Undefeated James Madison earns spot in college football Top 25

Georgia took back the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press college football poll from Alabama on Sunday after being bumped out last week by the Crimson Tide, who slid to No. 3.

The Bulldogs received 32 first-place votes and 1,535 points in the Top 25, presented by Regions Bank, to easily reclaim No. 1. They were just two points behind Alabama at No. 2 last week.

Georgia thumped Auburn 42-10 on Saturday. The Tide, whose Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Bryce Young was sidelined by injury, escaped an upset bid at home by Texas A&M.

Ohio State moved up a spot to No. 2, receiving 20 first-place votes and 1,507 points.

No. 3 is a season-low for Alabama, which was preseason No. 1 but fell to No. 2 after Week 2. The Tide received 11 first-place votes.

There were two notable season debuts in the Top 25: No. 24 Illinois is ranked for the first time since 2011 and James Madison is in the AP Top 25 for the first time in its program history. The Dukes are playing their first season as a member of the Sun Belt Conference in Division I college football's highest level.

Clemson overtook Michigan and moved up to No. 4 and the Wolverines fell one spot to No. 5.

Tennessee moved up to No. 6, which is the best ranking for the currently undefeated Volunteers since No. 5 early in the 2005 season. Tennessee stumbled to a 5-6 and unranked finish that year.

Southern California fell one spot to No. 7, and Oklahoma State, Mississippi and Penn State held their places to round out the top 10.

POLL POINTS

The shuffle that Georgia's made from No. 1 to 2 and back No. 1 over three polls hadn't happened in more than a decade.

Florida went back and forth between Nos. 1 and 2 in 2009, flip-flopping with Alabama as both teams won in late October.

The Tide is the first team to drop from No. 1 to No. 3 off a victory in 25 years, when Nebraska beat Missouri in overtime on the famous “Flea Kicker.” Michigan jumped from No. 4 to No. 1 on Nov. 10, 1997, after it won 34-8 at No. 2 Penn State.

IN

The week after Kansas handed the ignominious title of Power Five conference team with the longest streak of being unranked to Illinois, the Illini are now off the schneid in their second year under coach Bret Bielema.

Illinois improved to 5-1 by beating Iowa and landed in the poll for the first time since Oct. 16, 2011 — 178 polls.

Next up on the list of longest-ranking droughts for Power Five schools are: Rutgers (2012), Oregon State (preseason 2013) and Vanderbilt (final 2013), Georgia Tech (2015), Arizona (2017).

— James Madison has been a powerhouse in the Football Championship Subdivision for years, winning a national title in 2016 and losing to North Dakota State in the NCAA championship game in 2017 and '19. The Dukes have had no issue moving up so far, going 5-0 and averaging 44 points per game.

JMU's transition has been different than others, who take a year or two to acclimate before playing a full FBS-type schedule as they build up from 63 scholarship players to 85.

Aided by temporary changes to eligibility rules due to the pandemic, plus loosened transfer rules, the Dukes were able to dive right in with a more FBS-ready roster, coach Curt Cignetti told AP.

“There were a lot of unknowns coming into the season,” Cignetti said. “The one thing about our program is we've had such great success from 2016 on ... there's a culture here, a standard, an expectation. And our guys expect to win every time we go out.”

Since Division I football split into subdivisions in 1978, JMU is the first team to be ranked in a season when it was transitioning up.

“All the national publicity that we have had is extremely positive for the university, the program, the athletic department and our boosters and supporters,” said Cignetti, the son of Hall of Fame coach Frank Cignetti, who died in September. “Making the Top 25, that's just another step.”

Todd Centeio threw four touchdown passes, including a pair of fourth-quarter strikes to put the game out of reach, and James Madison shut down the Arkansas State running game to remain undefeated following a 42-20 over the Red Wolves in a Sun Belt battle on Saturday night.

Arkansas State managed just 20 net yards on 27 carries.

The Red Wolves (2-4, 1-2) grabbed the early lead with a 25-yard field goal by Dominic Zvada, but Centeio led James Madison on a pair of long scoring drives to take a 14-3 lead at the break. He capped an eight-play, 77-yard drive with a 13-yard strike to Solomon Vanhorse, then followed it with a 13-play, 87-yard drive that was capped by a 10-yard pass to Devin Ravenel with 26 seconds left in the half.

James Blackman found Jeff Foreman from 13-yards out in the third quarter to get Arkansas State within 21-13, but Centeio threw two more touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and Percy Agyei-Obese broke a tackle on the corner and ran through an attempted arm tackle at the 10 to score his second touchdown of the day on a 31-yard run and finished with a career-best 158 yards on 21 carries.

Centeio was 28 of 37 for 394 yards while the Dukes (5-0, 3-0) ground out 204 yards on 43 carries.

Blackman was 16 of 26 for 247 yards and two touchdowns for Arkansas State.