College football rankings reactions heading into Week 6

It was another exciting Saturday of college football from the early games through the final matchups of the evening. Eight teams ranked inside of the top 25 heading into the weekend suffered losses including big names Texas and Oklahoma a week before the Red River Rivalry. The AP Top 25 Poll released its next set of rankings on Sunday. Here’s a look at what the pollsters did after all the chaos and as the dust settled.

Who went up?

The biggest movers after Saturday’s action was a tie with three teams moving up seven spots in the AP Poll. The Oklahoma State Cowboys hopped into the top 10 after crushing the Kansas Jayhawks, though this is more likely influenced by teams around the Cowboys falling. The Tennessee Volunteers controlled the Missouri Tigers fairly easily and moved to No. 14, with the BYU Cougars moving up to the 15th spot after 45-14 blowout victory over Louisiana Tech.

The Big Ten continues to trickle up the rankings as teams lose around them. The Penn State Nittany Lions, Wisconsin Badgers and Michigan Wolverines moved up the rankings, and Minnesota jumped into the final spot in the Top 25. For the Pac-12, its lone representative Oregon Ducks moved up two spots... all before playing a game.

The SMU Mustangs beat a previously-ranked Memphis Tigers team, and were rewarded by being the highest ranked team that entered the weekend outside of the top 25. The Mustangs come in at No. 18.

After Iowa State’s win over the Oklahoma Sooners, the No. 24 Cyclones were still ranked a spot below Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns , which beat Iowa State earlier in the season.

The Virginia Tech Hokies also entered at No. 19 after a 2-0 start.

Who went down?

The UCF Knights dropped the most of any college football team after its loss to Tulsa on Saturday night. After blowing 18-point lead, the Knights went from No. 11 in the AP Poll to unranked. Among the teams still currently ranked, Texas fell the lowest from No. 9 all the way down to No. 22 after losing to TCU as double-digit favorites.

After the massive upset of LSU, the Mississippi State Bulldogs gave Arkansas its first SEC win since 2017 to drop from No. 16 to out of the rankings. Oklahoma lost for the second straight week and fell from No. 18 to unranked. The Pittsburgh Panthers (24) and Memphis Tigers (25) both lost and dropped out of the rankings.

What’s up next?

Week 6 features four matchups between top 25 teams. No. 4 Florida will head on the road to play the 21st-ranked Texas A&M coming off a loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide. The North Carolina Tar Heels are ranked No. 8 and will host 19th-ranked Virginia Tech in a battle of unbeatens. We will learn a lot about what Tennessee is when the 14th-ranked Volunteers head to Athens for the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs. Finally, the college football Saturday wraps up with top-ranked Clemson hosting the No. 7 Miami Hurricanes.

After both teams lost on Saturday, this one lost a bit of luster but the No. 22 Texas Longhorns will play unranked Oklahoma in Week 6.

AP Poll

Coaches Poll