Power Rankings 9/30/25

Welcome Back!

Well, I finally did it! I dropped the preseason points, and so now there are massive changes. Many will absolutely surprise you as I have teams moving as many as 91 spots! This is because of a number of factors. First, we have teams that have played 4 games, some that have played 5, and some that have played as many as 6 games. This is true every year, but it creates challenges. Teams with fewer games have had less opportunity to gain points. Second, without the preseason points, each result has an outsized influence, which means scores from way back in Week Zero (and from each week thereafter) is affecting the rankings more than before. The more games that get played, the less each individual result will affect the standings; it's the accumulation of the points that matters. Third, teams are much closer in points than before. Before I dropped my preseason points, there were 1,403.251 points between 1st place and 136th place (an average of 10.318 between each place); now there are only 198.05 between 1st and last place- an average of only 1.45625. The distance between 1st and 30th place has been reduced from 440.912 (14.7 avg distance) to 43.15 (1.438 avg). To put that in perspective, teams typically gain 5-15 points with a win, or lose 5-15 with a loss. That's not always true, of course, as teams can earn or lose up to 25 points, and sometimes the gain or loss is less than a point (for example, beating an FCS team by only 10 points would net a team only .5 points). This means that from here on out, the rankings will be a lot more volatile.

Seven of the top 10 are new teams- only Oregon, Ole Miss, Ohio State remain, and none of these are #1. The rest of the 7 former top 10 teams are distributed this way: 1 in the teens, 2 in the 20s, 2 in the 30s,  1 in the 40s, and 1 is #99. Remember, the changes are due not only to the results from this past weekend, but to the results of all 4 (or 5 or 6) games up to this point, with no preseason expectations/points included. In other words, this ranking is a reflection of what they have accomplished so far this season.

Here is how far the teams moved:

Less than 10 spots- 33 teams

10-19 spots- 29

20-29 spots- 25

30-39 spots- 18

40-49 spots- 11

50-59 spots- 7

60-69 spots- 4

70-79 spots- 7

80+ spots- 2

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

SEC- 11

Big Ten- 6

ACC- 5

Big 12- 4

American- 3

SBC- 1

If the Playoff started tomorrow, here is who would make it. Keep in mind the 5 highest ranked conference champions are automatically in, and I have to assume that the highest ranking team of each conference would be the champion. These would be the seedings:

1. Indiana

2. Ole Miss

3. Oregon

4. Vandy

5. Ohio State

6. Texas Tech

7. Missouri

8. Miami, Fl

9. North Texas

10. Iowa State

11. Oklahoma

12. Texas A&M

What a weird lineup that would be! Remember, I am less interested in being correct now than I am in being correct at the end of the season, and I'm usually very close at the end of the season.

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

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

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!