Tennessee rises to No. 11 in the AP Top 25 after the Alabama win

A wild Saturday across college football pushed Tennessee up to No. 11 in the new AP Top 25. The Volunteers' 26-10 dismantling of Alabama moved them to 6-1 on the season and 3-1 in SEC play, and the chaos elsewhere in the rankings did the rest.

Miami climbed to No. 1 after surviving Florida State, BYU jumped to No. 2 on the strength of its win over Notre Dame, and Ohio State, Notre Dame and Georgia filled out the top five. Alabama, meanwhile, slid to No. 13, two spots behind the Tennessee team that had just beaten it by 16 points.

Both polls took on a completely different feel just past the midpoint of the season, reshaped by a weekend full of upsets. For Tennessee, the timing of the rise matters as much as the number itself, because the first College Football Playoff rankings of the year are just around the corner.

At No. 11, the Volunteers are positioned to be squarely in the thick of the playoff race rather than watching it from the fringe. Protecting that standing starts this week at South Carolina, where another win would keep Tennessee's resume climbing at exactly the right point in the season.