By ,
Published January 13, 2015
New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Alabama remained a strong No. 1 in the latest Associated Press college football poll, but a weekend that featured losses for seven ranked teams led to a shakeup that included the ouster of Michigan and Northwestern.
The Crimson Tide, after a 48-7 romp at Kentucky, received 55 first-place votes and a total of 1,495 points from a nationwide media panel for the third straight week.
Oregon again picked up the remaining five first-place votes and gained an increase in total points to 1,438 after a solid 45-24 victory at then-No.16 Washington on Saturday.
Clemson and Ohio State held firm at three and four, respectively, while Florida State, LSU, Texas A&M, Louisville, UCLA and Miami-Florida round out this week's top 10. LSU moved up four spots from 10th after a 17-6 victory over Florida, while UCLA and Miami each moved into the top 10 thanks, in part, to losses by Stanford and Georgia.
Stanford was fifth last week, but dropped eight places to 13th after a 27-21 loss at Utah. Georgia tumbled from seventh to 15th following a 41-26 home loss to Missouri, which vaulted 11 spots from 25th to 14th. The unbeaten Tigers, however, will have to go without quarterback James Franklin, who suffered a separated right shoulder during the game.
The second 10 consists of South Carolina, Baylor, Stanford, Missouri, Georgia, Texas Tech, Fresno State, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech and Washington. Oklahoma dipped six places from 12th after a 36-20 loss to Texas in the Red River Rivalry.
Oklahoma State, Florida, Northern Illinois and newcomers Auburn and Wisconsin are the last five teams ranked this week. Florida dropped five places from 17th after the loss at LSU.
Auburn is ranked for the first time this season. The Tigers have followed a 35-21 loss at LSU in September with wins over a then-ranked Ole Miss squad and a 62-3 pummeling of Western Carolina on Saturday. The SEC now has eight teams in the poll.
Wisconsin is back in the poll after a two-week absence. The Badgers were ranked all season until a 31-24 loss at Ohio State in late September, but Saturday's 35-6 thrashing of Northwestern lifted them back into the top-25.
Northwestern fell out of the poll with its second straight loss. The Wildcats were 16th before a heartbreaking loss to Ohio State last Saturday and were 19th before this past Saturday's setback.
Michigan, meanwhile, was ranked all year and had been as high as 11th, but a 43-40, four-overtime loss at Penn State on Saturday knocked the Wolverines out from the 18th position.
Next week's schedule features four ranked matchups, highlighted by a top-five ACC clash between Florida State and Clemson in Death Valley. Stanford will try to bounce back when UCLA pays a visit to Palo Alto, while a pair of SEC battles pit Florida at Missouri and Auburn at Texas A&M.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/alabama-still-no-1-michigan-northwestern-drop-out-of-poll