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Northwestern falls out of AP Top 25

The Southeastern Conference set a record for most schools in The Associated Press college football poll with eight ranked teams.

The Top 25 was shaken Sunday after seven ranked teams lost, including five to teams that were unranked or lower ranked. Stanford dropped eight spots, and Michigan and Northwestern fell from the poll.

The top four was unchanged, with No. 1 Alabama receiving 55 of 60 first-place votes. No. 2 is Oregon, followed by Clemson and Ohio State. Florida State moved up to No. 5 to set up a top-five matchup at Clemson next week.

Stanford lost 27-20 at Utah and is now No. 13, becoming the first top-10 team this season to lose to an unranked team. Michigan drops out after losing 43-40 in four overtimes at Penn State, and Northwestern falls out after a 35-6 shellacking at Wisconsin. The Badgers are back in the Top 25 in the last spot.

No. 24 Auburn moved into the rankings for the first time this season to join No. 6 LSU, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 11 South Carolina, No. 14 Missouri, No. 15 Georgia and No. 22 Florida. Missouri jumped 11 spots after a 41-26 victory at Georgia (4-2).

Northern Illinois, which survived a scare from Akron, kept its No. 23 ranking.

The record for most teams from one conference in a regular-season poll had been seven, done many times, including this season by the SEC. The ACC and Big Ten have also reached seven ranked teams in season.

The SEC also had eight teams ranked in the 2011 preseason poll.

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