Anything is possible in college football’s new era, and that makes for a lot of fun.
The arrival of coaching carousel season really makes you wonder how good any job is or isn’t. Curt Cignetti signed another big contract to stay at Indiana, a signal to the world he’s going to retire in Bloomington. He has the No. 1 team in the country (in this ranking) and Indiana is committed to spending, so why can’t he keep winning there?
Vanderbilt is 6-1 for the first time since 1950. Georgia Tech is 7-0 for the first time since 1966. Indiana has its highest AP ranking ever. And all three of them sit in the top 10 of this week’s Athletic 136.
The sport’s talent is more spread out than ever before, and the 12-team Playoff creates a path to contention for everyone. The game has changed. Sure, blue bloods Ohio State and Alabama also sit near the top of the rankings. But Georgia is in the mix despite not having nearly the same level of defense it used to. Miami spent big on its roster and looked primed to walk to the CFP before it was upset by Louisville on Friday. Texas Tech’s undefeated run was stopped by Arizona State, which came one play away from beating Texas in the CFP last year.
The stretch run of this season is going to be a wild ride. Dozens of teams still have a path to the CFP, and we have a lot of changes to get to.
Here is this week’s Athletic 136.
No change at the top for the same reason as last week: Indiana has a much better Best Win than Ohio State and beat Illinois by quite a bit more than the Buckeyes did. This isn’t about a head-to-head prediction. I try to rank based on accomplishments.
Alabama has a very strong case to be higher than No. 4, coming off four consecutive ranked wins. I really considered it. But the Florida State loss continues to look worse, and it still counts for these purposes, so Texas A&M and the Big Ten’s two unbeatens remain ahead, for now. Miami’s loss to Louisville only drops the Hurricanes to No. 6. They would typically fall further, but three other top-10 teams lost, and their wins against Notre Dame and South Florida are still good. Ole Miss has a better loss (at Georgia), but Miami has better wins for now.
I’m not moving Oregon into the top six like the polls did because the Ducks’ best win is against Northwestern. I still think they’re good — putting up 750 yards on Rutgers ain’t nothing — but they don’t have the resume to deserve placement above other teams in this group. Georgia Tech is undefeated and Vanderbilt has a much better win (LSU), so the No. 9 Yellow Jackets and No. 8 Commodores are ahead of the Ducks.
Texas Tech falls out of the top 10 after the close loss at Arizona State, but it stays ahead of undefeated No. 12 BYU among Big 12 schools because Tech has the better performance against Utah. The Cougars do move up after their first notable win of the year. Can’t wait for BYU vs. Texas Tech on Nov. 8.
Notre Dame climbs up to No. 15 after beating USC for the Fighting Irish’s own first notable win of the season. Louisville moves into the top 25 at No. 17, one spot behind Virginia because of their head-to-head result. (Yes, these two and Miami all have one loss, but I believe Miami is on a higher tier for now based on all other results.)
LSU falls to No. 19 after losing to Vandy, one spot behind No. 18 South Florida because the Bulls beat Florida on the road. USC only falls to No. 20 after the Notre Dame loss because the Trojans still beat Michigan a week ago. A loss can hurt you, but other results can help your wins.
Texas gets back into the top 25 despite an ugly win at Kentucky, mostly because teams ahead of the Longhorns lost. Tennessee falls to No. 25 because the Vols don’t have a great win, even if they have two top-five losses, one to Georgia in overtime.
Arizona State’s win against Texas Tech moves the Sun Devils up to No. 27 but still behind Utah because the Utes blew them out a week ago. ASU quarterback Sam Leavitt didn’t play last week, but the result was so lopsided and recent that I can’t overlook it right now. Minnesota jumps to No. 28 after beating Nebraska.
Memphis falls to No. 39 after a stunning loss to UAB, one of the most surprising results of the season. Florida fired its coach but got back into the top 40 after beating Mississippi State. North Texas rebounded from its USF loss with a blowout win against UTSA, bringing the Mean Green up to No. 49. Northwestern beat Purdue to crack the top 50, and the Wildcats’ win against UCLA looks better by the week.
Those Bruins are up to No. 53 after a third consecutive win, this one against Maryland, but they stay behind UNLV due to their head-to-head result. The Rebels were handed their first loss, by Boise State, moving the Broncos up to No. 52. Florida State falls after a loss at Stanford — the Seminoles’ fourth consecutive loss, all by one score. That and their Week 1 win over Alabama are why the Seminoles don’t drop further just yet.
Clemson falls after a home loss to SMU. Penn State is down to No. 63 after losing at Iowa. What kind of dummy put those two as the preseason Nos. 1 and 2?
Hawaii is bowl-eligible and up to No. 67 after beating Colorado State. Stanford is up to No. 68 after the win over FSU. No. 75 Temple is 4-3 after beating Charlotte and already has the program’s most wins since 2019.
Washington State is, by far, the most difficult team to rank right now. The Cougs are 3-4 and have lost two in a row, but they took Ole Miss to the wire last week and held a 10-point fourth-quarter lead against Virginia before squandering it, so they’re playing better against good competition. They also gave San Diego State its only loss. But they have two blowout losses to Washington and North Texas and beat Northern Illinois 6-3. They move up to No. 79 because they’ve shown clear improvement in two situations in which they were massive underdogs.
No. 78 UConn is now 5-2 after beating Boston College easily, and those two losses came in overtime. Southern Miss is up to No. 80 after beating Louisiana to move to 5-2 overall and 3-0 in Sun Belt play. Head coach Charles Huff leaving Marshall after winning the Sun Belt and bringing a bunch of good players to the conference’s last-place finisher in 2024 is working. And speaking of Marshall, it is up to No. 82 after consecutive wins against Old Dominion and Texas State.
Bill Belichick’s North Carolina not only looked competent and competitive at Cal, but also the Tar Heels really should’ve won if not for a late fumble at the goal line. As a result, they bump up to No. 91, surpassing Wisconsin, which was shut out for the second week in a row and has not scored more than 17 points in a game this season. Jacksonville State gets up to No. 94 after beating Delaware, and Georgia Southern moves up to No. 93 after beating Georgia State and holding an earlier win over Jax State.
FIU jumps up to No. 105 after a shocking blowout win over Western Kentucky. UAB climbs to No. 109 for the Memphis win under interim head coach Alex Mortensen but stays behind Florida Atlantic due to their head-to-head result last week.
Boston College is down to No. 108 after its loss to UConn. That would make it the lowest-ranked Power 4 team if not for Oklahoma State, now down to No. 123 after a lopsided loss to Cincinnati. Neither of these two have an FBS win this season. Oregon State finally got its first win, against FCS Lafayette. That leaves us with two winless teams: Sam Houston and UMass.
Less than two weeks ago, Sam Houston gave away a win opportunity against Jacksonville State. On Saturday, UMass was on the verge of its first win, nabbing an interception with the lead over Buffalo with under a minute left. Alas, a three-and-out gave Buffalo the ball back, and the Bulls scored a touchdown to win the game. The Minutemen remain No. 136. But they’re both getting close.
Oct 20, 2025
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