Power Rankings 9/15/26

Welcome Back!

As you might expect, we had quite a bit of movement after the 2nd full week of games. We even had some movement within the Top 10, as Texas moves up to #1, Oregon drops to #3 and Michigan moves back in to the top 10, while Ole Miss drops from #9 to #11. Other than movement within itself, the Top 25 retains the same teams. We also have a repeat team at the bottom, as Charlotte stays #138. Here are the teams that moved 8 spots or more (biggest movers highlighted):

North Texas +8 to #44

Minnesota -13 to #50

Mississippi State +24 to #52

Va Tech +15 to #55

San Diego St -8 to #65

Navy -22 to #66

Oklahoma St +27 to #68

Maryland +10 to #70

Arkansas -8 to #75

NDSU +8 to #77

ODU -12 to #80

ECU -21 to #83

App State +13 to #86

UConn -11 to #88

Air Force -9 to #89

FAU +20 to #96

FIU +11 to #104

Boston College +8 to #105

Kennesaw St -19 to #107

Rutgers -13 to #113

Buffalo -12 to #115

Ga State +13 to #117

Mo State +9 to #118

Nevada -23 to #133

Northern Illinois -12 to #135

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 -20.887 (#138 UMass) to a high of 315.128 points (#1 Oregon), so as you can see, there are about 335 points separating 1st and last place- plenty of room to fit in 136 additional teams. In other words, teams are an average of 2.4 points apart, but of course they aren't spaced evenly; some are 10-20 points away from another while others are less than a point away. To illustrate the difference, my number one team last year had over 1300 points, while the last place team had just 54. As you can see, the teams are much closer this year, as I had an average distance of almost 10 points between teams last year. 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 Oregon played UMass and won by 2 points, chances are they will lose points because the game is much closer than a game between #s 1 and 138 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. 

Anyway, here are my new rankings from 1 to 138:

Rank	Team	Previous
1	Texas	3
2	Indiana	2
3	Oregon	1
4	Notre Dame	4
5	Georgia	5
6	Ohio State	6
7	Miami, Fl	7
8	Texas Tech	8
9	Michigan	11
10	LSU	10
11	Ole Miss	9
12	USC	12
13	Alabama	13
14	Oklahoma	14
15	Texas A&M	15
16	BYU	17
17	Iowa	16
18	Tennessee	21
19	Clemson	19
20	Penn State	20
21	SMU	18
22	Louisville	22
23	Missouri	23
24	Utah	25
25	Washington	24
26	Auburn	27
27	Boise State	30
28	South Carolina	26
29	James Madison	28
30	Houston	29
31	Virginia	31
32	Florida	32
33	FSU	33
34	Duke	38
35	Pittsburgh	34
36	Nebraska	36
37	Memphis	35
38	Fresno State	42
39	UTSA	45
40	Vanderbilt	43
41	TCU	41
42	Arizona	39
43	Kansas State	48
44	North Texas	52
45	Illinois	40
46	USF	53
47	Cincinnati	47
48	UCLA	55
49	NC State	51
50	Minnesota	37
51	Arizona State	46
52	Wake Forest	56
53	Army	50
54	Mississippi State	78
55	Virginia Tech	70
56	UNLV	49
57	New Mexico	59
58	Northwestern	58
59	Georgia Tech	54
60	Iowa State	60
61	Baylor	61
62	Tulane	64
63	Western Michigan	63
64	Wisconsin	66
65	San Diego State	57
66	Navy	44
67	West Virginia	69
68	Oklahoma State	95
69	North Carolina	71
70	Maryland	81
71	Toledo	73
72	Liberty	65
73	Michigan State	79
74	Colorado	76
75	Arkansas	67
76	Texas State	72
77	North Dakota State	85
78	UCF	75
79	Kansas	74
80	ODU	68
81	Miami, OH	83
82	Troy	84
83	East Carolina	62
84	Ohio	86
85	Kentucky	82
86	Appalachian State	99
87	California	91
88	UConn	77
89	Air Force	80
90	Louisiana	87
91	Marshall	94
92	Arkansas State	97
93	La Tech	92
94	Georgia Southern	93
95	WKU	89
96	FAU	116
97	Washington State	90
98	Hawai'i	104
99	Tulsa	102
100	Jacksonville State	96
101	Delaware	101
102	Syracuse	98
103	Colorado State	108
104	FIU	115
105	Boston College	113
106	San Jose State	111
107	Kennesaw State	88
108	Central Michigan	109
109	Coastal Carolina	114
110	South Alabama	105
111	Temple	106
112	Southern Miss	107
113	Rutgers	100
114	Stanford	117
115	Buffalo	103
116	Purdue	112
117	Georgia State	130
118	Missouri State	127
119	Utah State	124
120	Wyoming	121
121	Oregon State	122
122	UAB	125
123	Eastern Michigan	118
124	Akron	128
125	Rice	126
126	Middle Tenn	119
127	New Mexico State	120
128	UTEP	131
129	Ball State	132
130	Sacramento State	129
131	Kent State	133
132	UMass	135
133	Nevada	110
134	Bowling Green	134
135	Northern Illinois	123
136	Sam Houston	137
137	ULM	136
138	Charlotte	138

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!