After an impressive showing in one of the headlining games on the Week 8 schedule, Oregon is on the move in the updated college football rankings and has finally crashed the top 10 for the first time this season in the CBS Sports 131.
The Ducks started the year at No. 14 in our comprehensive ranking of every FBS team, but after a lopsided loss to Georgia in the season opener, they dropped all the way to No. 30. As Oregon has continued its winning ways, however, the ranking has slowly improved, though our voters have been slightly behind the traditional polls in being ready to identify the Ducks as one of the 10 best teams in the country.
But after improving to 6-1 with a 45-30 win against previously unbeaten UCLA, there is no longer any hesitation about where Oregon stands against its peers at the top of the sport. The Ducks landed in the top 10 at No. 8 in our new rankings, just behind undefeated TCU and higher than all one-loss teams besides Alabama.
The entire top seven remained in place from last week with Ohio State holding on to No. 1 as No. 2 Georgia was on a bye and No. 3 Tennessee played FCS UT Martin. Michigan, our No. 4 team, was also idle while Clemson needed a second-half comeback to maintain its undefeated status -- and 38-game home winning streak -- against Syracuse. While there wasn't much movement at the very top of the rankings, there was plenty of shuffling outside the top 10.
Penn State, like Oregon, saw a four-spot increase in its position as the primetime win against Minnesota saw the Nittany Lions move up to No. 13, and LSU earned a six-spot bump from No. 24 to No. 18 after beating Ole Miss. The Rebels, as you might expect, are moving in the opposite direction after taking their first loss of the season, falling from No. 8 to No. 14. That wasn't the most dramatic adjustment in the rankings but is still notable; our voters now have seven one-loss teams slotted ahead of Ole Miss following the team's first loss of the year.
For more on the most notable and dramatic week-to-week adjustments, check out the Mover's Report below the top 25 table.
College football experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports contribute ballots each week, which are averaged together for our rankings. You can see the top 25 below and 26-131 on our rankings page.
| Rank | Team | Record | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State | 7-0 | 1 |
| 2 | Georgia | 7-0 | 2 |
| 3 | Tennessee | 7-0 | 3 |
| 4 | Michigan | 7-0 | 4 |
| 5 | Clemson | 8-0 | 5 |
| 6 | Alabama | 7-1 | 6 |
| 7 | TCU | 7-0 | 7 |
| 8 | Oregon | 6-1 | 12 |
| 9 | Oklahoma State | 6-1 | 10 |
| 10 | USC | 6-1 | 11 |
| 11 | Wake Forest | 6-1 | 14 |
| 12 | UCLA | 6-1 | 9 |
| 13 | Penn State | 6-1 | 17 |
| 14 | Ole Miss | 7-1 | 8 |
| 15 | Utah | 5-2 | 16 |
| 16 | Syracuse | 6-1 | 13 |
| 17 | Illinois | 6-1 | 18 |
| 18 | LSU | 6-2 | 24 |
| 19 | Cincinnati | 6-1 | 20 |
| 20 | Kansas State | 5-2 | 15 |
| 21 | North Carolina | 6-1 | 21 |
| 22 | Tulane | 7-1 | 27 |
| 23 | Kentucky | 5-2 | 22 |
| 24 | Texas | 5-3 | 19 |
| 25 | NC State | 5-2 | 30 |
Biggest movers
- No. 32 Liberty (+18): Now 7-1 after a 41-14 win against BYU, the Flames have a strong profile with their only loss on the season coming in a one-score game against Wake Forest.
- No. 48 East Carolina (+17): Now 5-3 with back-to-back wins against Memphis and UCF, the Pirates have moved from the bottom half of the CBS Sports 131 to crashing the top 50 in just two weeks.
- No. 35 Baylor (+12): The Bears snapped a two-game skid in conference play and got back over .500 with a strong win against a Kansas team that our CBS voters still have ranked in the top 40.
- No. 45 Troy (+12): By beating South Alabama in the Battle for the Belt, the Trojans have improved to 6-2 overall. More importantly, they've given themselves an inside track to win the West and compete for a Sun Belt championship at the end of the year.
- No. 26 South Carolina (+11): In two weeks, the Gamecocks have covered 22 spots of upward momentum in the CBS Sports 131, and taking down Texas A&M on Saturday night was the last piece needed for Shane Beamer's squad to get inside the top 30.
- No. 58 BYU (-13): BYU was among the top teams in our rankings earlier this season as they once held a 4-1 record that included a win over Baylor and the only loss coming to Oregon on the road. But it was the last two defeats -- a 17-point home loss to Arkansas and a 27-point loss at Liberty -- that have the Cougars, now 4-4, dropping 26 spots in two weeks and falling outside the top 50.
- No. 73 Miami (-12): This is a startling ranking to see for a program like Miami -- a team that was projected to compete for the ACC Coastal in Year 1 with Mario Cristobal. But a 24-point home loss to Duke is also a startling result that will draw a dramatic reaction from the voters.
- No. 39 UCF (-13): The Knights' loss at ECU quickly reversed a lot of rankings momentum built up over a four-game winning streak. UCF has a chance to bounce back quickly with a win against Cincinnati in Week 9, but losing to the Pirates put a ceiling on how high the Knights can climb in the rankings.
- No. 60 Texas A&M (-16): A six-point road loss to South Carolina has dropped the Aggies closer to the FBS median than anyone would have expected considering the talent on the roster and the expectations coming into the year. Instead of SEC West title contention, the focus is on winning three of the final five games to reach bowl eligibility.
- No. 42 Purdue (-17): Like UCF, the Boilermakers were starting to get more attention from our voters as one of the better teams in the country while they stacked wins and climbed up the rankings. But after a four-game winning streak was snapped with a loss at Wisconsin, our voters snapped Purdue right back into the crowded middle tier of the rankings.
Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 131: Teams ranked 26-131
