AUBURN AUTHORITY

Auburn slips to No. 6 in AP, No. 8 in Amway Coaches poll

James Crepea

Montgomery Advertiser

Auburn coach Gus Malzahn was not thinking about the College Football Playoff following his team's loss to Mississippi State on Saturday.

AUBURN -- The first loss of the season sent Auburn slipping in the polls, but not too far.

The Tigers (5-1, 2-1 SEC) dropped to No. 6 in the Associated Press poll and No. 8 in the Amway Coaches poll following their 38-23 loss at Mississippi State on Saturday.

Auburn received 1,114 points in the AP poll, down from a season-high of 1,459 as No. 2 last week, to come in as the top one-loss team, ahead of No. 7 Alabama (1,068) and No. 8 Michigan State (1,015), which are ahead of Auburn in the coaches poll.

With the biggest win in program history, Mississippi State (6-0, 3-0 SEC) is the new No. 1 team in the country. The Bulldogs claimed the top spot in the AP poll for the first time in program history and received 1,480 points thanks to 45 first place votes.

Florida State (1,415) dropped to No. 2 and 12 first place votes, down from 35 a week ago.

Ole Miss (1,413) remained at No.3, though barely behind Florida State, and received three first place votes, its first of the season.

No. 4 Baylor (1,317) and No. 5 Notre Dame (1,228) each moved up after remaining undefeated. No. 9 Oregon (1,014) and No. 10 Georgia (981) round out the top 10.

Auburn dropped six spots to No. 8 in the Amway Coaches poll and received 1,111 points, down from last week's season-high of 1,477, and lost all 16 first place votes from a week ago.

Mississippi State (1,490 points) barely took over the top spot from Florida State (1,489). The Seminoles received 31 first-place votes to 26 for the Bulldogs.

Ole Miss (1,436) moved up to No. 3 and received five first-place votes while Baylor (1,392) dropped to No. 4 and Notre Dame (1,292) came in at No. 5.

No. 6 Michigan State (1,129) and No. 7 Alabama (1,121) are the only one-loss teams ahead of Auburn in the coaches poll, with Oregon and Georgia rounding out the top 10.

Kansas State, Auburn's only win over a ranked opponent thus far, moved up to No. 14 in the coaches poll.

Five teams from the SEC West - Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Auburn, Alabama, and No. 21 Texas A&M - are ranked in the AP poll while Georgia (No. 10) is the only ranked SEC East team.

Auburn enters an off week at the midpoint of its regular season and plays four of its final six games against teams currently ranked in both polls, including road trips to Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama.