Week 3 AP Poll Top 25 Rankings Released Sunday

After a week without even a single loss by a top-25 team, yesterday saw three top-12 teams fall in road games – No. 1 Ohio State, No. 6 Oregon and No. 11 Oklahoma. As Week 3 approaches and we reach the midpoint of September, the pecking order has changed dramatically.

Read more Steelers Awaiting Punishment Decision After Aaron Rodgers Play

The AP top 25 ranking was just released and to little surprise, the Texas Longhorns, fresh off of their comeback win over the Buckeyes, were ranked No. 1 in the country. Georgia, Notre Dame and Indiana rounded out the top four. Miami rose to No. 5 while Ohio State fell to No. 6. The SEC quartet of LSU, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Alabama all completed the top-10.

Here’s the full ranking:

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

Some noteworthy changes:

Oklahoma’s loss to Michigan (now ranked No. 19 after falling out of the top-25 entirely the week before) saw them drop from No. 11 to No. 24.

As for Oregon, who were stunned by 24-point underdog Oklahoma State, they dropped from No. 6 all the way to No. 21 – their lowest ranking at any point in a season in four years.

Read more Seahawks’ Sam Darnold Gets Injury Update Ahead of Week 2

The only other team that wound up being a rankings loser were the Washington Huskies, who dropped from No. 24 out of the top-25 despite winning their Week 2 tilt with Utah State.

The Huskies still have the 26th-most votes in the country, but voters must have decided that their close call against Utah State was too much to trust them for the time being.

Read more NFL+ Apologizes After Unfortunate Mishap on Sunday

The marquee matchups for Week 3 will see three matchups of top 25 teams:

• No. 22 Houston vs. No. 13 Texas Tech on Friday
• No. 17 SMU vs. No. 24 Louisville on Saturday (mid-afternoon slate)
• No. 8 LSU vs. No. 9 Ole Miss on Saturday (primetime)

Copyright The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This story was originally published September 13, 2026 at 12:23 PM.