TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) - After pulling out a win against Troy on Saturday, the Mississippi State Bulldogs entered the AP Top 25 rankings for the first time since Week 3 of the 2011 season.
Mississippi State is now ranked No. 23 in the AP Poll as well as No. 23 in the Coaches Poll, both released on Sunday.
The Bulldogs defeated the Troy Trojans 30-24 Saturday to improve to (3-0) for the season. The Bulldogs have not started a season (3-0) since starting (8-0) in 1999.
Alabama retained the top spot in the AP Poll after a shutout victory over Arkansas on Saturday.
Southern Cal fell to Stanford on Saturday, and dropped in the AP Poll on Sunday. USC dropped 11 spots to No. 13 in the nation.
The LSU Tigers - who lost to the Crimson Tide in last season's BCS National Championship Game - replaced the Trojans at No. 2.
The Oregon Ducks, Florida State Seminoles and Georgia Bulldogs round out this week's Top 5.
Two other Southeastern Conference teams cracked this week's AP Top 25, as South Carolina is No. 7 and Florida is No. 14.
Tennessee dropped out of the poll after losing to Florida on Saturday.
A total of six SEC schools are in the Top 25 - three from the SEC West and three from the SEC East. Four of those teams - two from the West and two from the East - are ranked in the Top 7.
No team from the state of Mississippi received any votes in the AP Poll other than the Bulldogs.
COMPLETE AP TOP 25 RANKINGS
1Alabama (58 first place votes)
2LSU (2)
3Oregon
4Florida State
5Georgia
6Oklahoma
7South Carolina
8West Virginia
9Stanford
10Clemson
11Notre Dame
12Texas
13USC
14Florida
15Kansas State
16Ohio State
17TCU
18Michigan
19UCLA
20Louisville
21Michigan State
22Arizona
23Mississippi State
24Boise State
25Nebraska
