Top 25 College Football Rankings: Mike's Week 5 Standings

September 28, 2026

Mike's top 25 college football teams for Week 5 of the 2026 college football season. His complete top 25 rankings, including Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, and more.

The end of the first month of the college football regular season brought conference play to most campuses. It also marked the first time that many ranked teams had even played a "power" opponent.

I agree that it was ridiculous that Texas A&M and Missouri were ranked last week, but the SEC still deserves a lot of these spots. Texas, LSU, Mississippi State, Florida, Auburn, Mississippi, Alabama, and Kentucky had all played either ranked teams, power teams, or both.

Just a quick note that I am choosing to follow the decision of the FBS oversight committee. They won't change the outcome of the game even though they determined that Western Michigan won. I will be considering Michigan's record as 2-2 instead of 3-1. It doesn't affect Western Michigan anymore since Boise exposed them. This is just to explain why Michigan is no longer ranked. What else changed in the rankings this week?

25. Houston (3-1)

Previous ranking: NR

Result: W 42-28 at Georgia Southern

Houston's near-miss in Lubbock is still enough to get them back into the rankings. I also want to give Houston credit for going on the road to face a non-power team. More and more teams are unwilling to do that.

24. James Madison (4-0)

Previous ranking: NR

Result: W 46-20 at Old Dominion

James Madison beat a solid San Diego State team on the road that hadn't lost a home game since November of 2024. They also beat the tar out of their only FBS rival. No power conference team will willingly play the Dukes, so I'll rank them while I still can.

????? ???? ????.@c3k_07 with the one-handed snare, as @JMUFootball strikes first in the Royal Rivalry. ☀️? pic.twitter.com/DrpL8G6HsE

— Sun Belt Football (@SunBeltFB) September 26, 2026

23. Nebraska (4-0)

Previous ranking: NR

Result: W 31-13 at Michigan State

Anthony Colandrea may have been the missing link for Nebraska. Jamal Rule is picking up where Emmett Johnson left off. Nebraska has wins over two MAC teams and a decent Michigan State team, but has looked good doing it. They also beat North Dakota, who is the fifth-ranked team in FCS.

22. Tennessee (3-1)

Previous ranking: 20 (⇓2)

Result: L 20-17 vs. (1) Texas

There's no shame in losing at home to the top-ranked team. I do want to see a good win out of Tennessee before I move them any higher. The Third Saturday in October is coming sooner than you think.

21. Utah (4-0)

Previous ranking: 19 (⇓2)

Result: W 31-17 at Iowa State

The Cyclones have proven to be a solid team so far, but Wayshawn Parker and Devon Dampier will have the Utes flirting with a CFP bid this year. This team still won't be tested for a few more weeks, but they look as good as anyone else in the Big 12.

20. Georgia (4-0)

Previous ranking: 17 (⇓3)

Result: W 41-13 vs. Oklahoma

The game stats don't say blowout, but Georgia capitalized on Oklahoma turnovers. There is a good chance that Georgia has beaten two of the four worst teams in the SEC, along with an FCS school and Western Kentucky.

We still don't know anything about this team, and won't at the end of this week either, since Vanderbilt is also in the bottom of the SEC.

19. Indiana (4-0)

Previous ranking: NR

Result: W 29-23 vs. Northwestern

Indiana gets credit because I think Northwestern finishes in the top half of the Big Ten this year. If you put Northwestern and Oklahoma on a field against each other right now, Northwestern wins that game.

The defensive line played well against the mighty Hoosiers. We are seeing a different (and better) version of Josh Hoover in Bloomington.

18. BYU (3-0)

Previous ranking: 13 (⇓5)

Result: BYE

The win over Arizona is a solid one. The Colorado State one means a little less since Hauss Hejny didn't play the last three quarters of the game for the Rams.

17. Boise State (3-1)

Previous ranking: NR

Result: W 32-7 at (24) Western Michigan

Maddog finds Ben Ford for 6⃣

? ESPN2#BleedBlue | #BuiltDifferent pic.twitter.com/c5tKaDzjAG

— Boise State Football (@BroncoSportsFB) September 26, 2026

Boise led Oregon for much of the game and beat Memphis and Western Michigan by a combined 43 points. Those are two of the top five contenders for the fifth automatic CFP bid. I probably have Boise too low in my rankings.

16. Notre Dame (4-0)

Previous ranking: 14 (⇓2)

Result: W 49-10 at Purdue

That win over Wisconsin looks better, and I still think the win over Michigan State is a strong one. Notre Dame's barnstorming tour of the Big Ten has ended for the season. Next up is the ACC.

15. Duke (4-0)

Previous ranking: 12 (⇓3)

Result: W 62-7 vs. William and Mary

Nate Sheppard is one of the top two running backs in the country, and the defense has been really strong so far this season. Duke has wins at Illinois and wins over Tulane and Stanford. That's pretty good compared to a lot of teams.

14. UCLA (4-0)

Previous ranking: 15 (⇑1)

Result: W 54-3 at Maryland

The Bruins beat up on a Maryland team that looked pretty good against Virginia Tech the week before. That's what we wanted to see from the UCLA defense after the Purdue passing game lit them up last week.

The Bruins have beaten three power teams and San Diego State, one of the better non-power teams. That's a great start to 2026.

13. Alabama (4-0)

Previous ranking: 9 (⇓4)

Result: W 49-18 vs. South Carolina

Keelon Russell is becoming Alabama’s NEXT star quarterback.

21/27, 365 PASS YDS, 4 PASS TD, 35 RUSH YDS, 1 RUSH TD vs South Carolina

The first year starter has now thrown for 685 yards and 7 TDs over his last two games as Alabama moves to 4-0. https://t.co/WxidFFKlDe pic.twitter.com/SHC8PxjaAv

— Football Performances (@NFLPerformances) September 27, 2026

This was the game that Alabama fans have been waiting for from Keelon Russell. Kamario Taylor had a good game against the Gamecocks as well, but Russell outshone him one week later. It's going to be a good one betwen the two of them this weekend.

12. Mississippi State (4-0)

Previous ranking: 11 (⇓1)

Result: W 31-24 vs. Missouri

The Bulldogs have wins at Minnesota and South Carolina, along with a win over a solid Missouri team. That's better than Alabama's schedule since Texas A&M (and thereby Kentucky's win over them) is in the tank by Week 4. The Bulldogs play in Tuscaloosa this week, so we'll find out how good they really are in a few days.

11. Wake Forest (3-1)

Previous ranking: NR

Result: W 30-27 at (6) Louisville

That was a big-time ranked win for Gio Lopez and Wake Forest. They also stayed within 13 points of Miami. I guess that we really don't know how impressive that is right now, but it feels impressive. The win over Louisville is legit. The Cardinals are a solid team.

10. Miami (FL) (4-0)

Previous ranking: 18 (⇑8)

Result: W 52-3 vs. Central Michigan

The blowout win over the Chippewas means nothing, but that win over Wake Forest suddenly looks really good. Miami is getting credit for Wake's big win. That's the only way Miami will manage to sit in the top 10 unless they beat Notre Dame.

9. Texas Tech (4-0)

Previous ranking: 7 (⇓2)

Result: W 49-14 vs. Sam Houston

Surprisingly, this was the first time that Texas Tech covered a spread this season, and they did so by half a point. The win over Houston is a ranked win. The rest of Tech's body of work is still uninspiring. They still didn't play well in the first half against Sam Houston.

8. LSU (3-1)

Previous ranking: 4 (⇓4)

Result: W 35-6 vs. Texas A&M

The Aggies aren't a good team this year, but LSU still hung with Ole Miss in front of fans who have a special kind of hatred for this team, and they dominated a Clemson team that might be better than we think. We'll learn more about LSU in a couple of weeks after they embarrass McNeese State this weekend.

7. Oregon (3-1)

Previous ranking: NR

Result: W 41-27 at USC

Maybe we just need to acknowledge that Boise State is really good and Oregon being tested by them wasn't a fluke. Oregon went into the Coliseum and beat USC behind a backup quarterback.

Of course, calling Dylan Raiola a backup is like calling Tom Brady just another quarterback. Raiola started the last two seasons at Nebraska with moderate success.

What we saw from Raiola in this game was a ton of growth from last year, even though he has played sparingly in 2026. Even if Dante Moore misses time, Oregon will be fine. They are still more tested than Indiana

6. Oklahoma State (3-1)

Previous ranking: 22 (⇑16)

Result: W 41-24 at (6) West Virginia

Drew Mestemaker was throwing DIMES all over West Virginia today.

20/27, 389 PASS YDS, 3 TD, 1 INT vs West Virginia

The Oklahoma State QB picked apart the Mountaineers in a 41 to 24 win. pic.twitter.com/eEEJXByU0A

— Football Performances (@NFLPerformances) September 27, 2026

That loss to Tulsa is going to be one of the most baffling things of this college football season, especially since Oklahoma State could be a playoff team. That win over Oregon wasn't a fluke, and in any sane poll, West Virginia would have been ranked last week.

That's two ranked wins since the loss to Tulsa. Mississippi and Texas are the only other teams with two ranked wins.

5. Iowa (4-0)

Previous ranking: 25 (⇑20)

Result: W 20-19 at (8) Michigan

I think we know that Oklahoma is not a good team, and we can raise some questions about Western Michigan. How good is a win over Michigan right now? The Hawkeyes went into the Big House and won against a team that was still (probably overrated) in my poll.

The offense even threw for a touchdown in the game! It's like when Pinocchio became a real boy. This Iowa offense is finally into the late 20th Century. They're still a couple of decades behind most offenses, but hey...progress is progress.

4. Mississippi (3-1)

Previous ranking: 2 (⇓2)

Result: L 52-28 at (16) Florida

The two ranked wins over Louisville and LSU need to count. We'll give Florida credit for a big win, but Ole Miss is still the only team besides Texas and Oklahoma State to beat two ranked teams so far this season. No one should be arguing that.

Those wins matter more right now because schedules are unbalanced. Teams still get credit for "quality losses" when their peers have yet to play a quality team.

3. Ohio State (3-1)

Previous ranking: 3 ⇔

Result: W 42-19 vs. Illinois

The win over Illinois doesn't mean much this year. Neither does demolishing MAC teams. Ohio State did go into Austin on a hot September night and nearly beat Texas, the consensus top-ranked team in all polls.

That quality loss is keeping them afloat since many teams haven't even played a team the quality of Illinois, let alone Texas.

2. Florida (4-0)

Previous ranking: 16 (⇑14)

Result: W 52-28 vs. (2) Mississippi

Florida's big home win over a Mississippi team that already has two ranked wins is the second-best in the country so far. I'm not sure how good Auburn really is, but Florida won in a tough place to play.

This is about the eye test as well. The Gators didn't get lucky and beat a good Mississippi team. They controlled most of the second half. Ole Miss playing without Kewan Lacy hurt, but Florida put the heat on that offense as well. I'm not sure that Ole Miss would have won even with Lacy's services.

1. Texas (4-0)

Previous ranking: 1 ⇔

Result: W 20-17 at (20) Tennessee

Tennessee had several chances to win and may have with a more experienced quarterback. That's two strong wins for Texas. They are the only undefeated team that can say that so far. That keeps Texas at the top of the heap.

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