An interesting week in college football caused a decent amount of a shakeup in the bottom half of the rankings this week. Four new schools broke into the rankings while Wisconsin, Washington, Marshall, and Oregon all fell from the rankings and most likely will all finish unranked. Iowa State is lurking right outside of the top five and Texas A&M may have an argument to be #4. Once again, the top four have not changed however, that may change after this week possibly.
| 1 | Alabama | 9-0 | – | |
| 2 | Notre Dame | 10-0 | – | |
| 3 | Clemson | 9-1 | – | |
| 4 | Ohio State | 5-0 | – | |
| 5 | Texas A&M | 7-1 | – | |
| 6 | Florida | 8-1 | – | |
| 7 | Iowa State | 8-2 | +2 | |
| 8 | Cincinnati | 8-0 | -1 | |
| 9 | Georgia | 6-2 | -1 | |
| 10 | Miami | 8-1 | – | |
| 11 | Oklahoma | 7-2 | – | |
| 12 | Indiana | 6-1 | – | |
| 13 | Coastal Carolina | 10-0 | +5 | |
| 14 | Northwestern | 5-1 | – | |
| 15 | USC | 4-0 | +5 | |
| 16 | Iowa | 5-2 | +3 | |
| 17 | North Carolina | 7-3 | – | |
| 18 | BYU | 9-1 | -5 | |
| 19 | Louisiana | 9-1 | +6 | |
| 20 | Texas | 6-3 | NR | |
| 21 | Colorado | 4-0 | NR | |
| 22 | Oklahoma State | 6-3 | -7 | |
| 23 | NC State | 8-3 | NR | |
| 24 | Tulsa | 6-1 | – | |
| 25 | Missouri | 5-3 | NR |
Coastal Carolina continues to make waves in the rankings and moves on the national level in terms of respect. They took a short notice game against BYU and were able to beat them in a great game that ultimately helped propel them up to the #13 spot meanwhile BYU dropped down to #18. Taking the game on short notice and being able to put together a great really helped move the needle for Coastal Carolina. They play Troy this weekend then on the 19th they matchup against the newly ranked #19 Ragin’ Cajuns.
The USC Trojans put an absolute beat down on the Washington State Cougars in a 38-13 performance. Granted USC has only played four games this year now, putting on a big performance will help them continue to move up the rankings by winning with those margins. However, the next game they have is against UCLA which again is another unranked team so no matter the margin that the Trojans can win by will most likely not move them up to much more. Sitting at #15, the Trojans find themselves in a good position with the limited amount of games that were played but really the only program I see them passing is Northwestern due to the lack of games and records of the other schools ahead of them.
Missouri, NC State, Colorado, and Texas all broke into the rankings with some of the other lower-ranked programs losing over the weekend. Teams losing that have not had a full schedule (like Wisconsin and the Huskies) and get one loss, is really hurting these programs in comparison to what you would see on a normal schedule/year. As a result, you see these programs falling from the rankings and allowing some of these other programs to break into the rankings. With that being said and as you see more games getting canceled, this can cause a shakeup in the top five possibly in the next rankings release.
Ohio State is still locked at #4 but the game they had scheduled with Michigan was canceled due to COVID cases rising in the Michigan program. There have been talks that Texas A&M may step up to the plate if allowed, to play against Ohio State. If A&M were to play, this immediately becomes a huge game because it is #4 against #5 so a win for Ohio State could bump them slightly while a win for A&M would bring them into the playoff race. However, if Ohio State does not play, there is a lot of talk on if the Buckeyes should hold the #4 spot. It is hard to make an argument that a team with a 5-0 record should have a spot in the playoffs while there are teams with records like 7-1, 8-1, and 8-2. If Ohio State does not play this weekend, there is a strong argument for Texas A&M, Florida, and Iowa State to potentially be in the playoffs.
As COVID begins to enter more programs and more games have been getting canceled, the rankings may look completely different next weekend and we may see a surprising program get the #4 spot and have the potential to be a cinderella story in the college football playoffs.
