Copyright CBS Sports
What figured to be a weekend of shakeups in the college football rankings absolutely delivered, and now that we have circled back to pick up the pieces, almost no one sits in the same position they were coming into the weekend in the CBS Sports 136. Of the top 60 spots in the CBS Sports 136, our comprehensive ranking of every FBS team, only two teams are still in the same spot. Ohio State still has its hold on No. 1, though Indiana continues to chip away at that margin with each passing win, and Oklahoma stayed steady at No. 15 after improving to 6-1 with a win at South Carolina. Outside of that, the other 58 slots inside the top 60 all have new teams following the weekend's action. Some of the movement could have been predicted by the matchups, as high-profile showdowns like Georgia-Ole Miss, Alabama-Tennessee, Vanderbilt-LSU, Notre Dame-USC and BYU-Utah were going to create some two-way traffic in the rankings for the winners and the losers. But the rankings chaos was also fueled by some unexpected losses for top teams, like Miami now down seven spots to No. 9 after losing to Louisville at home and Texas Tech down eight spots to No. 12 after falling to Arizona State. Jeff Brohm's Cardinals were among the biggest movers up inside the top half of the CBS Sports 136, as our voters are beginning to reevaluate Louisville's resume in the wake of its win over Miami. For more on that adjustment, and some of the biggest and more notable changes in the rankings, check out the Mover's Report below the top 25 table. College football experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports contribute ballots each week, which are averaged together for our rankings. You can see the top 25 below and 26-136 on our rankings page. RankTeamRecordPrevious1Ohio State7-012Indiana7-033Texas A&M7-054Alabama6-165Oregon6-186Georgia6-197Georgia Tech7-0108Ole Miss6-179Miami5-1210BYU7-01411Vanderbilt6-11812Texas Tech6-1413Missouri6-11214Notre Dame5-21715Oklahoma6-11516Virginia6-12017Louisville5-12918Cincinnati6-12219South Florida6-12420Tennessee5-21121LSU5-21322Utah5-21923Texas5-22124Illiois5-22625USC5-216 Biggest movers No. 38 James Madison (+15): What was being billed as one of the games of the year in the Sun Belt broke decidedly in the Dukes' favor as JMU rolled Old Dominion 63-27 to take control of the Sun Belt East Division. Quarterback Alonza Barnett III totaled six touchdowns (two passing, four rushing) and 448 yards of offense, and now this is a team with a 6-1 record and the only loss is a 28-14 defeat at Louisville. As Louisville's stock rises, so does JMU's, and now we have to start thinking about the Dukes as a real contender for the College Football Playoff. No. 41 Boise State (+14): Similar to JMU, Boise State found itself in a battle with what was seeming to be some of the top competition in the conference. Similarly, we saw the Broncos establish a class division with a lopsided (56-31) win. Boise State may have been out of sorts at USF and unable to get anything going at Notre Dame, but against competition in the Mountain West, this program is still occupying its familiar position firmly in the top tier. No. 17 Louisville (+12): Beating Miami led to a fast reevaluation of Louisville's resume. The Cardinals are 5-1 and the only defeat was in overtime to Virginia, which ranks No. 16 in this week's CBS Sports 136. Big games loom against the likes of Clemson and SMU, but a head-to-head win against Miami has really opened up the possibilities of an ACC title run here in 2025. No. 45 San Diego State (+11): The Aztecs were off in Week 8, but the chaos allowed for a notable move up in the rankings. San Diego State is 5-1 overall and 2-0 in Mountain West play heading into the second half of the season coming off back-to-back 40-point performances in wins against Colorado State and Nevada. No. 46 Northwestern (+11): Any concern of a hangover for Northwestern after the Penn State win was squashed by a strong defensive performance against Purdue. The 19-0 win was the program's first shutout victory since 2017 and now has the Wildcats one win away from bowl eligibility at 5-2. No. 43 Duke (-13): The Blue Devils had a chance to throw a haymaker in the ACC title race and red zone woes doomed them in a double-digit loss to Georgia Tech. This the third time this season that Duke has been competitive against a quality opponent but fallen short, and at some point, our voters aren't going to reward "close" because this isn't horse shoes or hand grenades. No. 64 South Carolina (-13): A 1-4 start to SEC play has produced a tense and disappointed state of affairs in Columbia, with South Carolina longingly looking back on the preseason expectations of CFP contention and a star-studded year for quarterback LaNorris Sellers. The offense is struggling and the outlook is bleak, so our voters continue to slide the Gamecocks down their ballots with each additional loss. No. 50 UNLV (-14): This is a predictable drop in that it's not a reflection of a bad loss but rather the weight of a first loss on the year. UNLV was 6-0 on the year yet only up to No. 36 in our rankings because of the quality of the wins, and now that the Rebels have lost that undefeated status, it's going to be tougher to win some of the resume battle against other similar teams in the middle tier of the FBS-wide rankings. You could argue that UCLA's recent surge is adding some strength to UNLV's win against the Bruins, but context does reveal that was a much different UCLA squad before the coaching change. No. 40 Memphis (-17): Getting taken down by UAB after the Blazers fired Trent Dilfer is going to sting if that defeat ends up costing Memphis a shot at the American title. For now, our voters dealt a swift blow that punishes both the first loss of the season and the stunning upset, but thankfully for the Tigers, they do have the Arkansas win to provide a floor for the fall. No. 65 Florida State (-21): The stunning collapse here in 2025 has brought about all sorts of big-picture questions about the future of the Florida State football program. Now 0-4 in ACC play after losing at Stanford as a three-score favorite, the Seminoles have lost almost all of the rankings equity from the season-opening win against Alabama. This is a 3-4 team with talent and a couple of impressive wins, but also a month of under-performance that's getting punished on our voters' ballots. Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 136: Teams ranked 26-136
