AP Top 25 college football new poll: How will top-10 teams who escaped upsets be treated?

Saturday was a white-knuckle day of college football for ranked teams, with most of them finding a way to escape with wins.

Four games involving teams in the Associated Press Top 25 went to overtime. Three of those games involved top-10 teams.

Four other games involving ranked were decided by three points or fewer.

When the dust settled, only four ranked teams lost games this week as No. 3 Oregon edged No. 2 Ohio State, 32-31; No. 13 LSU rallied late to beat No. 9 Mississippi 29-26 in overtime; and No. 1 Texas routed No. 18 Oklahoma, 34-3. Arizona State knocked off No. 16 Utah on Friday night.

As a result, when the new poll is released Sunday at 2 p.m., the questions is how voters will look at teams that won but didn’t exactly look impressive.

That list begins with No. 7 Alabama (5-1), which held on late to beat South Carolina (3-3), 27-25. A week after losing to Vanderbilt, the Crimson Tide were far from impressive.

Same goes for No. 8 Tennessee, which after losing to Arkansas as week ago needed overtime to beat Florida (3-3), 23-17, on Saturday.

No. 4 Penn State (6-0) trailed by 14 points at halftime to Southern California (3-3) before mounting a furious rally to beat the Trojans, 33-30, in overtime.

Will voters move them down a notch? Should they?

Top-ranked Texas (6-0) will stay put, while Oregon (6-0) will certainly vault past Ohio State (5-1) and into the No. 2 spot. The Buckeyes (5-1) shouldn’t fall out of the top 10.

That gives No. 6 Miami (6-0), which didn’t play this weekend, a chance to move into the top five.

Ole Miss (5-2) will drop from the top 10, which means No. 10 Clemson will move up after its resounding 49-14 win at Wake Forest. The Tigers could get enough support to move past Alabama and/or Tennessee if voters push those teams for narrow wins.

Look for either Iowa State (6-0) or Notre Dame (5-1), which were tied at No. 11 last week, to take that coveted top-10 spot the Rebels will vacate. Iowa State won 28-16 at West Virginia, while the Fighting Irish rolled over Stanford, 49-7.

As for the rest of the poll, No. 18 Oklahoma (4-2) could drop out of the poll after being humbled by Texas. No. 16 Utah (4-2) might fall out, too, after its loss at Arizona State (5-1). That result could earn the Sun Devils a ranking.

Last week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll

This article will be updated when the new Associated Press Top 25 poll is released at 2 p.m. on Sunday.