Murray's AP Top 25: Iowa the big winner; Washington the big loser; and Nevada moves up

Nevada Sports Net columnist Chris Murray is one of 63 voters in the college football AP Top 25 poll. Here is a look at his ballot this week.

* Iowa: Five games in Week 1 pitted ranked foes against each other, and while Alabama and Georgia won their big contests (and sit No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in our rankings), the big winner outside of those teams was Iowa, which knocked off Indiana, 34-6 (Indiana was ranked one spot ahead of Iowa in the preseason poll). That boosted the Hawkeyes from No. 18 to No. 7 on my ballot. Penn State also moved from No. 10 to No. 21 after beating ranked Wisconsin. UCLA, after strong showings against Hawaii and LSU, also moved into the Top 25 at No. 17. Finally, Nevada moved up four spots after its season-opening 22-17 win over Cal and sits at No. 21 in my poll.

* North Carolina: The Tar Heels were the only preseason top-10 team to lose to an unranked foe in Week 1, dropping a 17-10 decision to Virginia Tech. North Carolina fell from No. 10 to No. 22 on my ballot while Virginia Tech broke into the rankings at No. 16. After its loss to Iowa, Indiana fell off my ballot after being preseason No. 12. LSU (preseason No. 16) and Miami (preseason No. 17) also fell off my ballot. The worst loss among ranked teams, however, belonged to Washington (preseason No. 22 on my ballot and No. 20 on the overall ballot), which lost to FCS school Montana, 13-7, at home.

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.