AP Top 25 Poll: After Week 3

AP Top 25 Poll: After Week 3

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AP Top 25 Poll: After Week 3
OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI – SEPTEMBER 19: Lane Kiffin of the Louisiana State Tigers reacts during the first half against the Mississippi Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on September 19, 2026 in Oxford, Mississippi. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Week 3 of the college football season featured our own North Carolina Tar Heels going in conference for the first time in 2026. It…could have gone better. While they got off to a decent start against Clemson, the Tigers rallied and UNC didn’t have many answers once the rally started.

Elsewhere around the country, there were plenty of other interesting games, headlined by Lane Kiffin returning to Ole Miss with his LSU squad. Plus, it’s college football, there are always some surprising results and close games going on somewhere on Saturday. With the week in the books, let’s take a look at how things shook out in the AP Top 25 poll this week.

AP Top 25

  1. Texas (58 first place votes)
  2. Georgia (3)
  3. Notre Dame
  4. Ole Miss (3)
  5. Indiana (4)
  6. Miami (FL) (1)
  7. Ohio State
  8. Alabama
  9. BYU
  10. LSU
  11. Texas Tech
  12. USC
  13. Penn State
  14. Tennessee
  15. Utah
  16. Louisville
  17. Iowa
  18. Michigan
  19. Missouri
  20. Oregon
  21. Florida
  22. SMU
  23. Texas A&M
  24. Mississippi State
  25. Houston

Where is UNC?

Had the Tar Heels held onto their lead and came away with the win over Clemson, there’s a decent chance they would’ve at least made an appearance in the “Others Receiving Votes” portion of the rankings. Instead, they took the L to the Tigers and they’re still likely a long way away from knocking on the Top 25 door.

Biggest Winners

Ole Miss won the aforementioned game against LSU, jumped four sports, and received some #1 votes as a result. However, in terms of places, Louisville wins the award this week. The Cardinals picked up a very nice win over SMU to improve to 2-1. While they’re not undefeated, that loss came to Ole Miss in a very close game, so things look pretty decent for U of L right now.

Biggest Losers

Oklahoma and Virginia both dropped out of the Top 25, but no one fell harder than Texas A&M this week. The Aggies hung onto a ranking, but they fell all the way to #23. That was a drop of 14 places after they took a home loss to Kentucky.

Conference Breakdown

  • SEC: 10
  • Big Ten: 7
  • Big 12: 4
  • ACC: 3
  • Independent: 1

Marquee Matchups This Week

  • #1 Texas (3-0) at #14 Tennessee (3-0) – Saturday at 12:00 PM ET on ABC
  • #4 Ole Miss (3-0, 1-0 SEC) at #21 Florida (3-0, 1-0 SEC) – Saturday at 3:30 PM ET on ABC
  • #20 Oregon (2-1) at #12 USC (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) – Saturday at 7:30 PM ET on NBC

Possible Upset Alert?

  • #15 Utah (3-0) at Iowa State (2-1) – Saturday at 3:30 PM ET on FOX
  • Wisconsin (2-1) at #13 Penn State (3-0) – Saturday at 5:00 PM ET on Peacock
  • South Carolina (2-1, 0-1 SEC) at #8 Alabama (3-0, 1-0 SEC) – Saturday at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN

Coaches Poll

  1. Texas (46 first place votes)
  2. Georgia (16)
  3. Notre Dame (2)
  4. Indiana (9)
  5. Miami (FL) (1)
  6. Ole Miss
  7. Ohio State
  8. Alabama
  9. BYU
  10. Texas Tech
  11. LSU
  12. USC
  13. Tennessee
  14. Penn State
  15. Utah
  16. Oregon
  17. Iowa
  18. Michigan
  19. Louisville
  20. Texas A&M
  21. Missouri
  22. Florida
  23. Washington
  24. Oklahoma
  25. SMU

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