The Associated Press
East Carolina is ranked in The Associated Press college football poll for the first time since 2008 and Mississippi State moved into the Top 25 for the first time in two seasons after breaking a long losing streak against LSU.
The top seven teams are the same as last week, starting with No. 1 Florida State, which escaped 23-17 in overtime against Clemson on Saturday night.
The Pirates are No. 23 after a record-setting 70-41 victory against North Carolina. ECU has beaten Atlantic Coast Conference teams the past two weeks after winning at Virginia Tech.
The Pirates were last ranked Sept. 21, 2008. That team finished 9-5 and won Conference USA. East Carolina (3-1) is in its first season in the American Athletic Conference.
Mississippi State is No. 14 after beating LSU 34-29 to end a 14-game skid to the Tigers. The Bulldogs were last ranked in 2012.
THE AP TOP 25
The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Sept. 20, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:
| Record | Pts | Pv | |
| 1. Florida St. (34) | 3-0 | 1,439 | 1 |
| 2. Oregon (12) | 4-0 | 1,400 | 2 |
| 3. Alabama (6) | 4-0 | 1,377 | 3 |
| 4. Oklahoma (4) | 4-0 | 1,343 | 4 |
| 5. Auburn | 3-0 | 1,268 | 5 |
| 6. Texas A&M (4) | 4-0 | 1,232 | 6 |
| 7. Baylor | 3-0 | 1,143 | 7 |
| 8. Notre Dame | 3-0 | 967 | 9 |
| 9. Michigan St. | 2-1 | 905 | 11 |
| 10. Mississippi | 3-0 | 889 | 10 |
| 11. UCLA | 3-0 | 806 | 12 |
| 12. Georgia | 2-1 | 789 | 13 |
| 13. South Carolina | 3-1 | 764 | 14 |
| 14. Mississippi St. | 4-0 | 706 | NR |
| 15. Arizona St. | 3-0 | 702 | 15 |
| 16. Stanford | 2-1 | 564 | 16 |
| 17. LSU | 3-1 | 541 | 8 |
| 18. Southern Cal | 2-1 | 459 | 17 |
| 19. Wisconsin | 2-1 | 451 | 19 |
| 20. BYU | 4-0 | 376 | 21 |
| 21. Nebraska | 4-0 | 296 | 24 |
| 22. Ohio St. | 2-1 | 196 | 23 |
| 23. East Carolina | 3-1 | 180 | NR |
| 24. Oklahoma St. | 2-1 | 132 | 25 |
| 25. Kansas St. | 2-1 | 131 | 20 |
Others receiving votes: Duke 86, Penn St. 81, Clemson 48, TCU 35, Marshall 33, Utah 31, Washington 30, Georgia Tech 22, Boston College 19, West Virginia 15, Cincinnati 11, Arizona 9, Arkansas 9, Missouri 5, Oregon St. 5, N. Dakota St. 3, Indiana 1, Pittsburgh 1,
