Ho-hum, just another crazy week of college football.
2016 college football rankings, Week 6: Clemson and Washington surge in top 5
Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images
It took a Hail Mary, but Tennessee should be back in the top 10 after a miraculous victory over Georgia. Meanwhile, early-season darling Louisville came up short against previous No. 5 Clemson, and a near-swap in the top 10 of the AP with the Tigers isn’t unreasonable. Elsewhere, Washington surged up into the top five, the Huskies’ highest ranking since 2000.
Other big losers of the week near the top: Stanford, Wisconsin, and Florida State are taking tumbles after catching unfortunate Ls. Michigan State, Georgia, San Diego State, TCU, and Texas are all out of the AP after losses as well.
Joining us this week: North Carolina, Oklahoma, Colorado (first appearance since 2005), West Virginia, and Virginia Tech.
Below is an update of the rankings after Week 5. Playoff rankings come soon, as we’re inching closer to Nov. 1 by the minute. After the table, you’ll find a rankings explainer too.
| AP (prev) | Coaches (prev) | S&P+ | Massey | |
| 1 | Alabama | Alabama | Ohio State | Ohio State |
| 2 | Ohio State | Ohio State | Alabama | Alabama |
| 3 | Clemson (5) | Clemson | Michigan | Michigan |
| 4 | Michigan | Michigan (5) | Clemson | Clemson |
| 5 | Washington (10) | Houston (7) | Louisville | Texas A&M |
| 6 | Houston | Washington (9) | Washington | Houston |
| 7 | Louisville (3) | Texas A&M (10) | Ole Miss | Louisville |
| 8 | Texas A&M (9) | Louisville (4) | Florida | Washington |
| 9 | Tennessee (11) | Tennessee (11) | LSU | Tennessee |
| 10 | Miami (14) | Miami (14) | Miami | Wisconsin |
| 11 | Wisconsin (8) | Baylor (13) | Texas A&M | Stanford |
| 12 | Nebraska (15) | Nebraska (15) | Oklahoma | Miami |
| 13 | Baylor | Wisconsin (8) | FSU | FSU |
| 14 | Ole Miss (16) | Ole Miss (17) | Virginia Tech | Nebraska |
| 15 | Stanford (7) | Stanford (6) | Baylor | Ole Miss |
| 16 | Arkansas (20) | UNC (23) | Houston | WMU |
| 17 | UNC (NR) | Arkansas (22) | Auburn | Boise State |
| 18 | Florida (23) | Florida (21) | Wisconsin | Oklahoma |
| 19 | Boise State (24) | Boise State (27) | Tennessee | Florida |
| 20 | Oklahoma (NR) | West Virginia (30) | TCU | Auburn |
| 21 | Colorado (NR) | FSU (12) | USC | Baylor |
| 22 | West Virginia (NR) | Oklahoma (29) | Boise State | Virginia Tech |
| 23 | FSU (12) | Colorado (37) | Nebraska | LSU |
| 24 | Utah (18) | Utah (18) | UCLA | West Virginia |
| 25 | Virginia Tech (NR) | WMU (32) | NC State | UNC |
The four rankings used here
The Associated Press Top 25: The longest-running and best-respected human poll. Didn’t have any official bearing on the latter years of the BCS, and doesn’t have any official bearing on the Playoff. Most outlets (including SB Nation) will use the AP’s rankings as the standard until the committee takes over in November, though. You can expect these rankings to drop early Sunday afternoon.
The USA Today Coaches Poll: Formerly part of the BCS, and now just a poll. It tends to react more cautiously than the AP’s. Though polling athletic departments in order to rank other athletic departments is dubious, we still want multiple human polls in here, and this is the other big one. These rankings typically come in around noon.
The Massey computer composite: A collection of every rating out there. We include the latest version as of publication. (It does also include the two human polls, but they can’t sway it all that much.)
Bill Connelly’s S&P+ ratings: SB Nation’s favored advanced stat, which arrives a bit later than the others. An important thing to keep in mind: for the first few weeks, it also factors in preseason projections. It’ll look pretty weird early on, but it’s proved to be a very strong predictor against the Vegas spread over the long term.
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