College football rankings: Ohio State moves into top three, Oklahoma tumbles in new CBS Sports 130

As the regular season winds down, each score, result and highlight from college football seems to matter even more. So when big upsets, blown leads and shakeups in the conference title and College Football Playoff races headline the weekend, we’re going to see some changes in the rankings. 

Georgia and Alabama remain No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the CBS Sports 130, our comprehensive ranking of every FBS team. Ohio State, Cincinnati and Oregon all moved up one spot with the Buckeyes maintaining their recently-established edge on the Bearcats in voting points. Ohio State and Oklahoma both jumped Cincinnati — which had been in the top three for most of the season, just last week — but the Sooners gave up their spot following the team’s first loss of the season. 

Ohio State’s slight move into the three comes on the back of one of the better performances of the season, rolling a Purdue team that’s carrying wins against both Iowa and Michigan State. 

Baylor’s win over Oklahoma provided the spark for some of the most notable moves within the top 20 of this week’s rankings, starting with the Bears’ surge up five spots to No. 11. Baylor joins No. 10 Ole Miss as the highest-ranked two-loss teams in the rankings this week, while Oklahoma’s fall down nine spots to No. 12 leaves the Sooners eighth among teams with one loss in our rankings.  

Other adjustments outside the top 15 include a soft landing for Texas A&M down five spots to No. 16 after the loss to Ole Miss, continued upward momentum for No. 19 Wisconsin as well as No. 25 Utah and San Diego State’s return to the top 25 after beating Nevada over the weekend. For more on the notable adjustments up and down throughout the CBS Sports 130, 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 26-130 on our rankings page.

Biggest movers 

• No. 43 Louisville (+17): The Cardinals showed out for Lamar Jackson Day in Louisville, rolling to a 41-3 win against Syracuse that greatly improved the team’s chances of making a bowl game. Louisville needs just one more win with Duke and Kentucky left on the schedule. Most importantly, though, the performance against Syracuse showcased some of the team’s best football after dropping four of the last five games. 
• No. 27 Mississippi State (+13): The historic comeback by Mississippi State adds yet another notable win to one of the most volatile profiles in the top 40. Wins against Texas A&M, NC State and now Auburn give validation to top 25 consideration for the Bulldogs, but the loss count (4) and the inclusion of defeats to LSU and Memphis hurt that argument. If those two early-season losses — which came by a combined five points — were flipped into wins, this is a top-15 team. 
• No. 40 Utah State (+12): Cruising past San Jose State as a narrow underdog added another boost to Utah State’s stock, and now we’re tracking an 18-spot move in the last two weeks. Blake Anderson’s incredible coaching job gets some shine with the Aggies in Mountain West title contention at 8-2 and riding a five-game winning streak. 
• No. 50 Texas Tech (+12): The Joey McGuire effect! The Red Raiders introduced a new head coach and secured bowl eligibility by beating Iowa State all in the same week. Even though Texas Tech fired and hired a coach all within the same regular season, the final tally will mark a 2021 highlighted by the Red Raiders exceeding preseason expectations. 
• No. 33 Coastal Carolina (-10): No Grayson McCall in the lineup proved costly for Coastal Carolina, and now what were slimming hopes for winning the Sun Belt have been close to dashed with head-to-head losses to the remaining top two teams in the Sun Belt East (Appalachian State and Georgia State). 
• No. 53 Miami (-11): After winning three straight one-possession games, Miami fell on the wrong end of another nail-biter. This one stung a little bit more coming to rival Florida State. The Hurricanes were surging up in our rankings on the back of that winning streak , which included victories against NC State and Pitt, but that five-loss count will lead to some quick changes on the ballots.  
• No. 29 Auburn (-12): There really isn’t much of a bad loss on Auburn’s profile. The Tigers are 6-4 and all the losses have come to teams ranked in the top 30 of our rankings. But when you are trying to sort out that crowded group between spots No. 15 and No. 30, the blown lead to Mississippi State is going to be an anchor from a rankings perspective.  
• No. 74 Texas (-23): The drama that surrounds Texas football exacerbates the reactions when trying to compare teams. But even a cold-hearted breakdown of the Longhorns reveals a sub-par team here in the final stages of the 2021 season. Texas is 4-6 with five straight losses, and considering the current quality of performance, it’s questionable whether it will even be a bowl team. Beating West Virginia and Kansas State can make the Longhorns bowl eligible, but it will be tough to imagine our voters moving Texas back up inside the top 40 before the end of the season. 

Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 130: Teams ranked 26-130