Alabama falls, Big Ten teams finish in top four of Week 7 AP Poll

Four top-10 teams lost – including the No. 1 team – and a total of seven ranked teams lost in a wild start to college football's October. Of course, there would be changes in this week's AP poll. Here's what you need to know:

Week 7 AP Top 25 Poll

Others receiving votes: Southern California 98, Nebraska 51, Navy 43, Army 33, Vanderbilt 26, Arkansas 17, Washington State 8, Iowa 8, Texas Tech 7, Syracuse 6, Washington 4, Louisville 4, Colorado 3, Kentucky 1.

Texas returns to No. 1

Texas and Ohio State are leading in this week's AP poll. The Longhorns and Buckeyes were the only teams to receive first-place votes after the then-No. 1 Alabama lost to an unranked Vanderbilt squad.

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The rest of the top 10 has a new look

Undefeated Big Ten programs Oregon and Penn State follow in the rankings at No. 3 and 4. That's where things get interesting. Unlike the Ducks and Nittany Lions, who moved up three spots this week, No. 6 Miami (Fla.) moved up just two spots after barely picking up wins in consecutive weeks against Virginia Tech and Cal.

Who is in 5th place? That would be the Georgia Bulldogs, who lost just last week. Yes, Georgia is ranked No. 5 ahead of Alabama, a team it lost to. The Crimson Tide fell six spots to No. 7 after losing to an unranked Vanderbilt team. The direct duel did not outweigh Alabama's defeat.

No. 8 Tennessee fell four spots after its unranked loss to Arkansas, while No. 9 Ole Miss is back in the top 10 after recovering from its unranked loss a week ago to Kentucky. Rounding out the top 10 is Clemson. The Tigers are 4-1 and have averaged 48.5 points in their four-game winning streak since a season-opening loss to Georgia.

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Missouri, Miami and USC fall

From places 12 to 21 in last week's rankings, things were much quieter, with six teams having byes and the other schools clearly winning their games. So where do last week's top 10 losing teams fit into the group?

No. 24 Michigan fell 14 spots, but thanks to a straight win, the Wolverines didn't fall out of the poll like Southern California. The Trojans fell from 11th place to the first team in receiving votes after a loss to Minnesota.

No. 21 Missouri lost to Texas A&M, which resulted in the Tigers dropping 12 spots. On the other side of this game, Texas A&M moved up 10 spots – more than any other team this week – to No. 15.

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Pittsburgh and SMU move into this week's rankings

Southern California, Louisville and UNLV fell out of the 26-team rankings last week, leaving two teams with room to move into the top 25 this week. This week, Pittsburgh and SMU join the rankings.

Pitt is one of 12 undefeated teams this year after winning its first ACC game against North Carolina. Quarterback Eli Holstein has been outstanding and was one of my darkhorse Heisman candidates just a week ago. Meanwhile, SMU climbs into the rankings after defeating then-No. 22 Louisville. The Mustangs are on a three-game winning streak and their only loss came by three points to the current No. 14 BYU squad.

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Ranked games to watch this week

Here are the Ranked vs Ranked matches in Week 7 on Saturday, October 12: