Arizona State drops in Top 25 poll after ugly win over Northern Arizona

After a wild first official week to the 2025-26 college football season which saw four AP Top 10-ranked teams fall to 0-1, the newest poll has been released. A massive shakeup in the upper third of the list sees a new program claim the No. 1 overall spot while several others tumbled.

After defeating Texas 14-7 at home, Ohio State is now the new No. 1 team in the country. Penn State stayed put at No. 2 while LSU climbed all the way from No. 9 to No. 3 after taking out then-No. 4 Clemson on the road.

Arizona State slides down one spot in newest AP Top 25 poll

Surprisingly, though maybe not to some, Arizona State dropped from No. 11 to No. 12 in this week's poll after beating Northern Arizona 38-19 over the weekend.

You'd think the Sun Devils would benefit from the multitude of stumbles within the Top 10 this week but apparently the lack of a blowout performance against an FCS foe was enough to give voters pause when expressing their confidence in the program.

ASU did, indeed, struggle to maintain dominance against the Lumberjacks. The offense was forced into multiple three-and-out situations while the defense was the backbone preventing an unfortunate season-opening collapse.

Quarterback Sam Leavitt completed 25 of his 39 passes for 257 yards and 2 touchdowns, relying heavily on the connection with wideout Jordyn Tyson for 12 of those completions for 141 yards and both touchdowns.

The Sun Devils enter Week 2 with a bigger matchup than most anticipate heading down to Starkville, Mississippi to take on Mississippi State. Regardless of how the Bulldogs performed last year, the Devils are still facing an SEC opponent on the road in a hostile environment. There is no room for error lest the AP voters be given another reason to drop ASU down several more pegs in the Week 3 poll.