This year’s game of the century (Alabama 41, Georgia 34) did not disappoint, and it led to a new No. 1 spot in my Associated Press top 25 voting.

The Bulldogs’ loss knocked them out of my top spot and allowed the Crimson Tide to take it over. Hardly. I initially moved Texas to No. 1, but crossed over the Longhorns for the second week in a row. Advanced Stats generally consider Texas the best team in the country through the first month, but ‘Bama has three wins by at least 20 points and its best win of the season. Advantage: Alabama. Georgia fell to fourth place, just behind Ohio State. I see very little separation from the top four (and perhaps #5 Tennessee).

Miami is the only state team on my ballot. The Hurricanes remained seventh after a wild win over Virginia Tech. I moved Oregon past the ‘Canes because I thought Miami should have beaten an undersized Hokies team with more than a controversial Hail Mary call at the end.

Missouri and Mississippi are the two hardest teams for me to figure out. The Tigers are 4-0 with close wins over Boston College and Vanderbilt. The Rebels knocked off four bad teams and then lost to Kentucky by three points at home after missing a field goal in the final minute. I moved inactive Missouri up two spots to ninth (as other teams moved down) and ranked Mississippi at 10 (down four spots). As far as I’m concerned, you could rank them both somewhere between ninth and nineteenth.

I also don’t feel confident moving Notre Dame from 18th to 11th after the Irish’s win over a top 20 Louisville team. The early loss to Northern Illinois still hurts Notre Dame. But the Irish have two quality wins (the Cardinals plus Texas A&M) and lopsided wins over Purdue and Miami (Ohio). Advanced Stats has them in or around the top 10, so I put them ahead of a jumble of other one-loss teams (Michigan, USC, LSU, Clemson).

BYU was another big riser, moving up four steps to 17th. The Cougars’ wins over Kansas State and SMU look better, and I generally appreciate teams for conference wins on the road (like their triumph at Baylor).

Utah was a big loser after a two-point home loss to Arizona. The Utes’ resume looks weaker after Kansas State moved on from Oklahoma State, so I couldn’t justify ranking them higher than 23rd.

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I was the only voter who had UCF on my ballot last week. That’s obviously no longer the case after Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes blew out the Knights at FBC Mortgage Stadium. My colleagues were proven right. Maybe UCF can bounce back from this (starting Saturday at Florida), but it was a terrible performance. I was very impressed with the effort of the Buffs, especially the improved ground game.

Oklahoma State and Illinois also dropped out of my rankings. Their departures made way for Boise State, Arizona and Texas A&M. SMU’s destruction of Florida State warranted consideration, but wasn’t enough to crack the top 25. Others in the mix were Colorado, UNLV, Iowa, Kentucky, Pitt, Navy and James Madison.

Matt Baker’s AP Top 25 voting

1. Alabama

2.Texas

3. Ohio State

4. Georgia

5. Tennessee

6. Oregon

7. Miami

8. Penn State

9.Missouri

10. Mississippi

11. Notre Dame

12.Michigan

13.USC

14. LSU

15.Clemson

16. Iowa State

17. BYU

18. State of Kansas

19. Okla

20.Louisville

21. Boise State

22. Arizona

23.Utah

24.Indiana

25. Texas A&M