September 7, 2024
Florida State fell out of The Associated Press college football poll on Tuesday after starting the season 0-2, becoming just the third team to go from preseason top 10 to unranked in the first regular-season poll since the rankings expanded to 25 in 1989.
Georgia remained No. 1, receiving 57 first-place votes after starting the season with a blowout of then-No. 14 Clemson. The Tigers hung on at No. 25, but it was the second straight year they dropped at least 10 spots after losing their season opener.
Ohio State was No. 2 with five first-place votes. No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama each moved up a spot, putting three Southeastern Conference teams in the top four along with Georgia. The last time the SEC did that in a non-pandemic season was Sept. 22, 2019.
No. 5 Notre Dame jumped two spots after opening the season with a victory at then-No. 20 Texas A&M, which fell out of the rankings.
Florida State has been the early season's major disappointment. The defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion lost in Dublin, Ireland, to ACC rival Georgia Tech and then dropped another league game Monday night at home to Boston College.
No other preseason Top 25 team this year lost to an unranked opponent to open the season. Florida State did it twice as a double-digit favorite and did not receive a single vote from the AP poll panel.
The other preseason top-10 teams to fall all the way out of the Top 25 after Week 1 in the past 35 years were Michigan in 2007 after famously losing to Appalachian State as No. 5 and Clemson in 2008. The Tigers were No. 9 but opened with a blowout loss to Alabama and tumbled out of the rankings.
Mississippi remained at No. 6. Oregon slipped four spots to No. 7 after winning a close game with Idaho. Penn State stayed at No. 8. Missouri moved up two spots to No. 9 to give the SEC five teams in the top 10. Michigan dropped one spot to No. 10.
Georgia Tech’s 2-0 start has the No. 23 Yellow Jackets ranked for the first time since 2015.
