While the college football world continues to react to LSU firing Brian Kelly, the show must go on when it comes to teams that are still competing for spots in the College Football Playoff and jockeying for position in the rankings. While Week 9 did not provide the kind of chaotic shakeup we saw from the week before, there are some shifting trends among the CBS Sports 136 that indicate where things are headed over the final month of the season.
Ole Miss, for example, seems to be solidifying its position as one of the top teams in the country. The rise for the Rebels after beating Oklahoma in Norman was always going to be limited by a head-to-head loss to Georgia, but our voters felt strongly enough about the result against the Sooners to move Lane Kiffin’s squad ahead of undefeated Georgia Tech. With just a few challenges left on the slate, Ole Miss appears to be barreling towards its first-ever CFP appearance, and our voters are in agreement with that standing placing them in the same conversation as Alabama, Oregon and Georgia as the top one-loss teams in the country.
Elsewhere in the CBS Sports 136, we see some notable moves up for one-loss Big 12 teams Cincinnati (up four spots) and Houston (up seven spots), as each logged key wins in conference play over the weekend and continue to build their case as top-20 teams nationally with their 7-1 records.
Bowl projections: Vanderbilt enters CFP bracket as SEC’s fifth team, BYU flexes as new Big 12 frontrunner
Brad Crawford
Of course, there are some rankings repercussions for LSU’s blowout home loss to Texas A&M that exist outside of Brian Kelly’s firing. The Tigers were in fact one of the most notable adjustments as they tumbled out of the top 30 following the defeat. For more on that change, and the other notable week-to-week adjustments in the CBS Sports 136, 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.
Biggest movers
- No. 25 Memphis (+15): The Tigers fell 17 spots last week after losing to UAB, and now they’ve gained almost all of that rankings equity back with a thrilling home win against South Florida. Our voters had the Bulls up at No. 19 last week and dropped them to No. 28 after the loss, providing a sensible landing spot for a one-loss Memphis team that now has a huge win in the American title race.
- No. 48 Auburn (+11): Some good news for Auburn! After an 0-4 start to SEC play, Hugh Freeze made a change at quarterback and Ashton Daniels helped propel the Tigers to a win at Arkansas. A win against Baylor provides a connective data point for voters sorting out teams in the Nos. 40-60 range of the CBS Sports 136 but does the narrow margins of defeat against four quality opponents during the 4-4 start to the season.
- No. 51 Kansas State (+10): For a team that did not have an FBS win until Sept. 27, Kansas State has things going, relatively, in a pretty good direction. The Wildcats have won three of four, recently stringing together a pair of double-digit wins against TCU and Kansas. The remaining schedule is daunting and leaves little room for error because of that 1-3 start to the season, but keep your eye on this team as one that could play spoiler in the Big 12 coming down the stretch.
- No. 52 Wake Forest (+10): The Demon Deacons have five games left on the schedule and need just one to be bowl eligible. They have already hit the over on their preseason win total according to the oddsmakers (4.5 wins), and with Delaware and North Carolina on the schedule, there’s at least two chances where Wake Forest will likely be favored to win. Jake Dickert’s work in Year 1 is worth celebrating at year’s end. But, for now, our voters are just going to reward the victory against SMU, which was the Mustangs’ first-ever regular season loss in ACC play.
- No. 58 Baylor (-10): The Bears defense has given up 35+ points in five of the seven FBS games it’s played this season, and on Saturday the inability to stop the ground game doomed them in a 41-20 loss at Cincinnati. There are winnable games left that have a bowl game still on the table for Baylor, now at 4-4, but the weaknesses have been consistent, and our voters are going to struggle giving tiebreaker edges to teams with obvious flaws.
- No. 32 LSU (-11): That’s 19 combined spots lost over the last two weeks for LSU, who, on the surface, did not take bad losses (Vanderbilt, Texas A&M) but certainly did not show the kind of form that had the school believing this season was going to end well. By moving on from Brian Kelly, LSU has punted on playoff contention for 2025, and our voters have similarly removed them from consideration for top spots on the ballot. It’s a talented 5-3 team but not one with a resume worth ranking inside the top 30.
- No. 39 Arizona State (-12): The Sun Devils have been bouncing up and down the rankings in recent weeks. There was a slide down after a 32-point loss to Utah, then a quick rebound after handing Texas Tech its first loss of the season. Now, voters are readjusting again after a 24-16 home loss to Houston, which, for the record, did move up to No. 21. Injuries have played a role in Arizona State’s struggles, for sure, but the competition for spots in the 30s is too close to make excuses for every team.
- No. 45 SMU (-13): Two straight road games finally caught up with SMU, and the Mustangs were unable to take advantage of a few breaks in a 13-12 loss at Wake Forest. There will be chances for SMU to carve a path into the ACC title picture again with home games against Miami and Louisville in the coming weeks, but for now in the national picture there had to be an adjustment after Saturday’s loss to the Demon Deacons.
Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 136: Teams ranked 26-136
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