UNDATED (AP) — Missouri rose 11 spots to No. 14 in The Associated Press Top 25 following its rout of Florida and the Gators dropped eight to No. 16 and were replaced by LSU in the top 10. Texas will go into Saturday’s Red River Rivalry game against Oklahoma as the No. 1 team for the fourth straight week. The rest of the top five stood pat with Georgia, Notre Dame, Miami and Ohio State. The Longhorns received 61 of the 70 first-place votes from the media voting panel. Georgia got six first-place votes and Miami got two.
UNDATED (AP) — Texas Tech would be back on the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket after a one-week absence based on the new Associated Press Top 25 and Florida would drop off. The projected bracket underwent few changes with Florida the only top-10 team in the AP poll to lose. Texas, Georgia, Notre Dame and Miami remain the top four seeds and Ohio State, Alabama, Indiana and BYU would host first-round games. Florida’s drop partially facilitated BYU's two-spot move up in the AP poll and take the final home field spot for the first round.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — The growth Alabama's Keelon Russell exhibited in a 56-23 victory at Mississippi State has his Crimson Tide teammates encouraged about how far the 19-year-old quarterback can take them. Russell completed six of his seven third-down passes for 146 yards, including connections of 50 and 39 yards to Lotzeir Brooks and 22 yards to Ryan Coleman-Williams. Russell finished with 285 yards and three touchdowns passing and also ran 17 yards for a score. Russell's threw two, third-down TD passes to Rico Scott, who says it's “hard to believe how fast” Russell has grown. Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby says Russell is already playing at an “elite level.”
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma heads into its game against archrival and No. 1 Texas with questions at quarterback. John Mateer’s stock has plummeted with six turnovers in three games, including two fumbles and an interception in a 41-13 loss at Georgia. It is unclear if Mateer will start or how much he will play on Saturday in Dallas. Backups Whitt Newbauer and Bowe Bentley took a lot of reps in practice last week.
