Following their 55-3 trouncing of the Arizona State Sun Devils last Saturday, the Utah Utes surged up five spots in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, going from No. 18 to No. 13.
There was no such luck in the second College Football Playoff rankings released on Tuesday, as the Utes remained at No. 18, where they were in last week’s initial rankings.
At this point in the season, the CFP rankings are the standard ones used when referring to where teams are ranked.
Utah is fourth among the five Pac-12 teams in this week’s rankings. Washington and Oregon remained Nos. 5 and 6 (the top eight from last week went unchanged), Oregon State is No. 12 and Arizona is No. 21.
The new No. 9 team from this week has a strong Utah tie, as former Beehive State high school football star Jaxson Dart is the starting quarterback of the Ole Miss Rebels, who moved up one spot.
Penn State, the Utes’ opponent in last season’s Rose Bowl, is No. 10.
Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan and Florida State occupy the all-important top four spots.
Texas is No. 7 and Alabama is No. 8.
As far as the Big 12 is concerned, there are four teams ranked this week after Texas. Oklahoma State, Kansas and Oklahoma are grouped together at Nos. 15-17, while Kansas State barely stayed in at No. 25, although it dropped two spots.
The three teams to drop out of the rankings altogether are all from out West: UCLA (was No. 19 last week), USC (was No. 20) and Air Force (was No. 25).
Utah and Washington are set to square off on Saturday afternoon, with kickoff slated for 1:30 p.m. MT.