Oregon with a validation win; Ole Miss with a loss of validation

Nevada Sports Net columnist Chris Murray is one of 63 voters in the college football AP Top 25 poll. Here's a look at his ballot this week.

On the rise

*Oregon: Saturday was weak as only three top-25 teams lost – Ohio State, Ole Miss, Oklahoma – with each team playing non-home games against ranked opponents. (Ranked Utah lost to unranked Arizona State on Friday.) No team moved up more than three spots, with LSU improving the most, moving from 17th to 14th after an overtime win over Ole Miss. LSU began the season with a loss to USC and has rattled off five straight wins to get back into the CFP standings. But Oregon takes the headlines here after beating Ohio State by one point. That gives the undefeated Ducks two top-25 wins with wins over the Buckeyes and Boise State. Oregon's remaining six games are going much less well, with Michigan coming out on top. Navy (24) and Nebraska (25) are new to the ballot.

In autumn

* Old lady: Ole Miss fans were included in my mentions because the Rebels were too low on my ballot. Heading into this week, I had Ole Miss at No. 19, with the consensus ranking at No. 9. That's a big difference. But I was right when the Rebels lost their second game in three weeks, albeit an overtime thriller at LSU, a difficult place. Ole Miss fell to 5-2 with losses to LSU and 3-3 to Kentucky with its best win over 3-3 South Carolina. I left the Rebels at number 25 on my ballot, but they will see a significant drop in the overall poll. Utah (ranked 20th last week) and Oklahoma (ranked 21st) moved from the rankings to unranking.

Chris Murray's AP Top 25

1. Texas (previously 1)

2.Oregon (3)

3. Penn State (4)

4. Ohio State (2)

5. Georgia (5)

6. Alabama (6)

7. BYU (7)

8.Miami (8)

9. Notre Dame (9)

10. Iowa State (10)

11. Texas A&M (11)

12. Tennessee (12)

13. Kansas State (13)

14. LSU (17)

15. Indiana (14)

16. Clemson (15)

17. Boise State (16)

18. Pitt (18)

19. Missouri (22)

20. SMU (23)

21. Illinois (24)

22. Washington State (25)

23. Marine (n/r)

24. Nebraska (n/r)

25. Ole Miss (19)

Dropped out: Utah (20); Oklahoma (21)

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight into sports in Northern Nevada. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.