Arizona football moves up to No. 14 in newest AP poll

The Arizona Wildcats continued their progression in the Associated Press college football poll on Sunday, moving up to No. 14, their highest of the season.

Coming after their 52-23 win over Arizona State, No. 14 is also the highest ranking for the program since 2014, a season which saw the Wildcats end with a Fiesta Bowl appearance.

Following two close losses against top-10 teams, Arizona won three-straight ranked matchups, earning a No. 23 ranking. Since then, the Wildcats have moved up to No. 19, No. 16 and now No. 14 to close the regular season.

No. 3 Washington, No. 4 Florida State and No. 5 Oregon all moved up a spot as well, giving the Pac-12 two top-five teams for the first time since the final ranking of the 2016 season.

Georgia remained No. 1 as the two-time defending national champions have been for 24 straight polls, dating back to the middle of the last season. The Bulldogs received 52 of 62 first-place votes.

Michigan returned to No. 2 following a week at No. 3 and received 10 first-place votes after beating Ohio State 30-24 in Ann Arbor on Saturday.

The Buckeyes slipped from second to No. 6, clearing the way for Washington to reach its best ranking since finishing the 2000 season at No. 3 and setting up a top-five matchup with Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game on Friday in Las Vegas.

The final Pac-12 championship game in the conference’s current form before 10 members leave for other Power Five conferences will be its first matching top-five teams.

The last time there were two Pac-12 teams in the top five of the AP poll was 2016, when Southern California finished No. 3 and Washington No. 4. The last time it happened during the season was Oct. 6, 2013, when Oregon was No. 2 and Stanford was fifth.

No. 7 Texas and No. 8 Alabama held their places Sunday. Missouri moved up one spot to ninth and Penn State to No. 10.

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