AP Top 25: Alabama overtakes Texas for No. 1 and UNLV earns its 1st ranking in program history

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AP Top 25: Alabama overtakes Texas for No. 1 and UNLV earns its 1st ranking in program history

2024-09-30 02:03 Last Updated At：02:11

Alabama returned to No. 1 in The Associated Press college football poll for the first time in two years Sunday following its dizzying victory over Georgia, making this 16 of 17 seasons the Crimson Tide has held the top spot at some point.

UNLV, unbeaten through four games for the first time in its Division I history, cracked the rankings for the first time ever just days after losing its starting quarterback over an NIL dispute. The Rebels are tied for No. 25 with Texas A&M.

Alabama received 40 of 63 first-place votes and leapfrogged three teams to take over No. 1 from Texas, which tussled with Mississippi State deep into the second half as a five-touchdown favorite and slipped to No. 2. The Longhorns got 19 first-place votes, well off last week's 44.

Ohio State remained No. 3 with four first-place votes. Tennessee, which had an open date, moved up a spot to No. 4. Georgia, whose only three losses since 2021 have come to Alabama, dropped to No. 5.

Oregon, Penn State, Miami, Missouri and Michigan rounded out the top 10.

Mississippi and Utah took the biggest falls. The Rebels, upset by Kentucky at home, dropped from No. 6 to No. 12. The Utes, who lost to Arizona at home, went from No. 10 to No. 18.

Alabama, which is No. 1 for the first time under coach Kalen DeBoer, has posted back-to-back impressive wins with Heisman Trophy front-runner Jalen Milroe and freshman phenom receiver Ryan Williams leading the way.

The Tide won 42-10 on the road against Wisconsin two weeks ago and prevailed 41-34 against Georgia on Saturday night after squandering a 28-point first-half lead.

The Tide hadn't been No. 1 since Oct. 2, 2022. They memorably held the spot for just one week after needing a late goal-line stand to beat an unranked Texas A&M at home, with Milroe subbing for injured 2021 Heisman winner Bryce Young that night.

The Tide are No. 1 for the 141st time, most of any team since the AP rankings began in 1936, and for the 105th time since 2009 when Nick Saban won the first of his six national championships at 'Bama.

The SEC holds four of the top five spots for the fourth straight week, an ongoing first in the AP poll. The only other time in the 88-year history of the poll that a conference had four of the top five teams was the SEC on Oct. 19, 2014 (No. 1 Mississippi State, No. 3 Mississippi, No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Auburn). That lasted a week.

The SEC holds nine spots in the Top 25, one off its own record for number of ranked teams from one conference.

The Big Ten has four teams in the top 10 for the first time since October 2021 and seven in the Top 25.

UNLV was one of the feel-good stories of the season even before Matthew Sluka announced he would sit out the rest of the season, contending he was cheated out of a $100,000 name, image and likeness payment.

The Rebels, with Hajj-Malik Williams starring as the new quarterback, beat Fresno State 59-14 on Saturday. Now the Rebels sit 4-0 for the first time since 1976, when they were Division II, and they will look to knock off a third power-conference opponent when they visit Syracuse this week.

Also entering the rankings is Indiana at No. 23. The Hoosiers, who are 5-0 for the first time since 1967, hadn't been ranked since they were No. 17 in the 2021 preseason poll.

Oklahoma State dropped out. The Cowboys, who were No. 20, have lost two straight against ranked opponents, most recently getting blown out at Kansas State.

SEC — 9 (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 12, 13, 19, T-25).

Big Ten — 7 (Nos. 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 23, 24).

Big 12 — 4 (Nos. 16, 17, 18, 20).

ACC — 3 (Nos. 8, 15, 22).

Mountain West — 2 (No. 21, T-25).

Independent — 1 (No. 14).

—No. 9 Missouri at No. 25 Texas A&M. The Tigers got a week off to recover from their double-overtime scare against Vanderbilt and will make their first visit to College Station since 2014. The teams have split four meetings since they joined the SEC in 2012.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Israeli airstrikes kill dozens across Lebanon as Hezbollah confirms a 7th top commander was killed

2024-09-30 02:09 Last Updated At：02:10

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon killed dozens of people on Sunday as the Hezbollah militant group sustained a string of deadly blows to its command structure, including the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah confirmed Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of the militant group's Central Council, was killed on Saturday, making him the seventh senior Hezbollah leader slain in Israeli strikes in a little over a week. They include founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades.

Hezbollah had earlier confirmed that Ali Karaki, another senior commander, died in Friday's strike that killed Nasrallah. Israel says at least 20 other Hezbollah militants were killed in the strike, including two close associates of Nasrallah, one of whom was in charge of his security detail.

Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes and drones carried out deadly strikes across Lebanon on Sunday. Two consecutive strikes near the southern city of Sidon, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of Beirut, killed at least 32 people, the Lebanese health ministry said. Separately, Israeli strikes in the northern province of Baalbek Hermel killed 21 people and injured at least 47.

The Israeli military said it also carried out another targeted strike on Beirut, but did not immediately provide details.

Lebanese media reported dozens of strikes in the central, eastern and western Bekaa and in the south, besides strikes on Beirut. The strikes have targeted buildings where civilians were living, and the death toll was expected to rise.

In a widely circulated video of a strike in Sidon, verified by The Associated Press, a building swayed before collapsing as neighbors filmed. On one TV station, the broadcaster called on viewers to pray for a family caught under the rubble, posting their pictures, as rescuers failed to reach them. The Lebanese health ministry reported that at least 14 medics were killed over two days in the south.

Meanwhile, wreckage from the strike on Friday that killed Nasrallah was still smoldering. AP journalists saw smoke over the rubble as people flocked to the site, some to check on what’s left of their homes and others to pay respects, pray or simply to see the destruction.

In response to the dramatic escalation in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Hezbollah significantly increased its attacks in the past week, from several dozen to several hundred daily, the military said. The attacks injured several people and caused damage, but most of the rockets and drones were intercepted by Israel’s air defense systems or fell in open areas.

The army says its strikes have degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities and the number of launches would be much higher if Hezbollah had not been hit.

Also on Sunday, the Israeli military said dozens of aircraft struck Houthi targets in Yemen in response to a recent attack on Israel. The military said it targeted power plants and sea port facilities in the city of Hodeida.

The Houthis launched a ballistic missile attack on Ben Gurion airport on Saturday when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving. The Houthi media office said the Israeli strikes hit the Hodeida and Rass Issa ports, along with two power plants in Hodeida city, a stronghold for the Iranian-backed rebels. Four people were killed and 33 wounded, Houthi-run media reported.

The Houthis claimed they took precautionary measures ahead of the strikes, emptying oil storages in the ports, according to Nasruddin Ammer, deputy director of the Houthi media office. He said in a post on X platform the strikes won’t stop the rebels’ attacks on shipping routes and on Israel.

Meanwhile, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Israel's airstrikes in Lebanon had “wiped out” Hezbollah’s command structure, but he warned the group will work quickly to rebuild it.

“I think people are safer without him walking around,” Kirby said of Nasrallah. “But they will try to recover. We’re watching to see what they do to try to fill this leadership vacuum. It’s going to be tough. … Much of their command structure has now been wiped out.”

Kirby, who spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union,” sidestepped questions about whether the Biden administration agrees with how the Israelis are targeting Hezbollah leaders. The White House continues to call on Israel and Hezbollah to agree to a 21-day temporary cease-fire that was floated by the U.S., France and other countries last week as world leaders gathered for the U.N. General Assembly.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday appointed a former rival, Gideon Saar, to his Cabinet. The move expands Netanyahu’s governing coalition and helps entrench the Israeli leader in office.

Under their agreement, Netanyahu said Saar would be given a spot in the Security Cabinet, the body that oversees management of the ongoing war.

Saar had hoped to replace Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, another rival of Netanyahu’s. But a deal to become defense minister fell through after fighting intensified with Hezbollah.

Earlier this month, Hezbollah was also targeted by a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that was widely blamed on Israel. A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon have killed more than 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon by the latest strikes. The government estimates around 250,000 are in shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives, or camping out on the streets, Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told the AP.

Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group and political party backed by Iran, Israel’s chief regional rival, rose to regional prominence after fighting a devastating monthlong war with Israel in 2006 that ended in a draw.

Kaouk was a veteran member of Hezbollah going back to the 1980s and served as Hezbollah's military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. The United States announced sanctions against him in 2020.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of an Iran-backed “Axis of Resistance” against Israel.

The conflict has steadily ratcheted up to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration.

Israel says it is determined to return some 60,000 of its citizens to communities in the north that were evacuated nearly a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its rocket fire if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which has proven elusive despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press reporters Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Aamer Madhani in Washington, Samy Magdy in Cairo and Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem contributed.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war