UNDATED (AP) — Undefeated Oregon got top billing in the first set of rankings on the road to college football’s new, 12-team playoff. A 13-member selection panel released its first top-25 list, and saw what most of the country has seen this year — that with a 9-0 record, five wins in the Big Ten by three touchdowns or more, and a key victory over Ohio State, coach Dan Lanning’s Ducks are the best in the country. Ohio State was ranked second, Georgia third and Miami fourth in the first of six weekly polls the committee will release.

UNDATED (AP) — Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy apologized on social media for comments he made about his team’s critics during a media session. Oklahoma State was one of the favorites to contend for the Big 12 title this season, but the Cowboys are alone in last place heading into Saturday’s game at TCU. Gundy is in unfamiliar territory. He has 169 wins in 20 seasons, and his team has 18 straight bowl appearances. The Cowboys have lost six in a row and must win out to avoid a losing season.

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Fresh off a bye week, the 21st-ranked Colorado Buffaloes turned in a practice so good that coach Deion Sanders brought the team together midway through just to tell them so. They thought they were in trouble. They weren’t. Sanders was rankled by Colorado appearing in the rankings, though, as he asked voters not to put his team in the polls. He wanted to fly under the radar. The Buffaloes are riding high heading into a game at Texas Tech on Saturday. They’ve won three straight road games for the first time since 2001-02. They were 2-4 on the road a season ago.

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Alston Mason scored 14 points to lead Arizona State to a 55-48 victory over Idaho State in the season opener for both teams. BJ Freeman added 12 points and eight rebounds for Arizona State. Joson Sanon chipped in 11 points. Mason and Sanon each made two of the Sun Devils’ seven 3-pointers. Isaiah Griffin scored 12 points to lead Idaho State. Arizona State is 8-2 in season openers against non-conference opponents in the Bobby Hurley era.

PROVO, Utah (AP) — Egor Demin scored 18 points and had 11 assists and BYU rolled to an 88-50 victory over Central Arkansas in the season opener for both teams. Kanon Catchings scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half for BYU. Richie Saunders finished with 16 points and eight rebounds and Keba Keita grabbed 10 boards to go with six points. The Cougars scored 24 points off 18 Central Arkansas turnovers. Elias Cato scored 21 points to lead Central Arkansas. It was BYU coach Kevin Young’s first game with the Cougars and Central Arkansas’ first with head coach John Shulman.

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Kerwin Walton scored 21 points and JT Toppin scored 19 and Texas Tech all but wrapped it up at halftime beating Bethune-Cookman 94-61. Chance McMillian and Darrion Williams each scored 17 points and Kevin Overton 10. The Red Raiders shot 36 of 63 (57%) including 16 of 30 (53%) from 3-point range. Reggie Ward Jr. scored 15 points and Brayon Freeman 12 for the Wildcats. Ward Jr.’s layup with 4:50 left in the first half brought Bethune-Cookman within 33-28. But the Wildcats failed to score again and Texas  Tech scored the next 17 points and went to halftime up 50-28.

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — David N’Guessan scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead Kansas State to an 89-65 victory over New Orleans in a season opener for both teams. Max Jones added 19 points and five assists and Brendan Hausen scored 15 points for Kansas State. The pair each made four of the Wildcats’ 13 3-pointers. N’Guessan finished 10-of-14 shooting from the field. Jah Short scored 19 points to lead New Orleans. It was New Orleans’ coach Stacy Hollowell’s first game at the helm.

UNDATED (AP) — An early season matchup between Oklahoma State and Utah was touted as a possible Big 12 championship game preview. Utah was the preseason favorite and Oklahoma State was picked to finish third. Turns out, that matchup is the only thing that has kept the winner out of the conference cellar. The Utes held on to beat the Cowboys, and neither team has won since. Utah, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Arizona — all picked in the preseason media poll to finish in the top five — occupy the bottom four spots in the 16-team league’s standings.