UNDATED (AP) — The College Football Playoff might expand to 24 teams next season, potentially ending conference title games at the top level. For now, the race to qualify for these championships remains intense. Miami leads the ACC, with Wake Forest close behind. North Texas tops the American Athletic Conference. Utah leads the Big 12, while UCLA is first in the Big Ten. Liberty and Jacksonville State are tied in Conference USA. Ohio is ahead in the Mid-American, and New Mexico leads the Mountain West. Boise State tops the Pac-12, Georgia leads the SEC, and Louisiana Tech is ahead in the Sun Belt.
UNDATED (AP) — Georgia is back at No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 after a dominant win over Mississippi. Utah moved to No. 2 after beating BYU, marking their highest-ever regular season ranking. Notre Dame climbed to No. 3 with a win over Miami, who dropped from the top spot to No. 5. UCLA is unbeaten and ranked No. 4, its highest ranking since 2001. Ohio State continued to fall, now at No. 21 after losing to Oregon. Alabama and Texas both moved up after road wins, completing a dynamic week in college football rankings.
STATELINE, Nev. (AP) — Dedan Thomas Jr. scored 20 points and had eight assists, Joseph Tugler added 16 points and four blocked shots and No. 10 Houston beat California 86-68 on Sunday night in the inaugural Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic. Delrecco Gillespie added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars (2-0), who shot 52% from the field and outscored the Golden Bears 50-24 in the paint. Chase McCarty had 11 points, making three 3-pointers. Mady Cooper led California (2-1) with 19 points, making five 3-pointers. Jordan Ross added 15 points and five assists for the Golden Bears, who made nine of 26 attempts from beyond the arc.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Clara Silva had 15 points and Lanie Grant scored 14 to lead 15th-ranked TCU to a lopsided 89-42 victory over Tarleton State. Silva made 6 of 11 shots and 3 of 4 at the foul line for the Horned Frogs (3-0). Grant hit 5 of 7 shots with three 3-pointers and added four assists. Lara Somfai and Jadyn Wooten both scored 12 for TCU with Somfai adding nine rebounds. Jessie-May Hall pitched in with 11 points off the bench. Caroline Lyles had 10 points to lead the Texans (1-1).
ATLANTA (AP) — Skylar Forbes had 23 points, Gia Cooke scored 20 and No. 24 West Virginia rolled to an 81-63 victory over Georgia Tech. Forbes made 8 of 21 shots, including 3 of 10 from 3-point range, for the Mountaineers (3-0). Cooke shot 6 for 14, sinking 3 of 4 from distance and 5 of 6 at the free-throw line. Kennedy Harris also hit 3 of 4 from distance and scored 11 for West Virginia. Khyala Ngodu pitched in with nine points and 10 rebounds. Talayah Walker had 21 points on 7-for-20 shooting for the Yellow Jackets (2-1). Ariadna Termis scored 14.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Devon Dampier accounted for four touchdowns, Utah intercepted four Bear Bachmeier passes and the third-ranked Utes remained undefeated with a 28-20 victory over No. 7 BYU. Dampier finished with 266 yards of offense to help the Utes snap a three-game losing streak in the Holy War rivalry series. He threw two touchdown passes to Braden Pegan and ran for two more scores. Trailing by six at halftime, Utah forced three turnovers and shut out the Cougars in the second half to keep alive its College Football Playoff hopes alive. BYU has lost two of three to dampen its CFP chances. Bachmeier threw for 272 yards and a touchdown and ran for 59 yards but had two of his four interceptions in the fourth quarter, both in the end zone.
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Jake Fette became the first Arizona State quarterback in 30 years to throw and catch a touchdown pass in the same game and the Sun Devils held on to beat Colorado 20-10. Coming off a 27-20 loss at No. 7 BYU, the Sun Devils raced out to a 17-0 halftime lead against the flailing Buffaloes. Fette threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Reed Harris and caught 1-yard TD pass, becoming first Arizona State quarterback since Jake Plummer in 1996 to have both in the same game. The Buffaloes came to life after a lackluster first half to pull within 20-10, but turned it over on downs late in the fourth quarter to end their hopes of a comeback.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Caden Piening reeled in a 6-yard reception with three seconds left on the clock to lift UCF over Kansas 33-32 on Saturday. A 10-play, 73-yard drive took the Knights to the 6-yard line in just under one minute of clock, and Alonza Barnett III found Piening at the left pylon for the score. After a replay review, the call on the field was upheld. UCF (5-4, 3-3 Big 12) built up a 19 point lead early in the third quarter, but Kansas chipped away and eventually took the lead at the 1:06 mark after 25 unanswered points.
