Power Rankings 9/8/26

Welcome Back!

As you might expect, we had quite a bit of movement after the 1st full week of games. We even had some movement within the Top 10, as Texas moves up to #3 and LSU moves in at #10, while Michigan drops from #9 to #11. Other than movement within itself, the Top 25 retains the same teams. We also have a new team at the bottom, as Charlotte drops to #138 from 137, thanks to UMass moving up to #135 from last place. Here are the teams that moved 8 spots or more (biggest movers highlighted):

Ga Tech -15 to #54

UCLA +11 to #55

New Mexico +11 to #59

Texas State -9 to #72

Toledo -19 to #73

Colorado +18 to #76

Mich St -14 to #79

Miami, Oh -9 to #83

WKU -12 to #89

Okla St -19 to #95

Rutgers -11 to #100

Tulsa +15 to #102

Colo St +10 to #108

C Mich -8 to #109

Nevada +16 to #110

CCU -8 to #14

FAU -8 to #116

Utah St -34 to #124

Bowling Green -14 to #134

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

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!