Iowa moves up to No. 14 in AP Top 25 and goes into Buckeyes showdown as possible playoff contender

While most of the usual suspects for the College Football Playoff are alive and well through the first month of the season, a few new contenders are emerging.

Few saw Florida coming along this quickly, but here the Gators are in Jon Sumrall's first season sitting No. 8 in The Associated Press Top 25.

Mississippi State? The Bulldogs, picked second to last in the Southeastern Conference, are now No. 16 in the nation.

BYU was expected to be good again, but not as good as prohibitive favorite Texas Tech in what many thought to be a one-bid Big 12. At No. 10, the Cougars are ahead of the No. 12 Red Raiders for the third straight poll.

The most intriguing team of all might be No. 14 Iowa, those darned-if-they-don't-find-a-way-to-win Hawkeyes who hung around long enough Saturday to beat Michigan 20-19 on the last play at the Big House.

Next up is a monster game against No. 5 Ohio State, the highest-ranked team to visit Iowa City since 2022. The Buckeyes opened as 14.5-point favorites for Saturday's game, which will see ESPN’s College Football Gameday in town for the first time in 20 years.

Never count out a Kirk Ferentz team, though. The Hawkeyes can muck up a game better than anyone and have won five of their last eight home games against top-five opponents. The Hawkeyes have their usual top-10 defense and a first-year starting quarterback in Hank Brown who is flush with confidence after throwing the winning touchdown pass against Michigan.

If they pull an upset Saturday, or keep it close, they would be thrust into the playoff conversation for no other reason than they would have one of the most manageable remaining schedules with no currently ranked teams. It is definitely easier than the schedules remaining for Florida and Mississippi State in the SEC and about equal to that of BYU.

Still, that could hurt, too, in the eyes of the CFP selection committee. Even before the Ohio State game, Iowa ranks only 13th in the 18-team Big Ten in strength of schedule for the final eight games, according to the ESPN Power Index.

Oklahoma State's season-opening loss to Tulsa in new coach Eric Morris' debut marked its 21st consecutive loss to a Bowl Subdivision opponent, a skid that ended the next week when the Cowboys pulled the first shocker of the season by beating then-No. 6 Oregon 39-31.

Two weeks later, and after a 41-24 road win over West Virginia , they're in the Top 25 for the first time since early in the 2024 season.

“I said before the game, and coach Morris said it, all the media and everything, they kind of think the Oregon game was a fluke or whatever,” quarterback Drew Mestemaker said. "Everyone inside the building knows what this team is. It’s not as much about proving everyone wrong, but proving everyone in the building right.”

Louisville did the ACC no favors by losing to Wake Forest. The Cardinals dropped out of the Top 25, leaving only conference standard bearer Miami at No. 4 and SMU at No. 21.

Miami, of course, is far and away the best team in the ACC and everyone else is playing for the second spot in the conference championship game. The thought was that Louisville or SMU could challenge for an at-large playoff spot, but the Cardinals have two losses and a leaky defense and the Mustangs were unimpressive against second-year FBS member Missouri State.

Duke, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech are 4-0 and unranked, and a Clemson team that hosts Miami this week has been an after-thought since it lost by 41 points at LSU.

No. 1 Texas has five road wins against AP Top 25 opponents since 2023, most in the nation over that span. Texas has won eight consecutive games against opponents ranked Nos. 11-25, its longest streak since a 12-game run from 2004-09. ... No. 2 Georgia has scored 219 points, the most through four games since it amassed 237 in 1910. The Bulldogs have scored 40-plus points in all four games to start a season for the first time since 2018. ... No. 13 Notre Dame has won 14 consecutive games by double digits, the longest active streak of its kind in the FBS and longest in program history.

AP Sports Writer John Raby contributed from Morgantown, West Virginia.

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