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Come Fan with UsTuesday, August 4, 2026

New 2016 college football rankings, Week 14: How did rivalry week affect the top 25s?

We’re updating in the table below as the Sunday polls roll in. New Playoff rankings will arrive Tuesday night.

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NCAA Football: Michigan at Ohio State
NCAA Football: Michigan at Ohio State
Joe Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

Perhaps you heard: There was a rather large football game in Ohio yesterday. Ohio State beat Michigan in a double-OT thriller we’ll be talking about forever, and it’s sure to shake up the top of the standings somewhat, as both teams were in the top three.

But further down the polls things mostly held firm, especially throughout the top 10. Notable results included Washington winning the Apple Cup going away, Penn State clinching the Big Ten East in style, and a little-known upstart named Alabama winning the Iron Bowl.

The big losers this week: Louisville, Florida, Auburn, Washington State, Tennessee and Nebraska.

Playoff rankings will be out Tuesday night around 7 p.m. ET. For now, the standard human polls, a new computer ranking, and a composite ranking that ties everything into one will get us through.

With just one weekend left before Selection Sunday sets the postseason table, here’s what the non-Playoff rankings have to say. We’ll add the AP and Coaches as soon as they’re available Sunday afternoon.

-- AP Coaches S&P+ Massey
1 Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama
2 Ohio State Ohio State Michigan Ohio State
3 Clemson Clemson Ohio State Michigan
4 Washington Washington Clemson Clemson
5 Michigan Wisconsin LSU Washington
6 Wisconsin Michigan Washington Wisconsin
7 Oklahoma Oklahoma Louisville Penn State
8 Penn State Penn State USC Colorado
9 Colorado Colorado FSU USC
10 USC Oklahoma State Wisconsin Oklahoma
11 Oklahoma State USC Penn State FSU
12 Florida State Florida State Auburn WMU
13 Western Michigan West Virginia Oklahoma Louisville
14 West Virginia Western Michigan WKU Stanford
15 Florida Louisville Colorado WVU
16 Louisville Florida Boise State Oklahoma State
17 Stanford Stanford Miami LSU
18 Auburn Virginia Tech Temple Auburn
19 Virginia Tech Auburn Texas A&M Florida
20 Navy Navy Colorado State Boise State
21 LSU LSU Florida Wash. State
22 Iowa Nebraska Iowa USF
23 Nebraska USF Oklahoma State Virginia Tech
24 USF Utah TCU Houston
25 Pitt Iowa North Carolina Iowa

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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. The AP Poll can be expected early afternoon on Sunday.

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. This poll typically rolls in around noon on Sunday.

The Massey computer composite: A collection of dozens of ratings, all combined into one. 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. An important thing to keep in mind: It will probably look different than the human polls, but that’s because it isn’t a human poll! It’s a measure of efficiency derived from play-by-play and drive data from every FBS game. It’s designed to predict which teams would win upcoming games, not award teams for impressive wins.

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Ohio State’s questionable first down against Michigan

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