Indiana jumps to No. 1 in AP Top 25 ahead of Georgia, Ohio State in final rankings before playoff

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Indiana is the No. 1 team in The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll for the first time after going through the regular season and Big Ten championship game 13-0, ending Ohio State’s 14-week run atop the rankings.

The Hoosiers’ 13-10 win over the Buckeyes in Indianapolis on Saturday night made them the unanimous pick for No. 1 and they locked up the top seed for their second straight appearance in the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Georgia, which beat Alabama by three touchdowns in the Southeastern Conference title game, moved up one spot to No. 2 for its highest ranking of the season. Ohio State, the defending national champion, slipped two spots to No. 3.

Texas Tech, a 27-point winner over BYU in the Big 12 championship game, also has its highest ranking of the season after rising one rung to No. 4.

Oregon was No. 5 and followed by Mississippi, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Miami. Miami moved up two spots and returned to the top 10 for the first time since mid-October. Alabama and BYU each dropped one spot, to Nos. 11 and 12.

Among Group of Five teams, American Conference champion Tulane jumped four spots to No. 17 for its highest ranking in two years. Sun Belt Conference champion James Madison remained No. 19.

The final AP Top 25 will be released Jan. 20, the day after the national championship game.

— Indiana, which had the most losses in major college football history prior to Curt Cignetti’s arrival two years ago, had never been ranked higher than No. 2 before Sunday. That was the position the Hoosiers held for seven straight weeks before they rose to the top. They were 100 ballot points ahead of Georgia. The Bulldogs were just 12 points ahead of Ohio State.

— With the limited schedule of games, all teams that were in the Top 25 remained in the poll.

— Virginia took the biggest fall after losing in overtime to Duke in the ACC championship game, going from No. 16 to No. 20.

SEC (8 ranked teams): Nos. 2 Georgia, 6 Mississippi, 7 Texas A&M, 8 Oklahoma, 11 Alabama, 13 Vanderbilt, 14 Texas, 25 Missouri.

Big Ten (5): Nos. 1 Indiana, 3 Ohio State, 5 Oregon, 16 Southern California, 18 Michigan.

Big 12 (4): Nos. 4 Texas Tech, 12 BYU, 15 Utah, 20 Arizona.

ACC (3): Nos. 10 Miami, 21 Virginia, 24 Georgia Tech.

American (3): Nos. 17 Tulane, 22 Navy, 23 North Texas.

Independent (1): No. 9 Notre Dame.

Sun Belt (1): No. 19 James Madison.

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