Miami stays No. 1 in the AP Top 25 while Utah surges to No. 3 and Ohio State falls 9 spots

The Miami Hurricanes stay in the No. 1 spot of the AP Top 25 poll for the third straight week after a 38-35 road win over the North Carolina Tar Heels. 

There was a ton of movement around the polls, setting up a Saturday of showdowns across the college football landscape. Following the Hurricanes is Georgia, which rose to No. 2 after a 27-8 win over Florida. Utah jumps up three spots to No. 3 after an impressive 49-25 road win over Cincinnati. Notre Dame, which rallied from a rough first half to take down Navy 35-13, was No. 4, and UCLA will occupy the fifth spot after a 27-0 win over Nevada.

The top four teams will all face ranked opposition, with the No. 1 Hurricanes heading to South Bend to take on Notre Dame.  Miami increased its number of first-place votes from 59 to 62 despite the close win against the Tar Heels.

Miami stays No. 1 in AP Top 25

1. Miami Hurricanes (62 first-place votes)
2. Georgia Bulldogs (7)
3. Utah Utes (1)
4. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
5. UCLA Bruins
6. Indiana Hoosiers
7. BYU Cougars
8. Kentucky Wildcats
9. Alabama Crimson Tide
10. Texas Longhorns
11. Ohio State Buckeyes
12. Ole Miss Rebels
13. Texas Tech Red Raiders
14. Wake Forest Demon Deacon
15. LSU Tigers
16. Tennessee Volunteers
17. Houston Cougars
18. USC Trojans
19. Missouri Tigers
20. Boise State Broncos
21. Iowa Hawkeyes
22. New Mexico Lobos
23. South Carolina Gamecocks
24. Arizona Wildcats
25. Florida Gators

CFP rankings on Tuesday and showdowns on Saturday

This is the final AP Poll before the initial CFP rankings are released on Tuesday, and moving forward, this poll will hold less importance. The CFP committee claims that they do not take the AP Poll into account, but we all know that's hogwash. This poll provides a guideline for them to look at, and you can guess that these 25 teams and the additional 10 that are also receiving votes will be the subject of 99% of the conversations.

Everything promises to change after Week 10, however, because there are so many amazing games on the schedule. Check out this list of bangers:

No. 1 Miami at No. 4 Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m. (NBC)
No. 7 BYU at No. 3 Utah, noon (ABC)
No. 8 Kentucky at No. 16 Tennessee, 6:15 (ESPN)
No. 9 Alabama at No. 15 LSU, 3:30 (ABC)
No. 10 Texas at No. 19 Missouri, noon (ESPN)

That's 40% of the Top 25 going head-to-head on Nov 7. Ain't college football grand? 

This list doesn't even include some tricky games, like No. 5 UCLA heading on the road to take on Minnesota and No. 11 Ohio State hosting Oregon in a game that the Buckeyes can ill afford to lose. 

Now that the calendar has crossed into November, it's all hands on deck across college football. Miami seems like a lock to make the CFP 12-team bracket regardless of what happens Saturday against the Fighting Irish, but that doesn't mean the Hurricanes are interested in anything less than a win. It's the best way to keep the CFP committee talking about you.

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