While the traditional polls didn't make many changes at the top of the updated college football rankings, our experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports have made yet another alteration to the top three in the CBS Sports 131. After an impressive 44-6 win against Kentucky in Week 9, Tennessee has jumped Georgia for the No. 2 spot behind top-ranked Ohio State.
The order of Ohio State at No. 1, Georgia at No. 2 and Tennessee at No. 3 remained in place after last week, which was an uncharacteristic lack of adjustment after the top three had seven different versions in the first eight CBS Sports 131 releases during the 2022 season. Now, two weeks after surging to No. 3 in the wake of its win against Alabama, Tennessee has again moved ahead of an SEC foe.
This shakeup at the top highlights the excitement and anticipation for this Saturday's meeting between Georgia and Tennessee in the SEC on CBS Game of the Week. The Vols may have jumped the Bulldogs in our rankings, and could even find themselves ranked higher when the College Football Playoff Selection Committee releases its first rankings on Tuesday, but the celebration of those achievements will be temporary if Georgia can defend home turf and its hold on the SEC East with a win Saturday.
Further down the rankings, both Illinois, now at No. 12, and Kansas State, now at No. 15, saw five-spot jumps after Week 9 wins while Oklahoma State and Wake Forest took tumbles to the edge of the top 20 after losses. For more on the biggest week-to-week adjustments in the CBS Sports 131, 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 | 8-0 | 1 |
| 2 | Tennessee | 8-0 | 3 |
| 3 | Georgia | 8-0 | 2 |
| 4 | Michigan | 8-0 | 4 |
| 5 | Clemson | 8-0 | 5 |
| 6 | Alabama | 7-1 | 6 |
| 7 | TCU | 8-0 | 7 |
| 8 | Oregon | 7-1 | 8 |
| 9 | USC | 7-1 | 10 |
| 10 | UCLA | 7-1 | 12 |
| 11 | Ole Miss | 8-1 | 14 |
| 12 | Illinois | 7-1 | 17 |
| 13 | Utah | 6-2 | 15 |
| 14 | LSU | 6-2 | 18 |
| 15 | Kansas State | 6-2 | 20 |
| 16 | Penn State | 6-2 | 13 |
| 17 | North Carolina | 7-1 | 21 |
| 18 | Tulane | 7-1 | 22 |
| 19 | Oklahoma State | 6-2 | 9 |
| 20 | Wake Forest | 6-2 | 11 |
| 21 | Oregon State | 6-2 | 27 |
| 22 | Syracuse | 6-2 | 16 |
| 23 | NC State | 6-2 | 25 |
| 24 | Texas | 5-3 | 24 |
| 25 | Liberty | 7-1 | 32 |
Biggest movers
- No. 34 Notre Dame (+15): The Fighting Irish have found success -- and even an identity -- riding the ground game and a strong defense. Picking up a road win against Syracuse now has Notre Dame sitting at 5-3 with two wins against teams our voters have in the top 25. It also has losses to Stanford and Marshall, so there is a ceiling for how high Notre Dame will rise, but this team is definitely moving in the right direction.
- No. 26 UCF (+13): We saw UCF take a big drop in the rankings last week after losing at ECU, but a win against Cincinnati has the Knights right back to where they were before that loss: knocking on the door of the top 25.
- No. 43 Louisville (+10): In taking down Wake Forest, Louisville finally has a quality win that has the voters moving them up after the Cardinals spent much of the early weeks dropping in the rankings. With a manageable schedule moving forward, it's possible Louisville could finish the year closer to that top-30 range that was in line with preseason expectations.
- No. 19 Oklahoma State (-10): The Cowboys are dealing with a lot of injury issues, and maybe even a bruised ego too, after falling 48-0 at Kansas State, one of the worst losses for the program in recent years. Oklahoma State is not out of the Big 12 race yet, but it needs to get healthy and start stacking wins again to remain in contention for one of the two spots in the conference championship game.
- No. 33 Kentucky (-10): Offensive woes prevented Kentucky from being able to keep up with Tennessee in Knoxville as star quarterback Will Levis turned in one of his worst performances of the season with three interceptions.
- No. 31 Cincinnati (-12): A wild finish ends in a disappointing road loss at UCF, snapping a 19-game winning streak for coach Luke Fickell and the Bearcats in American Athletic Conference play.
- No. 46 South Carolina (-20): This is a dramatic drop for a team that had spent two weeks surging in the rankings, but Saturday delivered a stunning loss. Falling at home to Missouri, our voters had to consider that when stacking the Gamecocks up against fellow three-loss teams.
Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 131: Teams ranked 26-131
