Oklahoma moved up to No. 3 behind Clemson and Alabama and the Big Ten placed three teams in the top six of the new Associated Press college football poll.

Clemson is No. 1 for the fourth straight week and Alabama is No. 2. The Tigers received 53 first-place votes and the Crimson Tide got the other eight from the media panel.

The Sooners jumped two spots to after winning the Big 12 title with a 58-23 victory at Oklahoma State on Saturday night.

Three Big Ten teams followed with Iowa at No. 4, Michigan State No. 5 and Ohio State No. 6.

Stanford moved up six spots to No. 7 after beating Notre Dame with a last-second field goal and the Fighting Irish dropped from fourth to ninth.

Oklahoma has its best AP ranking since the 2011 season, but this one is far more satisfying for the Sooners.

In 2011, Oklahoma was preseason No. 1 and steadily slipped as the season went along. The Sooners were No. 3 in October, dropped as far as No. 19 in the poll after the conclusion of the regular season and finished 16th.

Conference call

The Big Ten has three of the top six teams in the rankings for the first time since the final regular season poll of the 2006 season, when Ohio State was No. 1, Michigan was third and Wisconsin was sixth.

The bowl season did not go well for the Big Ten's heavyweights. Ohio State lost to Florida in the BCS championship game, 41-14, and Michigan was beaten 32-18 in the Rose Bowl by Southern California.

Wisconsin won the Capital One Bowl 17-14 over Arkansas.

Etc.

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops announced that junior quarterback Patrick Towles will transfer after starting 10 games this season.

Towles had started 22 consecutive games before being replaced by redshirt freshman Drew Barker last week.

The Kentucky native has career totals of 5,099 passing yards and 24 touchdowns —including 2,148 passing yards and nine TDs this season. He also rushed for 353 yards and 11 touchdowns.