While Oregon has been one of the great modern powers in college football it does not have an extensive history holding down the No. 1 spot in the rankings. Dan Lanning has already started to change that, guiding the Ducks to their first appearance at No. 1 since 2012 in the AP Top 25 poll released Sunday.
In total, Oregon had been ranked No. 1 just eight previous times in school history. First were seven consecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2010 before losing to Auburn in the BCS Championship Game, then came a single week for the Ducks in the top spot in Nov. 2012 before an overtime loss to Stanford the very next week bounced them back to No. 5. Not even the 2014 Ducks team led by Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota reached No. 1 in the poll, though that team did spend 12-of-17 weeks inside the top three and finished No. 2.
Oregon’s move up to No. 1 was made possible in part by Georgia’s 30-15 win at Texas on Saturday night, which bounced the Longhorns out of the top spot down to No. 5.
The Bulldogs also made a move, jumping ahead of both Penn State and Ohio State to No. 2 and picking up a pair of first-place votes along the way. The Ducks are the fourth team to carry the No. 1 distinction this season — joining Georgia, Texas and Alabama — and their ascension marks the fifth time the top spot has changed hands.
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Other shake ups inside the top 10 include Alabama falling from No. 7 to No. 15 after losing to Tennessee, which moved up four spots from No. 11 to No. 7 after the win. Indiana (up three spots to No. 13) and Illinois (up to two spots to No. 20) also moved up after picking up big conference wins over the weekend, with the Fighting Illini’s win against Michigan leading to the Wolverines falling out of the top 25. With a spot opening up in the ranking, Vanderbilt is ranked at No. 25, the program’s first appearance in the AP poll since 2013.
Week 9 AP Top 25 poll
- Oregon (59 first-place votes)
- Georgia (2)
- Penn State
- Ohio State
- Texas
- Miami
- Tennessee
- LSU
- Clemson
- Iowa State
- BYU
- Notre Dame
- Indiana
- Texas A&M
- Alabama
- Kansas State
- Boise State
- Ole Miss
- Pittsburgh
- Illinois
- Missouri
- SMU
- Army
- Navy
- Vanderbilt
