A week where the only ranked teams to lose played other ranked teams, there is still plenty of movement in the Top 25. I have 2 teams dropping out and 2 new teams entering the top 25.
Rankings
#1 Ohio State (3-0) (+0) – W4: Bye – W5: @Washington
No game this week but OSU holds strong at #1.
#2 Miami FL (4-0) (+1) – W4: Florida 26-7 – W5: Bye
Miami jumps 1 spot after an impressive win over Florida.
#3 Georgia (3-0) (-1) – W4: Bye – W5: Alabama
Georgia drops due to Miami’s good win, but they didn’t have a chance to match this week. A win over Alabama would no doubt move them back up.
#4 Penn State (3-0) (+0) – W4: Bye – W5: Oregon
My preseason #1 remains in the top 4 despite no real tests due to their schedule. That changes this week as they take on Oregon, the winner of that game would have a case for the best win in the country.
#5 Oregon (4-0) (+0) – W4: Oregon State 41-7 – W5: @Penn State
There isn’t much to say about Oregon blowing out their struggling in-state rival. Oregon has looked better than the #5 team in the country at times, and get the chance to prove it this week heading to Happy Valley.
#6 LSU (4-0) (+0) – W4: SE Louisiana 56-10 – W5: @Ole Miss
LSU’s 2 biggest wins in Clemson & Florida don’t look as strong as LSU probably hoped, leaving them on the bottom of this top tier for me. No complaints about their win this week, but it doesn’t really move the needle much. They have another big opportunity upcoming at Ole Miss this week to ascend further.
#7 Ole Miss (4-0) (+3) – W4: Tulane 45-10 – W5: LSU
The top 6 seem pretty set in stone for me in some order, and the AP poll agrees consistently having the same 6 teams at the top. After that things get interesting, and I’m planting my flag in Ole Miss this week. Tulane is a G5 team but they were the first team out of my top 25 last week and looked the part of the best G5 team in the country. Ole Miss dismantled them on Saturday, with the game never really being close. I was already higher on this team than most (and their opponent last week), so they make the big jump to #7. I’ll immediately get to see if that ranking is justified as they play #6 LSU this weekend.
#8 Texas Tech (4-0) (+0) – W4: Utah 34-10 – W5: Bye
I had a few games this week where my hot take teams got tested, and none had a better result than Texas Tech who rallied with a backup QB to win by 24 over a ranked opponent. I ultimately decided not to bump Tech up and kept them steady at #8. The main reason being, this is basically what I expected to happen, I was higher on Texas Tech and lower on Utah, I didn’t see this as some big upset win. Also, this game was very close for most of the contest, never feeling like Texas Tech truly had it in the bag until late, I don’t see this as some domination of Utah. Although they have this week off, they still have a chance at movement with 4 of the teams ranked ahead of them playing each other.
#9 Florida State (3-0) (+0) – W4: Bye – W5: @Virginia
Florida State hovers here after an inactive week. We still don’t know how good that Alabama win truly is yet, and the rest of the resume is dominating wins over a very low level of competition. Virginia isn’t a world beater but is decidedly the best team Florida State has faced since Week 1.
#10 Indiana (4-0) (+14) – W4: Illinois 63-10 – W5: @Iowa
Well, mark me down as 1-1 on my test games this week, Indiana is a team I was so incredibly wrong about. I thought they were overrated based on last year’s surprise season and were a significantly inferior team than Illinois. Instead Indiana runs over Illinois by 53, making QB Fernando Mendoza into the Heisman favorite in the process and now jumping Indiana 14 spots in my rankings, with room to go up. They have an interesting test this week against Iowa, I have no doubt they’ll win, but even the most explosive offenses have struggled in Iowa City, so I’m interested to see if Indiana can score at will like they did against Illinois.
#11 Oklahoma (4-0) (+10) – W4: Auburn 24-17 – W5: Bye
Oklahoma is another team that has proved me wrong so far, I was low on them coming into the season and didn’t value the Michigan win as highly either. I can safely say they’ve proven me wrong now, even if I’m likely still a touch lower than most would have them.
#12 Texas A&M (3-0) (+0) – W4: Bye – W5: Auburn
Like Florida State, this is another team I feel I just have incomplete information on. They didn’t wow against UTSA or Utah State, allowing 20+ points to both of them. They followed that up by beating Notre Dame by 1 with the defense struggling again. Notre Dame is a good win on paper, but at this point in the season it’s still a big question as to how good of a win it is. While Auburn has some questions of their own, A&M getting another test of any kind will help solidify their ranking.
#13 Tennessee (3-1) (-2) – W4: UAB 56-24 – W5: @Mississippi State
The first team on this list with a loss, Tennessee actually jumped in the rankings for me last week after an extremely competitive loss to Georgia. I dropped them back a few spots this week, mainly due to other teams jumping them, but also the defensive performance against UAB. They’ve proven to have one of the best offenses in the country, but the defense hasn’t impressed in many of their games. I don’t think very highly of Mississippi State but they are undefeated, so it would be nice to see the Tennessee defense step up this week and shut them down.
#14 Texas (3-1) (-1) – W4: Sam Houston 55-0 – W5: Bye
Home to the best loss in the country, a week 1 loss to #1 Ohio State, Texas really doesn’t have anything else to justify this ranking. They’ve taken care of a few lesser opponents, but the offense hasn’t really passed the eye test and have no notable wins. They get a week off to recover from all those cupcakes before truly getting tested again.
#15 BYU (3-0) (+0) – W4: East Carolina 34-13 – W5: @Colorado
Of my hot take teams I’ve mentioned previously, BYU is the main one who did not get tested this week. They played solidly against an East Carolina team that is probably better than their name recognition would lead you to believe, but the resume doesn’t stack up to most of the teams ahead of them. With that being said, they’ve done nothing to disappoint me either, as many of these teams have and I’m going to stick with my preseason guns and leave BYU here unless they prove themselves unworthy of the spot. Colorado offers more of a trap game than a true test at this point, but a solid win would help to legitimize them a little bit.
#16 Missouri (4-0) (+1) – W4: South Carolina 29-20 – W5: UMass
Missouri continues climbing with a win over South Carolina, who was a team with some hype just a few weeks ago. They’ve taken care of business nicely and now get UMass on the schedule with a hope to move to 5-0.
#17 Georgia Tech (4-0) (-1) – W4: Temple 45-24 – W5: @Wake Forest
I dinged GT a little for the less than stellar win over a Temple team they really should’ve dominated, but as a whole the Yellow Jackets have performed quite well and look to continue climbing this week with a winnable matchup against conference foe Wake Forest.
#18 Michigan (3-1) (+12) (NEW) – W4: Nebraska 30-27 – W5: Bye
I was low on Michigan, high on Nebraska and this week Michigan proved me wrong. I can’t say I was particularly impressed with them as far as the eye test is concerned, but a win is a win. Ultimately, Oklahoma’s ascent through my rankings also helped Michigan out quite a bit too. They have an off week this week before an easier game against Wisconsin.
#19 Iowa State (4-0) (-1) – W4: Bye – W5: Arizona
I am still not sold on this team, and obviously a bye week did nothing to change that. The Week 0 Kansas State ranked win has aged terribly with them not even looking particularly great in that game and they barely survived both Iowa and Arkansas State. They play undefeated Arizona this week whose only P4 win happens to be Kansas State as well.
#20 Alabama (2-1) (-1) – W4: Bye – W5: @Georgia
While Alabama may have hoped the Wisconsin win would turn out to be a solid one, that has yet to come with fruition with them losing again this week. They flexed their muscles against UL Monroe, but that isn’t much to base a top #25 resume on. Simply put, preseason expectations and name value are doing the heavy lifting here right now, but everything changes if they are able to win in Athens.
#21 Vanderbilt (4-0) (+4) – W4: Georgia State 70-21 – W5: Utah State
Vandy avenged last year’s loss to Georgia State by pummeling them this time around and saving their top 25 ranking. Vandy’s resume and ranking is ballooned by a win against South Carolina who was left without their potential top 10 NFL draft pick QB for much of the game due to injury. The Gamecocks subsequent loss to Mizzou didn’t help Vandy’s case either.
#22 Notre Dame (1-2) (+0) – W4: Purdue 56-30 – W5: @Arkansas
The Irish on the board after beating a Purdue team that I do actually think will play itself into or close to bowl eligibility after a disastrous season last year. With that being said, Purdue isn’t a resume building win, and a playoff hopeful defense should not be allowing them to score 30, even if the offense is able to score at will. Notre Dame sticks around here but I’m still not convinced. They get potentially the worst team in the SEC up next, a loss would truly kill their season.
#23 Auburn (3-1) (-3) – W4: Oklahoma 17-24 – W5: @Texas A&M
Should Auburn have dropped out following the Oklahoma loss, probably, but simply put I didn’t have any other team I thought deserved the spot, so they stick around for now. A road loss to Texas A&M is not a bad loss by any means but if they do lose that game they will certainly drop out of the top 25.
#24 Illinois (3-1) (-17) – W4: Indiana 10-65 – W5: USC
It should come as no surprise if I couldn’t find a team to take Auburn’s spot, I couldn’t for Illinois either. I’m not going to sugar coat it, this was a brutal loss in which the team looked completely lost in all facets of the game. To pour more salt on the wound, their only P4 win is Duke which leaves a very barren resume at this point. Ultimately this is me betting on a team I believed in to bounce back. Luckily, like with Auburn they have a decent test upcoming, and a win over USC justifies them sticking around while a loss would easily eliminate them.
#25 Memphis (4-0) (+10) (NEW) – W4: Arkansas 32-31 – W5: @Florida Atlantic
When in doubt, if I don’t have enough teams I truly think deserve top 25 spots, I’m going to slip in a G5 team. To be completely clear, if any of my top 25 teams squeaked past Arkansas by just 1 point, I would hold that against them as a net negative performance. With Memphis though, they showed a lot of heart in that game and impressed me, and they were already on my watch list heading into the week as a borderline top 25 team. They also play Tulane, South Florida, and Navy later in the season so we’ll get a pretty good idea of where they stand in a stacked American Conference. As for now, they have a very loose grip on the #25 spot after an impressive eye test as a contender for the G5 playoff spot.
Teams Dropping Out: Nebraska & Utah
Others Considered:
Louisville
I’ve liked what I’ve seen from them, barely missed out on the #25 spot.
Arizona State
TCU
ASU was my preseason B12 favorite but have really failed the eye test for me throughout the season. TCU is a rising stock right now, but look more like a team that beats bad teams than one that challenges good teams. These 2 teams do play each other this week and the winner has a very good chance of jumping into the top 25
Iowa
Nebraska
USC
3 Big Ten teams that aren’t quite top 25 material right now. I was wrong about Nebraska, as much as they pass the eye test and dominate cupcakes, I can’t rank them again until they prove they can beat someone. Iowa seems to permanently be a gatekeeper, beating bad teams but unable to upset good one’s. They were not a serious consideration for top 25 despite their high ranking here. I was shocked to see USC be an AP top 25 team last week, and a win over Michigan State doesn’t change that for me.
Utah
A tough team to rank because they didn’t look awful against Texas Tech, but the final result was bad and they had to drop out.
South Florida
James Madison
Impressive G5 teams, but that have a loss already, making their path much harder.
Watch List:
Kansas
Mississippi State
South Carolina
Tulane
Maryland
Washington
UCF
Baylor
SMU
Houston
Arizona
Old Dominion
Texas State
North Texas
Navy
UNLV
Syracuse
Louisiana Tech
Fresno State
Ohio
San Diego State
Washington State
Every conference is represented in the rankings, considerations, or watch list which is why there are some teams at the bottom that may surprise some people. These are mostly teams I once liked who underperformed in one way or another, teams who were off my radar who impressed enough to join the list, or G5 teams I think have a good shot at their conference title.
Of this group, Mississippi State, Maryland, UCF, North Texas, and UNLV are receiving votes in the AP Poll most of which for being undefeated without any impressive wins.
