Power Rankings 10/21/25

Welcome Back!

Before I begin, there are 2 games today. Last week I was 0-3 on the Tuesday games. Let's see if I can do a bit better. The good news is, I can't do worse...

Tuesday, October 21

Kennesaw State @ FIU- The Owls won 27-26 last year in their only previous meeting. KSU comes into this game a surprising 4-2/2-0 and on a 4-game winning streak. But the Panthers are coming off a 25-6 upset at CUSA favorite WKU, and they are back in the title chase at 3-3/1-1. FIU is 1-1 at home this season in FBS games while the Owls are 0-2 on the road, with both losses to P4 teams. The winner will keep themselves on pace with CUSA leader JSU, who is off this week. These are 2 evenly matched teams, but can KSU keep it rolling? Panthers win a close one. 

WKU @ La Tech- The Bulldogs lead this series 6-5, winning 12-7 last year, but the Hilltoppers have won 2 of the last 3. Even though the series is relatively short, there have been some high stakes matchups, with LT winning in the 1973 Camellia Bowl (the Division II Championship Game) and WKU winning in the 2016 CUSA Championship Game. They actually met for the 1st time in 1939, played again in 1940, and then not again until that 1973 Camellia Bowl, followed by a long hiatus until 2014. Both teams are coming off of upset losses in their last game, with the Hilltoppers losing by 19 to FIU and the Bulldogs falling by 28 to Kennesaw State, but they are still in this race as WKU is 5-2/3-1 and LT is 4-2/2-1. WKU is actually 2-1 on the road, but the Bulldogs are 3-0 at home. LT wins.

Power Rankings

As expected, the rankings are volatile, but the top 2, and 4 of the top 5, remained the same. The biggest mover was WKU, who dropped 30 spots after losing to FIU at home. We had fewer teams move 20+ spots than last week, with 103 teams staying within 9 spots of where they were last week, which indicates to me that teams are getting closer to where they should be.

Here is how far the teams moved:

Less than 10 spots- 103 teams

10-19 spots- 22

20-29 spots- 10

30-39 spots- 1

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

SEC- 10

Big Ten- 9

ACC- 6

Big 12- 5

American- 3

SBC- 1

Ind- 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. Ohio St

2. Indiana

3. Alabama

4. Texas A&M

5. USF

6. Oregon

7. Georgia

8. BYU

9. Texas Tech

10. Ole Miss

11. Vandy

11. Ga Tech

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

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!