Power Rankings 9/23/25

Welcome Back!

This will be the last week that I count my preseason factors. That is why teams like Clemson, who is only 1-3, is still in the top 10. I have no doubt that the Tigers will drop quite a bit next week even though they are off this weekend. I've waited this long so that every team will have played at least 4 games, or 1/3 of the season. So get ready for major changes next week!

This week, only 22 of my top 34 moved either up or down, and the top 4 remain unchanged. However, we have a new team at the bottom, as Kent State gets back there after a short hiatus.

As a reminder, I use a points based system. Teams start out with a certain number of points based on 12 different factors, and those points range from a low of 51.184 (#136 Kent State) to a high of 1,348.285 points (#1 Ohio State), so as you can see, there are almost 1300 points separating 1st and last place- plenty of room to fit in 134 additional teams. In other words, teams are an average of 9.7 points apart, but of course they aren't spaced evenly; some are 20-30 points away from another while others are less than a point away. As teams play games, they earn or lose points based on who they played, where they played,  and the score of that game. Sometimes a team can lose points after a win or gain points after a loss. For example, if Ohio State played Kent State and won by 2 points, chances are they will lose points because the game is much closer than a game between #s 1 and 136 should be. The same goes for defeating an FCS team by very few points, and a loss to an FCS team means quite a bit of negative points. Once we reach the end of September, I will drop the preseason points, and from then on, the rankings will be based on results and stats from this year only. 

Here are the biggest movers from this week:

TCU +3 to #24

Washington +4 to #26

Texas Tech +4 to #30

Syracuse +3 to #5

Ohio +4 to # 47

UNLV +5 to #49

Vanderbilt +3 to #65

Fresno St +3 to #76

Maryland +4 to #77

USF +3 to #81

Coastal Carolina +4 to #92

San Diego State +3 to #103

Central Michigan +5 to #116

ULM +3 to #122

Illinois -5 to #29

Utah -5 to #33

Army -3 to #42

Wisconsin -5 to #52

Nebraska -3 to #53

Arkansas -3 to #56

Louisiana -4 to #69

California -7 to #82

Buffalo -3 to #85

UConn -3 to #88

Oregon State -3 to #93

Georgia State -4 to #121

Temple -3 to #126

Here is how many teams each conference has in the top 35:

SEC- 11

Big Ten- 9

Big 12- 7

ACC- 4

American- 2

MWC- 1

Ind- 1

Anyway, here are my new rankings from 1 to 136:

Rank	Team	Previous
1	Ohio State	1
2	Georgia	2
3	Penn State	3
4	Oregon	4
5	Texas	6
6	Alabama	5
7	Notre Dame	8
8	Clemson	7
9	LSU	9
10	Ole Miss	11
11	Michigan	10
12	Tennessee	12
13	Miami, Fl	13
14	SMU	14
15	BYU	15
16	Iowa	16
17	Boise State	19
18	Oklahoma	17
19	Indiana	20
20	Louisville	18
21	Missouri	22
22	USC	21
23	Texas A&M	23
24	TCU	27
25	Iowa State	25
26	Washington	30
27	Kansas State	29
28	Tulane	26
29	Illinois	24
30	Texas Tech	34
31	Memphis	32
32	Florida	31
33	Utah	28
34	South Carolina	33
35	Arizona State	35
36	Minnesota	36
37	Baylor	37
38	Auburn	38
39	Pittsburgh	40
40	James Madison	41
41	Duke	42
42	Army	39
43	Georgia Tech	43
44	FSU	45
45	Syracuse	48
46	NC State	44
47	Ohio	51
48	Toledo	46
49	UNLV	54
50	Liberty	49
51	Navy	52
52	Wisconsin	47
53	Nebraska	50
54	Cincinnati	55
55	UTSA	56
56	Arkansas	53
57	Kansas	57
58	Kentucky	59
59	UCF	61
60	West Virginia	58
61	Houston	63
62	North Carolina	60
63	Air Force	64
64	Rutgers	62
65	Vanderbilt	68
66	Colorado	67
67	Boston College	66
68	WKU	69
69	Louisiana	65
70	Miami, OH	70
71	Virginia Tech	71
72	Texas State	74
73	UCLA	72
74	San Jose State	76
75	Michigan State	73
76	Fresno State	79
77	Maryland	81
78	Oklahoma State	78
79	South Alabama	77
80	East Carolina	80
81	USF	84
82	California	75
83	Arizona	83
84	Marshall	86
85	Buffalo	82
86	Georgia Southern	88
87	North Texas	87
88	UConn	85
89	Troy	89
90	Mississippi State	91
91	Virginia	92
92	Coastal Carolina	96
93	Oregon State	90
94	Wake Forest	93
95	Appalachian State	95
96	Washington State	94
97	Jacksonville State	98
98	Northern Illinois	97
99	Northwestern	100
100	Utah State	102
101	Colorado State	99
102	ODU	101
103	San Diego State	106
104	Arkansas State	103
105	Bowling Green	104
106	Wyoming	105
107	Hawai'i	107
108	Eastern Michigan	110
109	Delaware	108
110	La Tech	109
111	Western Michigan	113
112	UAB	111
113	Sam Houston	112
114	Rice	115
115	Purdue	114
116	Central Michigan	121
117	Stanford	116
118	FAU	119
119	New Mexico State	120
120	Southern Miss	118
121	Georgia State	117
122	ULM	125
123	New Mexico	122
124	Nevada	124
125	Missouri State	127
126	Temple	123
127	Charlotte	126
128	FIU	128
129	Middle Tennessee	130
130	Tulsa	131
131	UTEP	129
132	Akron	133
133	Ball State	132
134	Kennesaw State	134
135	UMass	136
136	Kent State	135

I will update these rankings each week throughout the season.

Feel free to leave a comment. Come back tomorrow for my Odds and Ends! 

Until next time, may you and your loved ones be blessed!