College football rankings: Takeaways from new AP Poll, where a ‘big 3’ is forming at top

After a week where most of the bottom half of the top-25 lost, there was a chance to get new blood into the college football rankings.

And boy did they ever. Five teams now are among the top-25 that weren’t initially ranked, including the Kansas Jayhawks, who are ranked for the first time since 2008 (more on the Jayhawks later). In addition, there seems to be more parity at the bottom of the polls. Here’s the newest top 25:

Dread it, run from it, Kansas always arrives.

The Jayhawks are finally ranked after a 14-11 victory over Iowa State, that more than anything showed that the Jayhawks are not just a good story-they might just be good. Good teams win ugly games, and Kansas won an ugly game against the Cyclones that included four missed field goals. The Jayhawk defense held Iowa State to 16 yards on the ground, and made enough plays to win the game.

Kansas is now ranked for the first time since I was in third grade, and the longest unranked streak goes to Illinois. College Gameday will be in Lawrence next week for (/checks notes) unbeaten Kansas vs unbeaten TCU.

Welcome to 2022.

How many of you would guess that UCLA is ranked? At No. 18 nonetheless!

If you only knew the Bruins for almost losing to South Alabama on a fake field goal earlier in the year, I wouldn’t blame you, but the Bruins are legitimately a solid team with a lot of momentum after beating Washington 40-32 on Friday night. The Bruins put on an offensive show, with RB Zach Charbonnet running for 124 yards and a touchdown, and QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson threw for three touchdowns and ran for a touchdown that’ll make TikTok reels across the world:

The Bruins are also led by a dangerous defensive line with Washington transfer Laiatu Latu that harassed Washington QB Michael Penix all night. The Bruins have a massive game against number 11 ranked Utah next week, that if they manage to pull off the upset, could put them in the drivers seat in the Pac-12—and set up a massive crosstown showdown with USC at the end of the year.

The one thing all college football fans have learned this season is despite the top three teams in the country all showing flaws, they seem to be the 3 best teams in the nation without any issue.

The gap in points between No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan (140) is larger than the gaps between number Michigan and no. 5 Clemson and the gap between Clemson and no. 6 USC combined (115). While each team in the top three has had issues—Georgia almost lost to Missouri—there’s much more that’s known about those teams.

Consider Michigan. Offensively they haven’t been extremely impressive outside of playing Colorado State, Hawaii and UConn. Michigan possibly won’t be tested until they play Ohio State at the end of the year, so we’re truly going off of the theory of Michigan.

Clemson has rounded into form offensively, and the defense remains one of the best in the nation. However, we’ve seen the lows from Clemson’s offense and buddy they are LOW. How consistent can the Tigers be?

USC has the same problem as Michigan in that they truly have only been tested by a feisty Oregon State team. Defensively, they haven’t been up to snuff; they’re 57th in total yards allowed per game and 31st in points allowed per game. Eventually, they’ll run into a competent offense who could give them problems.

The voters seem to have more faith in those top three teams given they don’t stumble on the way to the College Football Playoff. The fourth team? We still don’t know.