Penn State moves up to No. 6 in AP college football poll

Penn State’s resounding 31-0 victory over Iowa helped the Nittany Lions climb one spot to No. 6 on Sunday in the Associated Press college football poll.

Penn State (4-0, 2-0 Big Ten) used a stifling defense and a four-touchdown passing game by Drew Allar to throttle the previously unbeaten Hawkeyes on Saturday.

Next up for the Nittany Lions is a noon game this Saturday at Northwestern (2-2, 1-1). The game will be televised by the Big Ten Network.

Colorado and Deion Sanders fell out of the AP top 25 after a resounding loss in one of the weekend’s showcase games, and the teams toward the top of the rankings were shuffled and tightened.

A season-high six teams received first-place votes, the most since the 2016 preseason poll. Georgia is still where it started at No. 1 in the AP top 25, but it is down to 55 first-place votes out of a possible 63.

Michigan remained No. 2 and got a first-place vote. Texas stayed at No. 3 with two first-place votes. Ohio State moved up two spots to No. 4 and got a first-place vote after beating Notre Dame with a touchdown on its final offensive play.

The Fighting Irish slipped to two spots to No. 11.

Florida State dropped a spot to No. 5 after a victory at Clemson, but it nevertheless received three first-place votes.

No. 6 Penn State and No. 7 Washington each moved up a spot. The Huskies received a first-place vote.

Southern California fell three places to No. 8 while No. 9 Oregon and No. 10 Utah each moved up a spot to give the Pac-12 four teams in the top 10 for the first time in the history of the conference.

The Ducks’ blowout of Sanders’ Colorado team knocked the Buffaloes all the way out of the AP top 25 from No. 19.

Colorado has been the story of the early season, starting 3-0 after winning just one game last season. The Buffs jumped into the rankings with an opening week upset of TCU, last season’s national runner-up.

After the Buffaloes were dominated at Oregon, USC comes to Boulder next week to give Colorado a chance to either jump back in the rankings or become an afterthought for voters for the rest of the season.

Utah’s victory over UCLA sent the Bruins falling out of the poll, leaving the Pac-12 with six ranked teams after two weeks with a conference-record eight.

Alabama, which fell out of the top 10 last week for the first time since 2015, inched up a spot to No. 12 after beating Mississippi.

The Rebels dropped five spots to No. 20.

Six teams receiving first-place votes represent the most in a regular-season poll since Nov. 1, 2015.

In that poll, Ohio State was the No. 1 team, and like Georgia it had been that way since the preseason as the defending national champion. The Buckeyes received only 39 first-place votes.

This article contains information from the Associated Press.