Week 4 College Football Top 25 and Power Rankings September 28-October 3, 2026

Week 4 College Football Top 25 and Power Rankings September 28-October 3, 2026 1 Texas 4-0 1 2 Georgia 4-0 2 3 Miami 4-0 4 4 Notre Dame 4-0 5 5 Ohio State 3-1 7 6 Indiana 4-0 6 7 Alabama 4-0 8 8 Florida 4-0 16 9 BYU 3-0 9 10 Ole Miss 3-1 3 11 LSU 3-1 10 12 Texas Tech 4-0 12 13 Iowa 4-0 18 14 Utah 4-0 15 15 Oregon 3-1 20 16 Mississippi State 4-0 21 17 UCLA 4-0 29 18 Tennessee 3-1 13 19 USC 4-1 11 20 Oklahoma State 3-1 34 21 Houston 3-1 24 22 Duke 4-0 35 23 Wake Forest 3-1 46 24 Missouri 3-1 19 25 Pittsburgh 4-0 32 Biggest movers No. 23 Wake Forest (+23): A road win against a top team sets up Wake Forest's big splash inside the top 25 of the CBS Sports 138. The Demon Deacons are 3-1 on the year, with the only loss coming to Miami, and even that 13-point loss marks the toughest game the Hurricanes have played all year. Beating Louisville has put the Deans on the map, and now they get to defend this new status with a stretch of winnable ACC games. No. 20 Oklahoma State (+14): The season-opening loss to Tulsa may be a bit of a weight on the Cowboys' ranking for now, but with an Oregon win on the resume and now a solid conference road victory at West Virginia, the voters have changed their tune. No. 22 Duke (+13): We are not projecting that a win against William & Mary was what sparked the upward ranking movement, instead acknowledging that the Blue Devils stand out as a 4-0 team with multiple power conference wins. Duke has been buzzing around the top 35 ever since its win at Illinois in Week 2, and now some space has opened up for a move as other teams have taken losses. No. 17 UCLA (+12): Saturday's 54-3 blowout win at Maryland got our voters' attention in a big way for its margin and also the quality of play from the Bruins in a cross-country road spot. Bob Chesney's group out-gained the Terps 475-to-180 and allowed just one third-down conversion all game. No. 33 Louisville (-16): Just like with Wake Forest's rise, there is a predictable drop for the Cards, who now have two close defeats on a resume that's mostly hurt by its 2-2 record. For Louisville, it's frustrating to note that the team is just a few plays away from being 4-0 and near the top of the rankings if things had gone differently against Ole Miss and Wake Forest, but coming up short on those tight margins doesn't help win debates in this stretch of the rankings. No. 39 Texas A&M (-16): The Aggies just haven't looked like the top 10 team that many expected coming into the year. The presence of Marcel Reed and respect for Mike Elko kept Texas A&M in a respectable position in the rankings for a couple of weeks, but back-to-back conference losses have spiked their top-30 status. No. 48 Oklahoma (-17): It is truly striking to see Oklahoma down here near the edge of the top 50, keeping pace with some of the lower-rated teams in the SEC. This excellent defense needs to be celebrated even as the offensive execution craters, but in order to win games and move up in the rankings, you have to score points, and that's not happening easily with this group. No. 32 Penn State (-18): A fitting tumble for a disappointing collapse after Penn State blew a double-digit lead at home to Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions can bounce back up inside the top 30 and even top 20 by stacking conference wins in the coming weeks, but this was a big opportunity lost to remain at the top of the pack for the Big Ten standings. We enter October with six new teams in the CBS Sports Power Rankings. BIGGEST MOVERS 14 UCLA 13 USC CHG RCRD 1 team logo TEXAS Colin Simmons tied a program record with five sacks, and Texas escaped Tennessee 20-17, its first road win as the AP No. 1 team since 1984. Arch Manning was sacked six times. The defense carried him. -- 4-0 2 team logo GEORGIA Georgia buried Oklahoma 41-13, becoming the third SEC team to win its first four games by 28-plus points. The Bulldogs have beaten 52 straight unranked opponents, the nation's longest active streak. -- 4-0 3 team logo OHIO STATE Jeremiah Smith caught four touchdowns, tying a school record, in a 42-19 win over Illinois. He's two TD catches from passing Chris Olave for the program record. Next: a trip to unbeaten Iowa on CBS. -- 3-1 4 team logo MIAMI (FLA.) Darian Mensah has more touchdown passes (14) than incompletions (12) through four games, a first for an FBS quarterback in 30 years. Miami's 42.8-point average margin is a program best through four games. Next: a road game at Clemson. -- 4-0 5 team logo NOTRE DAME Notre Dame rolled 49-10 at Purdue, its 19th straight win over an unranked team, all by 14-plus points. CJ Carr tied a career high with four total touchdowns. Marcus Freeman has never started 5-0. 1 4-0 6 team logo ALABAMA Keelon Russell is on Heisman Watch after accounting for 400 yards and five touchdowns in a 49-18 rout of South Carolina. Alabama has won its first four by 14-plus for the first time since its 2020 title run. The cowbells beckon. 2 4-0 7 team logo FLORIDA Florida ran for 302 yards, a school record against a top-five foe, in a 52-28 rout of Ole Miss. Are the Gators a sleeping giant? "It's not asleep, but it ain't fully awake yet," Jon Sumrall said. 9 4-0 8 team logo INDIANA Indiana wobbled, but Lee Beebe Jr. ran for 203 yards in a 29-23 escape against Northwestern, the Hoosiers' 20th straight win. RB Turbo Richard suffered a high-ankle sprain. 1 4-0 9 team logo LSU LSU pounded Texas A&M 35-6, snapping a six-game skid against ranked teams. Sam Leavitt threw for 312 yards despite a hamstring injury. Injuries are piling up. LB White Weeks suffered a leg fracture. Good thing McNeese State is next. -- 3-1 10 team logo TENNESSEE Faizon Brandon was sacked 10 times, and Tennessee still had a shot at No. 1 Texas before falling 20-17. Josh Heupel said his freshman QB wasn't good enough. He faces his former OC, Alex Golesh, and Auburn next. 1 3-1 11 team logo MISS. STATE The Bulldogs snapped a 14-game losing streak in ranked-on-ranked matchups, the longest in AP poll history, beating Missouri 31-24 in a thriller. Heisman contender Kamario Taylor threw for 360 yards. Undefeated Alabama comes to Starkville next. 12 4-0 12 team logo UCLA Bob Chesney's Bruins are 4-0 for the first time since 2022 after a 54-3 demolition at Maryland, the program's largest margin in a Big Ten game. Wayne Knight has nine rushing touchdowns. A trip to Oregon in two weeks looms. NR 4-0 13 team logo OREGON Dante Moore was taken to the hospital by ambulance after a targeted hit. Dylan Raiola replaced him and threw for 289 yards in a 41-27 win at USC, Oregon's school-record fifth straight over the Trojans. Are the Ducks quacking back? 4 3-1 14 team logo UTAH Morgan Scalley is 5-0 as a head coach, all by double digits, after a 31-17 road win at Iowa State. The Utes have won 10 straight, their longest streak since 2007-09. 8 4-0 15 team logo OLE MISS Ole Miss misses RB Kewan Lacy, but the defense has serious problems. The Rebels allowed 50-plus points for the first time in 59 games as a top-five team. "That was an old-fashioned butt whooping," Pete Golding said. 10 3-1 16 team logo IOWA Hank Brown hit Reece Vander Zee for 16 yards on the final play, capping a 91-yard drive in a 20-19 stunner at Michigan. It was Iowa's first win in Ann Arbor since 2010. Ohio State visits next on CBS. 2 4-0 17 team logo TEXAS TECH Austin Romaine returned interceptions for touchdowns on consecutive throws, the first FBS player to do it since 2013. But QB Will Hammond threw three first-half picks in a 49-14 win over Sam Houston State. 5 4-0 18 team logo BYU BYU sat at home during a bye. The Cougars averaged 6.7 yards per carry over three games, and LJ Martin sits 131 yards shy of 3,000 for his career. TCU is next. 1 3-0 19 team logo NEBRASKA Matt Rhule's Huskers opened Big Ten play with a 31-13 win at Michigan State. Vincent Genatone scored twice, and the defense forced three turnovers. Downtrodden Maryland comes to Lincoln this week. NR 4-0 20 team logo VIRGINIA TECH James Franklin is 4-0 in Blacksburg, the Hokies' best start since 2017. Jeffrey Overton Jr. ran for 209 yards in a rain-soaked 21-14 comeback at Boston College. Pitt visits Friday in a battle of unbeatens. NR 4-0 21 team logo PITTSBURGH Mason Heintschel threw six touchdowns in a 59-0 rout of Bucknell, becoming the first ACC quarterback with two six-TD games in a season. And yet he has not thrown a TD against a power-conference opponent. NR 4-0 22 team logo DUKE Manny Diaz lost a pile of talent, including quarterback Darian Mensah to Miami, and is 4-0 anyway after a 62-7 romp over William & Mary. Duke's eight-game streak matches its longest since 1940-41. Diaz is coach of the year material. NR 4-0 23 team logo USC Lincoln Riley is 5-14 against ranked teams at USC after a 41-27 home loss to Oregon. Linebacker Desman Stephens II, ejected for targeting Dante Moore, was suspended one game over the hit and his celebration. Trojans need a big win. 13 4-1 24 team logo MISSOURI Missouri led 24-17 in the second half and lost 31-24 at Mississippi State, its ninth straight loss in ranked matchups. Eli Drinkwitz is 0-16 against opponents that finish above .500 in SEC play. Unbeaten Florida visits Saturday. 10 3-1 25 team logo OKLAHOMA STATE Eric Morris has 92 new players and the Cowboys already own wins over Oregon and, now, West Virginia. Drew Mestemaker threw for 389 yards in a 41-24 win in Morgantown after trailing 14-3. NR 3-1