Monday, October 7, 2024

College football rankings: Michigan edges Georgia for No. 1 spot, Louisville soars in CBS Sports 133

College football rankings: Michigan edges Georgia for No. 1 spot, Louisville soars in CBS Sports 133

The Wolverines beat out the two-time reigning national champion Bulldogs by a single voting point in our updated rankings

graphic-133umw6.png
Keytron Jordan, CBS Sports

Michigan has surpassed Georgia to take over as the new No. 1 team in our updated college football rankings, beating out the Bulldogs by one voting point in the updated CBS Sports 133, our comprehensive ranking of every FBS team. Though the change of name and logo at the top is dramatic on the surface, Michigan supplanting Georgia comes less as a direct response to Week 6 results — which included arguably the best performance of the season for not only the Dawgs as a whole but more specifically Carson Beck under center and more the continuation of a weeks-long trend of shakeups in the top five. 

Two weeks ago marked the first time all season that Georgia did not earn a majority of the first-place votes with four different teams all entering the No. 1 debate. Last week saw four different teams enter the top six spots in the rankings, including Michigan’s surge back up to No. 2. Now, the Wolverines have taken over the top spot following a dominant 52-10 win at Minnesota. 

Georgia, of course, is still held in high regard by our voters firmly at No. 2, followed by Florida State, Ohio State and Washington to round out of the top five. Oklahoma is one of the big movers in the top of the rankings, jumping up five spots to No. 6 following its epic last-minute Red River Rivalry win against Texas. The Longhorns, meanwhile, dropped six spots to No. 9 after their first loss of the season.

The biggest riser within the top 25 was Louisville, which soared up to No. 13 after improving to 6-0 with a win against Notre Dame on Saturday. It took a couple of weeks for our voters to buy into Jeff Brohm’s unbeaten start, but over the last two weeks the Cardinals have moved up 15 spots between a road win at NC State and the victory over the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame remains just inside the top 20 after the loss, down nine spots to No. 19. For more on the notable week-to-week adjustments not just in the top 25 but throughout the CBS Sports 133, 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 26-133 on our rankings page.

Rank Team Record Previous
1 Michigan 6-0 2
2 Georgia 6-0 1
3 Florida State 5-0 5
4 Ohio State 5-0 4
5 Washignton 5-0 6
6 Oklahoma 6-0 11
7 Oregon 5-0 7
8 Penn State 5-0 8
9 Texas 5-1 3
10 USC 6-0 9
11 North Carolina 5-0 14
12 Alabama 5-1 12
13 Louisville 6-0 23
14 Duke 4-1 17
15 Ole Miss 5-1 15
16 Oregon State 5-1 19
17 UCLA 4-1 27
18 Washington State 4-1 13
19 Notre Dame 5-2 10
20 Utah 4-1 21
21 Tennessee 4-1 22
22 LSU 4-2 29
23 Kentucky 5-1 18
24 Air Force 5-0 32
25 Missouri 5-1 20

Biggest movers 

  • No. 55 Georgia Tech (+21): This is a classic case of rankings whiplash; our voters dropped the Yellow Jackets 22 spots last week after a loss to Bowling Green only to move them right back to nearly the exact same spot after pulling out the rug from under Miami on Saturday. There’s credit given for capitalizing on the opportunity, and it all but erases the rankings profile damage of last week’s loss to a MAC opponent.  
  • No. 33 Wyoming (+13): With a 5-1 record, a win against Texas Tech and the only defeat coming at the hands of Texas, this is one of the better Group of the Five profiles in the country as we enter the thick of conference play. Few dabbled Wyoming as a team to watch in the New Year’s Six race, but if the Cowboys can continue their winning ways in the Mountain West, this could be a banner year for Craig Bohl in Laramie, Wyoming. 
  • No. 13 Louisville (+10): Leaving no doubt in the win over Notre Dame was a validation moment for the Cardinals, who now have a chance to put together their most successful campaign since Lamar Jackson’s Heisman Trophy-winning season in 2016. Louisville does not play Florida State, North Carolina or Clemson in the regular season and will be favored in a majority of its remaining games.  
  • No. 17 UCLA (+10): While five-star freshman quarterback Dante Moore continues to settle into the offense, the Bruins are still able to be successful thanks to a defensive front that’s taken a huge jump from 2022-23. Keeping Cam Ward and the Washington State offense under 20 points is no easy feat, and now that defense will have a chance to cause similar problems for the rest of the Pac-12 title contenders. 
  • No. 35 Fresno State (-10): The other side of our voters moving Wyoming up from outside the top 40 is punishing Fresno State for losing to a team that was previously ranked outside of the top 40. The Bulldogs have two wins against power conference opponents in their 5-1 start, but voters respecting the head-to-head advantage had to do some shuffling in wake of the loss. 
  • No. 40 Kansas State (-12): The Wildcats are 3-2 with just one loss in conference play, but our voters had to react to a no-show performance as a 12-point favorite in a loss at Oklahoma State. The Wildcats fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter and the nine-point final margin was as close is it got in the wire-to-wire win for Mike Gundy’s squad. 
  • No. 28 Miami (-13): These are opinion rankings, so of course it’s going to be impossible to ignore not just the bad loss itself — at home to a Georgia Tech team that entered the game with a sub-.500 record — but how the Hurricanes gave away what should have been an ugly win. Previously undefeated teams don’t usually fall this far after taking their first loss of the season, but all things considered, this might be one of the the worst losses we’ll see all season. 

Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 133: Teams ranked 26-133

Our Latest College Football Stories

Watch Now:

Related articles

Share article

Latest articles

Newsletter

Subscribe to stay updated.