The debate for the No. 1 team in the country continues to be a fascinating point of contention when considering the college football rankings, as a two-team race has added a contender following Miami’s impressive road win at Florida State on Saturday night.
In the CBS Sports 136, which ranks all 136 FBS teams, there is no clear consensus on the order of those three teams and the smallest margins separating their average ranking.
When the calculations were completed, Ohio State did hold on to the No. 1 spot in the CBS Sports 136, but the Buckeyes did so with an average ballot ranking of 2.1. That edged out Miami, which jumped ahead of Oregon following the Florida State win, as the Hurricanes had an average ballot ranking of 2.2. And the Ducks, who were off this week, fell to No. 3 but are much closer than the rankings spots suggest as their average ballot ranking is 2.3.
It’s a fascinating debate to watch play out in real time. None of the three teams have enough of a consensus to get pulled to be the definitive No. 1, and none of the three teams have an enough of a consensus to be pulled to No. 3. The order of Ohio State, Miami and Oregon differs enough across all of the ballots from experts at CBS Sports and 247Sports that we have this close mathematical battle, yet the one thing everyone agrees on is there isn’t another team that’s ready to enter the debate … yet.
Bowl projections: Miami moves to top seed in College Football Playoff bracket as Penn State, Texas exit
Brad Crawford
That, of course, could change with Indiana, at No. 5, having its say as the Hoosiers travel to Oregon on Saturday in one of the biggest games of the week. Fellow undefeated teams like Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Texas Tech also continue to build their profiles, and even some dark horse candidates like Missouri could make a splash with a highly ranked opponent (in the Tigers’ case, Alabama) coming to town.
Among the big topics when it comes to changes in the rankings are the predictable drops for both Penn State and Texas following disappointing losses. Those two teams started the year in the top two of our CBS Sports 136 and now find themselves outside the top 30 as neither has logged a win against a power conference opponent. To see where the Longhorns and Nittany Lions landed, along with some other 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.
| 1 | Ohio State | 5-0 | 1 |
| 2 | Miami | 5-0 | 3 |
| 3 | Oregon | 5-0 | 2 |
| 4 | Ole Miss | 5-0 | 4 |
| 5 | Indiana | 5-0 | 5 |
| 6 | Texas A&M | 5-0 | 6 |
| 7 | Oklahoma | 5-0 | 7 |
| 8 | Texas Tech | 5-0 | 8 |
| 9 | Alabama | 4-1 | 9 |
| 10 | Georgia | 4-1 | 10 |
| 11 | Missouri | 5-0 | 15 |
| 12 | Georgia Tech | 5-0 | 17 |
| 13 | Tennessee | 4-1 | 16 |
| 14 | LSU | 4-1 | 18 |
| 15 | Michigan | 4-1 | 15 |
| 16 | Vanderbilt | 5-1 | 12 |
| 17 | BYU | 5-0 | 22 |
| 18 | Virginia | 5-1 | 33 |
| 19 | Notre Dame | 3-2 | 21 |
| 20 | Illinois | 5-1 | 23 |
| 21 | Utah | 4-1 | 24 |
| 22 | Arizona State | 4-1 | 26 |
| 23 | Cincinnati | 4-1 | 36 |
| 24 | Memphis | 6-0 | 27 |
| 25 | Florida State | 3-2 | 19 |
Biggest movers
- No. 51 Florida (+16): The Gators are back in the mix for the top 50 despite having a losing record thanks to a wire-to-wire upset of Texas on Saturday in Gainesville. Voters who had Billy Napier’s team up inside the top 20 heading into the year finally got to see some of the talent show up on the field (especially freshman wide receiver Dallas Wilson). Now we get to see if Florida can cause some havoc in the SEC race after a tough start to the season.
- No. 18 Virginia (+15): Two of the toughest opponents on Virginia’s ACC schedule were on the slate right out of the gate, and Tony Elliott has conquered them both, beating Florida State at home last week and following it up with a road win against Louisville. The Wahoos were already one of the bigger risers last week thanks to taking down the Seminoles, but now they’re firmly positioned up inside the top 20 with a 5-1 record.
- No. 23 Cincinnati (+13): Things are getting a little tricky between No. 20 and No. 40 in the rankings, as head-to-head results are starting to conflict and voters must decide how to weigh similar profiles. The Bearcats now have a win against Iowa State that has propelled them up more than a dozen spots, but in doing so they jumped a Nebraska team that also has just one loss and won their Week 1 meeting in Kansas City. There are other logic pretzels like this (Arizona State-TCU-Mississippi State is another) in that 20-40 range, but for now, the voters are rewarding Cincinnati for an impressive showing against an Iowa State team that was previously undefeated.
- No. 26 Iowa State (-12): Of course, the other side of Cincinnati’s rise is going to be Iowa State’s fall, and for now our voters aren’t going to hand down too much of a punishment for losing close on the road with some notable injuries. Three of Iowa State’s five wins have come against power conference teams, but the real strength of the Cyclones profile had previously been the zero in the loss column. Now that there’s a loss to take into consideration, there was bound to be a notable adjustment.
- No. 32 Texas (-19): As we noted earlier, voters are really wrestling with the debate of “best” against “most deserving” when it comes to Texas. The Longhorns have, on paper, one of the most talented rosters in the country and held their own with a one-score loss on the road at No. 1 Ohio State, but it has yet to defeat a power conference opponent and just lost to a Florida team that had previously been ranked outside the top 60.
- No. 33 Penn State (-22): Back-to-back losses have James Franklin’s crew falling 28 spots over the last two weeks and 31 spots from their preseason position of No. 2. This team made the Big Ten Championship Game and the College Football Playoff semifinals, brought back of a ton of key experience and seemingly boosted its offense and defense with staff hires and portal additions, yet has entered the second week of October without a win against a power conference opponent.
Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 136: Teams ranked 26-136
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