Alabama Back To No. 1 Ranking After Georgia Falls Following Struggle At Missouri

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No. 2 Alabama beat No. 20 Arkansas in prettier fashion than No. 1 Georgia beat unranked Missouri.

And that was enough to move the Crimson Tide to No. 1 in both the Associated Press media poll and USA TODAY coaches' poll on Sunday.

The Tide (5-0, 2-0 SEC) managed to run away from the Razorbacks, 49-26, despite losing starting quarterback and 2021 Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young in the second quarter to a shoulder injury. Redshirt freshman Jalen Milroe came off the bench to rush for 91 yards and a touchdown and complete 4 of 9 passes for 65 yards and a touchdown.

MEET ALABAMA'S BACKUP QUARTERBACK, WHO REPLACED INJURED BRYCE YOUNG

Georgia (5-0, 2-0 SEC), meanwhile, found itself trailing 28-point underdog Missouri, 13-0, in the first half and 16-6 at halftime. The Dawgs rallied to win 26-22 after it took its first lead of the game late in the fourth quarter. Missouri dropped to 2-3 and 0-2 in the SEC.

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Alabama QB Bryce Young. (Getty Images)

Alabama was the preseason No. 1 in both bolls, but fell to No. 2 after a fortunate, 20-19 win at unranked Texas on Sept. 10.

Two SEC teams fell out of the poll - No. 17 Texas A&M (3-2, 1-1 SEC) after a 42-24 loss at unranked Mississippi State and Arkansas (3-2, 1-2 SEC).

Tennessee (4-0, 1-0 SEC) was open and remained at No. 8. Ole Miss (5-0, 1-0 SEC) jumped up five spots from No. 14 to No. 9 after knocking off No. 7 Kentucky, 22-19. The Wildcats (4-1, 1-1 SEC) dropped to No. 13.

SATURDAY WAS ALL RIGHT FOR FIGHTIN' AT OLE MISS

Two SEC teams were ranked for the first time this season - No. 23 Mississippi State (4-1, 1-1) and No. 25 LSU (4-1, 2-0), which came back from a 17-0 deficit in the second quarter at Auburn to win 21-17.

The rest of the A.P. top 25:

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Guilbeau joined OutKick as an SEC columnist in September of 2021 after covering LSU and the Saints for 17 years at USA TODAY Louisiana. He has been a national columnist/feature writer since the summer of 2022, covering college football, basketball and baseball with some NFL, NBA, MLB, TV and Movies and general assignment, including hot dog taste tests. A New Orleans native and Mizzou graduate, he has consistently won Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) awards since covering Alabama and Auburn at the Mobile Press-Register (1993-98) and LSU and the Saints at the Baton Rouge Advocate (1998-2004). In 2021, Guilbeau won an FWAA 1st for a game feature, placed in APSE Beat Writing, Breaking News and Explanatory, and won Beat Writer of the Year from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA). He won an FWAA columnist 1st in 2017 and was FWAA's top overall winner in 2016 with 1st in game story, 2nd in columns, and features honorable mention. Guilbeau completed a book in 2022 about LSU's five-time national champion coach - "Everything Matters In Baseball: The Skip Bertman Story" - that is available at www.acadianhouse.com, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble outlets. He lives in Baton Rouge with his wife, the former Michelle Millhollon of Thibodaux who previously covered politics for the Baton Rouge Advocate and is a communications director.