Latest AP poll: Clemson at No. 5; Ohio State hangs on to No. 1

Clemson moved up to No. 5, while Baylor is No. 2 and Utah is up to fourth behind No. 1 Ohio State in The Associated Press college football poll.

TCU is at No. 3.

Voters spread first-place votes around to six teams in the Top 25 released Sunday. The Buckeyes received 27, down 11 (38) from last week. Baylor has 13 and Utah has 16. No. 3 TCU received three first-place votes and No. 5 Clemson and No. 9 Texas A&M each received one.

Ohio State started the season a unanimous No. 1, but as the Buckeyes have sputtered support has slipped. Ohio State pulled away from Maryland in the second half Saturday for a 49-28 victory.

Now, there isn’t much separation in the top four. The Buckeyes have 1,411 poll points, 21 more than Baylor. TCU is four points ahead of Utah.

MOVING UP

– Utah has its best ranking since finishing No. 2 in final 2008 poll. The Utes previous best regular-season ranking was No. 5 in 2004.

– No. 8 Florida has its best rankings since 2012 and No. 12 Michigan has its best since 2013.

GOING DOWN

– No. 7 Michigan State slipped three spots from No. 4, the second straight week the undefeated Spartans dropped after a close win against a losing team.

– No. 19 Oklahoma dropped nine spots after losing to Texas.

– No. 20 Northwestern fell seven places after being shut out by Michigan.

OUT

Southern California and Georgia both started the season ranked in the top 10 with what seemed like legitimate hopes to reach College Football Playoff.

Six weeks into the season, both traditional powers are out of the rankings and likely out of the playoff chance. The Trojans flopped on Thursday at home against Washington and the Bulldogs blew a 21-point lead at Tennessee on Saturday.

Georgia is out of the rankings for the first time since the end of 2013.

THE RANKINGS

1. Ohio State

2. Baylor

3. TCU

4. Utah

5. Clemson

6. LSU

7. Michigan State

8. Florida

9. Texas A&M

10. Alabama

11. Florida State

12. Michigan

13. Mississippi

14. Notre Dame

15. Stanford

16. Oklahoma State

17. Iowa

18. UCLA

19. Oklahoma

20. Northwestern

21. Boise State

22. Toledo

23. California

24. Houston

25. Duke

This story was originally published October 11, 2015 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Latest AP poll: Clemson at No. 5; Ohio State hangs on to No. 1."