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College football rankings reactions heading into Week 6

After a wild weekend of college football, here’s a look at where things stand in the AP Top 25 Poll.

NCAA Football: Oklahoma State at Kansas Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

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

2020 AP Poll, Week 6

Ranking Team (1st place votes) Record Points
Ranking Team (1st place votes) Record Points
1 Clemson(52) 3-0 1536
2 Alabama(8) 2-0 1488
3 Georgia 2-0 1380
4 Florida 2-0 1340
5 Notre Dame 2-0 1239
6 Ohio State(2) 0-0 1165
7 Miami 3-0 1148
8 North Carolina 2-0 944
9 Penn State 0-0 935
10 Oklahoma State 3-0 919
11 Cincinnati 3-0 895
12 Oregon 0-0 786
13 Auburn 1-1 731
14 Tennessee 2-0 717
15 BYU 3-0 661
16 Wisconsin 0-0 619
17 LSU 1-1 478
18 SMU 4-0 393
19 Virginia Tech 2-0 391
20 Michigan 0-0 350
21 Texas A&M 1-1 330
22 Texas 2-1 228
23 Louisiana 3-0 216
24 Iowa State 2-1 215
25 Minnesota 0-0 145

Coaches Poll

2020 Coaches Poll, Week 6

Ranking Team (1st place votes) Record Points
Ranking Team (1st place votes) Record Points
1 Clemson(46) 3-0 1533
2 Alabama(14) 2-0 1496
3 Florida 2-0 1372
Georgia 2-0 1372
5 Notre Dame 2-0 1256
6 Ohio State(2) 0-0 1192
7 Miami 3-0 1149
8 Penn State 0-0 983
9 North Carolina 2-0 982
10 Oklahoma State 3-0 818
11 Cincinnati 3-0 807
12 Tennessee 2-0 744
13 Auburn 1-1 701
14 Wisconsin 0-0 668
15 BYU 3-0 646
16 LSU 1-1 616
17 Oregon 0-0 494
18 Virginia Tech 2-0 423
19 Michigan 0-0 409
20 Texas A&M 1-1 339
21 SMU 4-0 304
22 Texas 2-1 295
23 Louisiana 3-0 207
24 Iowa State 2-1 137
25 UCF 2-1 127