After Texas's second-half collapse in the Red River Rivalry and Georgia's rain-soaked heavyweight win in Tuscaloosa, there is a new order of power at the top of the 2026 college football rankings. The Bulldogs landed enough punches in a controversial and contentious bout with Alabama, getting a leg up on their fellow SEC title hopefuls and putting together the best argument as the best team in the country.
With an average ballot ranking of 1.2, Georgia is not a totally unanimous No. 1 among our voters, who are experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports, but it shows a fairly broad consensus that Kirby Smart's group starts the second-half conversation for the national title race this season.
Miami checks in at No. 2, carrying a fairly solid rating of 2.2, which suggests some of that first-place love could be going the Hurricanes' way, just ahead of Notre Dame at No. 3 with an average ballot ranking of 3.3. Those three teams represent a Tier 1 in our rankings, with a slight drop before the run of Ohio State, Indiana and Alabama that starts at No. 4 and sits firmly above another cut line just behind No. 6.
Further down in the rankings, you see a large clustering of teams between No. 14 and No. 22, as our voters don't see a ton of separation yet between those power conference teams who have yet to pile up multiple losses, and plenty of shake-ups for teams moving up and down beyond the top 25. We have isolated some of the bigger and more notable changes to the CBS Sports 138 in the Mover's Report, which you can find below the top 25 table.
College football experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports submit ballots each week, which are averaged to produce our rankings. You can see the top 25 below and 26-138 on our rankings page.
| Rank | Team | Record | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia | 6-0 | 2 |
| 2 | Miami | 5-0 | 3 |
| 3 | Notre Dame | 6-0 | 5 |
| 4 | Ohio State | 5-1 | 6 |
| 5 | Indiana | 6-0 | 7 |
| 6 | Alabama | 5-1 | 4 |
| 7 | BYU | 5-0 | 8 |
| 8 | Texas | 4-1 | 1 |
| 9 | UCLA | 5-0 | 16 |
| 10 | Utah | 5-0 | 11 |
| 11 | Ole Miss | 4-1 | 10 |
| 12 | Texas Tech | 5-0 | 12 |
| 13 | Missouri | 5-1 | 15 |
| 14 | Mississippi State | 4-1 | 18 |
| 15 | Kentucky | 5-1 | 27 |
| 16 | Iowa | 5-1 | 19 |
| 17 | Tennessee | 5-1 | 17 |
| 18 | Oklahoma State | 4-1 | 21 |
| 19 | Wake Forest | 5-1 | 24 |
| 20 | Houston | 5-1 | 26 |
| 21 | USC | 6-1 | 20 |
| 22 | Northwestern | 4-1 | 30 |
| 23 | Wisconsin | 4-1 | 31 |
| 24 | LSU | 4-2 | 9 |
| 25 | Nebraska | 5-1 | 28 |
Biggest movers
- No. 41 North Carolina (+20): Bill Belichick's Tar Heels have cracked the top 50 after recording the first win against an AP Top 25 team since he took over in Chapel Hill. North Carolina is now 3-2 overall with two power conference wins away from home (TCU in Dublin, Pitt on Saturday), and that's got them in the same range of the rankings with ACC foes like Virginia and Virginia Tech.
- No. 37 Oregon State (+13): The absolute rock that is the Oregon State offense continues to buzz through college football like an actual beaver through wood. Oregon State ranks fifth among all FBS teams, averaging 522.3 yards per game and 10th in scoring offense (41.8 points per game) after crushing San Diego State 66-14. The Beavers are 4-2 on the season, but the only losses came in the opening weeks to Houston and Texas Tech, each by less than 14 points.
- No. 17 Kentucky (+12): A predictable rise comes for the Wildcats on the backs of a bold walk-off win against LSU in overtime. Kentucky's bona fides as a player in this year's SEC would have been worth a slight adjustment even if LSU had escaped in the extra period, but the win and Saturday night celebration in Lexington make the victory even harder for voters to ignore.
- No. 24 LSU (-15): Just as there is a rise for Kentucky, there is a nearly reciprocal drop for LSU, which has seen its profile start to take on a less impressive light as the Tigers prepare for the final stretch of the season. With Clemson and Texas A&M no longer among the top teams in the country, LSU is left heading into Week 7 with a 4-2 record and a 0-2 showing against teams inside our current top 40.
- No. 33 Oregon (-20): While respect has to be given to UCLA for its win in Autzen Stadium (and our voters did move the Bruins up from No. 16 into the top 10 at No. 9), there does need to be a harsher evaluation of where the Ducks sit after the loss. Oregon's ranking is buoyed by quality wins over USC and Boise State, but it's still a 3-2 team heading into mid-October after starting the year with national championship aspirations.
- No. 34 Florida (-20): Every season brings a couple of teams that explode onto the scene in September and see their star burn out nearly just as fast. Unfortunately, it seems like Florida might be that team this year. After back-to-back wins against Auburn and Ole Miss had the Gators soaring into the top 10, we now see them fall outside the top 30 following back-to-back losses.
- No. 62 Texas A&M (-23): Another week, another drop for Texas A&M, which was all the way up at No. 10 in the CBS Sports 138 back on Sept. 14 and has fallen 52 spots over the last four weeks as the Aggies went 1-3 in their first four SEC games.
Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 138: Teams ranked 26-138
