Week 9 of the 2024 college football season is in the books, and the updated Associated Press top 25 poll will be released Sunday afternoon.

As an AP voter this season, I’ll be sharing my top 25 ballots each week and giving a behind-the-scenes look at my thought process.

Here are the AP top 25 polls for Week 8, after Penn State-Wisconsin, LSU-Texas A&M and others.

(Previous rankings Last week’s vote is in parentheses.)

Dropped: Missouri (20), Vanderbilt (25)

25. Tulan (NR)

24. Navy (24)

23. Colorado (NR)

22. Illinois (19)

21st Army (23)

I’ve long viewed Missouri as a fraud. While it’s unfortunate that Brady Cook is out after an injury, the Tigers don’t have the same spark as last year. This was evident in their 34-0 loss at Alabama. Vanderbilt was also eliminated because it was too early in the season to rank three-loss teams. But I still love Diego Pavia.

Navy and Illinois faced buzzer-beaters against Notre Dame and Oregon. They were just overmatched. However, I still think that both of them deserve to be in the top 25, and the number of strong teams that can enter is very small.

Two teams with compelling cases? Colorado and Tulane. The Green Wave went 6-2 against Kansas State and Oklahoma. Five straight wins keep them in the middle of the AAC race. Colorado is also 6-2. Shedeur Sanders is cooking and Travis Hunter is making a bet on being in New York for the Heisman ceremony. Deion Sanders’ Supplements are dangerous.

20. SMU (22)

19. Ole Miss (21)

18.LSU (9)

17. Boise State (18)

16.Kansas State (16)

LSU fell apart in the second half at Texas A&M but remains ahead of Ole Miss thanks to a head-to-head win by the Tigers. In a few weeks, LSU-Alabama, a CFP playoff game.

In a battle between Mountain West favorites and playoff contenders, Boise State survived UNLV. Ashton Jeanty seemed somewhat human, but I don’t know how many of these games we’ll get going. The Broncos remain my pick for the G5 spot in the CFP.

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15.Alabama (15)

14.Pitt (17)

13.Iowa State (11)

12.Clemson (8)

11.Tennessee (7)

Pitt deserves great credit. No one, not even the most optimistic Pitt fan, expected the Panthers to be undefeated at this point in the season. Pat Narduzzi’s intense defense struck down Syracuse QB Kyle McCord five times; including three pick-sixes in the 41-13 win. Pitt will play SMU next Saturday in a matchup between the unlikely ACC championship contenders.

Dormant Tennessee, Clemson and Iowa State are through no fault of their own. There were teams playing this week that I thought were gaining promotion. Of the big 12 undefeated teams, I gave BYU the nod over Iowa State after an impressive win at UCF, a team the Cyclones have struggled with.

10. BYU (12)

9. Texas A&M (14)

8. Notre Dame (13)

7. Indiana (10)

6.Ohio State (4)

The Texas A&M-LSU game was in progress during the Penn State game, so I couldn’t watch the game live. Looking back, I was impressed with QB Marcel Reed’s performance in the second half. Some might push Texas A&M even higher, and I understand that. But the Irish defeated the Aggies in College Station to open the season and pulled off an impressive blowout win over Navy. Notre Dame bounced back nicely from the Northern Illinois upset and is heading into CFP form.

I was a bit critical of Ohio State for how it looked against Nebraska coming off the bye week. The offense never really got going and required a late selection of Dylan Raiola to avoid an upset as a 25-point favorite. But make no mistake: The Buckeyes will still be a handful for the Nittany Lions next week.

Oh, and Indiana is a wagon at 8-0. Last week, the Hoosiers scored 56 points on a Nebraska defense that Ohio State was struggling with. They beat Washington comfortably this week without star QB Kurtis Rourke. Can’t say it enough: great work by Curt Cignetti.

5. Texas (5)

4.Miami (6)

3. Georgia (3)

2.Penn State (2)

1.Oregon (1)

Miami was seeded No. 4 behind Ohio State. Cam Ward and the Canes continue to roll forward with a 36-14 win over Florida State. This crime is lethal. Looking at the rest of the schedule, an undefeated regular season is more than achievable for Miami.

Texas maintains its 5th place. Quinn Ewers broke it up early, while Vanderbilt scored late. Georgia was idle and Oregon was smoking Illinois.

And finally, I agree with James Franklin. Winning on the road at Wisconsin without Drew Allar in the second half was “courageous” for Penn State. The Nittany Lions have been tested in different ways throughout this season, and they have risen to every challenge. Give them credit. They will need the same mentality against the Buckeyes whether the Als are at quarterback or not.