No change in the top 7 of the rankings following week 4, with Alabama, Ohio State (without playing), Louisville, Michigan, Clemson, Houston and Stanford staying put. Wisconsin enter the top 10 for the first time this season, Ole Miss enjoy the biggest rise after beating Georgia, who had the biggest drop of all, 13 spots. LSU and Oklahoma (without playing) dropped from the rankings, in a week when all four ranked teams that lost did so against other ranked teams.
1. Alabama Crimson Tide (50 first place votes), 4-0: An easy weekend for the Tide, beating Kent State 48-0 to remain number one.
2. Ohio State Buckeyes (4), 3-0: Didn’t play, didn’t move.
3. Louisville Cardinals (6), 4-0: Stayed where they were after beating Marshall 59-28.
4. Michigan Wolverines (1), 4-0: Impressive display of their power in a 49-10 home win over Penn State didn’t move them in the rankings.
5. Clemson Tigers, 4-0: Opened the weekend with a 26-7 win on the road against Georgia Tech, not moving up or down the polls.
6. Houston Cougars, 4-0: Didn’t move up or down following their 64-3 win against Texas State.
7. Stanford Cardinal, 3-0: The top Pac-12 team handled UCLA pretty well, winning 22-13 to stay put.
8. Wisconsin Badgers, 4-0: The Badgers move up 3 spots following their very impressive 30-6 win on the road against Michigan State.
9. Texas A&M Aggies, 4-0: Beat Arkansas 45-24 to move up a spot.
10. Washington Huskies, 4-0: Won against Arizona on the road (35-28), yet dropped one place.
11. Tennessee Volunteers, 4-0: Won against Florida for the first time in over a decade (38-28), helping them move up 3 spots.
12. Florida State Seminoles, 3-1: Rose one spot after avoiding their trap game in Tampa, beating South Florida 55-35.
13. Baylor Bears, 4-0: Baylor had no problem dispatching of Oklahoma State, winning 35-24 to move up 3 spots.
14. Miami Hurricanes, 3-0: Didn’t play, still moved up one spot.
15. Nebraska Cornhuskers, 4-0: Their 24-13 win on the road against Northwestern was enough to move them up 5 spots.
16. Ole Miss Rebels, 2-2: The highest ranked two-loss team, moving up 7 spots after beating Georgia 45-14.
17. Michigan State, 2-1: Dropped 8 spots after losing 6-30 at home to Wisconsin.
18. Utah Utes, 4-0: A six spot climb for Utah after a dramatic 31-27 win over USC.
19. San Diego State Aztecs, 3-0: Didn’t play, moved up 3 spots.
20. Arkansas Razorbacks, 3-1: Lost 45-24 to Texas A&M but weren’t hurt too badly, falling 3 spots.
21. TCU Horned Frogs, 3-1: Return to the rankings after a 33-3 win over SMU.
22. Texas Longhorns, 2-1: Didn’t play, fell one spot.
23. Florida Gators, 3-1: Their loss in Tennessee 38-28 dropped them four spots.
24. Boise State Broncos, 4-0: In the rankings for the first time this season after a 38-24 win on the road against Oregon State.
25. Georgia Bulldogs, 3-1: Lost 45-14 on the road against Ole Miss, dropping them 13 spots.
Dropped from rankings: LSU, Oklahoma
Rankings Bullets:
- Two teams in the preseason Top 10, LSU and Notre Dame, are no longer in the top 10
- Wisconsin, #8, have their best rankings since October 2011, when they were #4 in the nation
- Boise State are ranked for the first time since October 2015
- Oklahoma are out of the top 25 since the end of the 2014 season
Conference Rankings:
- SEC, 7 teams
- Big Ten, 5
- ACC, 4
- Big 12, 3
- Pac-12, 3
- Mountain West, 2
- American, 1