AP Top 25 October 11: Georgia No. 1; next poll follows upset Saturday
Georgia led the October 11 poll with 66 of 70 first-place votes. The October 17 games are now complete; the next AP ranking is scheduled for October 18 at 2 p.m. Eastern.
Verified brief
The story in 60 seconds
This is the AP Top 25 released October 11, 2026: Georgia first, Notre Dame second, Miami third and Texas seventh. Dated October 18 update: those are pregame rankings, not a new order after Saturday’s upsets. The next AP release is scheduled for 2 p.m. Eastern today. Media rankings remain separate from College Football Playoff selection.
This brief and the full story below are based on the disclosed sources. SearchTrends Daily’s interpretation appears later under “Our take.”
Full reporting
The complete story
Editorial illustration: a football, ballot papers and ranking platforms; not a photograph of a team or match.
What changed in the October 11 poll?
The AP’s official poll puts Georgia first, followed by Notre Dame, Miami, Ohio State, Indiana, Alabama and Texas. Georgia received 66 of the 70 first-place votes. Miami received two; Notre Dame and Indiana received one each.
The other notable movement is below the leading group. UCLA rises nine places to No. 12. Kentucky enters at No. 15, while LSU drops to No. 22. Wake Forest and Northwestern also enter the rankings, at Nos. 21 and 25. Oregon, Florida and Pittsburgh leave the Top 25. The order is corroborated by the October 11 Yahoo Sports/The Big Lead rankings report.
The results behind the new leader
Georgia’s move follows its 20–17 victory at Alabama on October 10. Our Georgia–Alabama match report covers that result separately. The AP’s poll release report confirms the new No. 1 and the ballot split.
Texas’s fall follows a different game. NCAA.com’s October 10 account records Oklahoma’s 27–24 Red River victory, settled by a late field goal. Those are completed results, not previews or live-score projections. This article concerns the subsequent rankings decision, rather than treating either match as the whole explanation for every voter’s ballot.
Source perspectives
What other reporting adds
These are the reports, official records, and trend observations used to build the story. The note under each link explains exactly what it contributes.
Primary current poll, Week 6 (Current), read October 11 at 18:21 and rechecked at 18:29 UTC. Supports rank order, first-place votes, points, movement and listed October 17 fixtures. Dynamic page: use the October 11 poll, not a future selected week. Re-read October 18 morning UTC: Week 6 remains Current; completed October 17 scores appear beside the old ranks, and next poll release is scheduled for October 18 at 2 p.m. ET. No projected new order asserted.
Read original source ↗Associated PressGeorgia takes over at No. 1 in AP Top 25 with Notre Dame, Miami next; Oregon is out of the pollEric Olson’s October 11 release report, updated 18:00 UTC. Supports the new leader, 66 of 70 first-place votes, and movement after October 10 games. The primary poll table controls the precise order; an inconsistent historical conference line in the report was not used.
Read original source ↗NCAA.comOklahoma stuns No. 1 Texas in Red River Rivalry thrillerStan Becton’s October 10 completed-game account supports Oklahoma’s 27–24 win over Texas and the late deciding field goal. Event date and publication date are both October 10. No unverified live score or preview used.
Read original source ↗College Football PlayoffAbout the Selection Committee — 2026 selection meeting scheduleOfficial committee page supports the separate 12-team playoff process, November 3 first 2026 ranking, December 6 Selection Day, and evaluation factors. The URL path is historical; the currently displayed 2026 meeting schedule was read, not an assumed 2021 schedule.
Read original source ↗Yahoo Sports / The Big LeadCollege football top 25 rankings 2026: AP Top 25 poll entering Week 7Josh Sanchez’s October 11 ranking list independently corroborates the current Top 25 and 66 first-place votes. Its playoff-format explanation was not used; the official CFP committee page is cited for that separate process.
Read original source ↗SearchTrends DailyRelated coverage: Georgia beats Alabama 20–17Our separately published, sourced match report provides the detailed account of the October 10 Georgia–Alabama game. Linked as related coverage, not an independent corroborating source.
Read original source ↗BYU AthleticsNo. 8 Cougars hold on to win all-timer over No. 2 Irish 28–24Official October 17 event report, read October 18. Supports result, records, Bachmeier statistics, scoring roles, late drive, opponent-ranking history and October 24 UCF schedule. URL date differs from displayed event date. Minor final-drive yard-line discrepancies between school recaps were not used.
Read original source ↗Notre Dame AthleticsIrish rally, then fall late at BYU 28–24Official October 17 account supports Carr/Greathouse statistics, halftime fumble review, targeting ejection, Irish comeback and final incomplete pass. Its assertion that the fourth-quarter lead was the first lead conflicts with its own earlier 10–7 sequence and is not repeated.
Read original source ↗SearchTrends DailyRelated: BYU beats Notre Dame 28–24Separate sourced match report for October 17; linked as related coverage, not independent corroboration.
Read original source ↗SearchTrends Daily opinion
Our take
Analysis
What the evidence and search signal suggest
The most revealing small detail is the gap between sixth and seventh: Alabama has 1,372 points and Texas 1,371. That one-point difference is our subtraction of the AP’s published totals. It shows how a full ranking place can conceal a very narrow aggregate margin. It is not a one-point difference in team strength, a betting probability or evidence that every voter prefers Alabama.
The same caution applies to a dramatic upset. A single result provides powerful new information, but a ranking also compares teams that have played different opponents. Without examining individual ballots, it would be speculation to assign one motive to all the voters. The useful reading is the published order and its limits, not a claim that the poll has proved a future outcome.
Analysis and commentary are SearchTrends Daily’s interpretation. They are intentionally separated from the sourced account above.
Meaning
Why this matters
The immediate answer for someone checking “AP poll” is who is ranked where. The more consequential distinction is what the table cannot do: it does not award a playoff place. The College Football Playoff’s official committee schedule sets its first 2026 rankings release for November 3 and Selection Day for December 6. That committee, not the AP electorate, selects the 12-team playoff field.
Background
How we got here
A weekly ranking is a snapshot of a season still in progress. A change at No. 1 can be significant without settling which teams will be strongest at the end. The AP poll and the playoff committee are separate processes with different decision-makers. The committee says it considers performance, strength of schedule, head-to-head results and common opponents. Readers should therefore keep the poll’s date attached when sharing a ranking, and not describe this October list as the final postseason order.
Outlook
What is likely to happen next
Reviewed October 18, 2026, after the completed October 17 games. The old preview has been replaced: BYU beat Notre Dame 28–24, Auburn beat Georgia 27–24 and Ohio State beat Indiana 19–15. The AP’s primary poll page shows those results alongside its Week 6 ranking, still labelled Current at this review. That combination is not a newly voted postgame order.
AP lists the next Top 25 release for October 18 at 2 p.m. Eastern (18:00 UTC). We will update this coverage when the official table is published; a projected No. 1 is not a confirmed ranking. Our view would change with that ballot, an official result correction or later performance evidence. The CFP’s official page still lists November 3 for its first 2026 committee rankings and December 6 for Selection Day. Those are separate milestones, not consequences automatically awarded by this AP poll.
A conditional editorial assessment based on the evidence available at the review date, not a guaranteed outcome.
Live record
Updates to this story
October 17 results replace preview; October 18 AP poll still due
October 18, 2026: the October 17 games previewed here are complete. BYU beat Notre Dame 28–24 and Ohio State beat Indiana 19–15; Auburn also beat Georgia 27–24. We have replaced the forward-looking passage, linked the BYU report and made the headline and summary explicitly identify this as the October 11 poll. AP’s primary page still labels Week 6 Current and schedules the next release for 2 p.m. Eastern (18:00 UTC) today. Completed scores beside old rankings are not a new ballot. The original October 11 publication date, stable URL, historical reporting, analysis and relevant illustration are preserved; no new No. 1 or playoff berth is asserted.
Commentary
What we think
SearchTrends Daily opinion: the best way to use this poll is as a dated guide to the national argument, not as a substitute for watching the next games. Georgia’s overwhelming first-place support makes the leadership change clear. The much tighter Alabama–Texas points gap deserves a different description. Good coverage should preserve that distinction instead of making every position look equally decisive.