams battled it out for potential title game implications.

It appears only one team, Oregon, got the memo and made its case as one of the best teams in college football. Utah, on the other hand, wilted under the spotlight in what head coach Kyle Whittingham described as "not a lot of positives in that game for us."

"That's as thoroughly and soundly we've been beaten in a long time, particularly at home here," Whittingham added. "Give Oregon credit, they are a complete football team, just like I've been saying all week long — tremendous talent, size, quickness, athleticism, depth, both sides of the ball, and they took it to us. We really didn't get much done in any phase of the game."

With the loss, Utah dropped to No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings, falling five spots from its previous spot at No. 13. The loss also comes before the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season are released Tuesday night on ESPN.

Though still one of six teams ranked from the Pac-12, Utah's multitude of injuries are starting to catch up to the team in the toughest part of its schedule.

Washington continues to lead the Pac-12 as the highest-ranked team at No. 5, and is followed by No. 6 Oregon. The two have pulled away from the rest of the Pac-12 competition and appear destined to meet in Las Vegas for the conference title game in a rematch game.

Other Pac-12 teams ranked include No. 16 Oregon State, which dropped after a Saturday night loss to a recently surging Arizona team with Noah Fifita under center, followed by No. 20 UCLA and No. 24 USC, which edged past California for a 50-49 win.

Georgia, which got a rivalry win over Florida Saturday afternoon, remains the top-ranked team in the country with 48 first-place votes. Behind the Bulldogs is No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Florida State and No. 5 Washington.

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