College football top 25 rankings: Teams moving up, down in Week 6

These college football teams will be on the move when the AP top 25 rankings come out entering the Week 6 action.

As we look ahead to the new top 25 college football rankings, a preview of what teams could be moving up, and down, in Week 6. / John David Mercer-Imagn Images

College football’s AP top 25 voters find themselves in another bind after a remarkable weekend that could result in what would be a third No. 1 team in the rankings as we enter Week 6.

As many as four teams could end up receiving first-place votes in this week’s poll, likely resulting in a change at the top after a historic battle between SEC heavyweights Georgia and Alabama.

Other consequential matchups saw a big upset involving a top-10 ranked playoff contender in the SEC at home against an unranked opponent, and a statement in a battle of ranked Big 12 rivals.

This week’s results will force AP top 25 voters to make some major modifications to their ballots and shake things up just one month into the 2024 season.

What teams will be on the move when college football’s new rankings come out this week?

Moving up: Alabama

No one was necessarily surprised that Alabama took an early lead on Georgia at home, but marching out to a 21-0 advantage in the first quarter and a 30-7 halftime edge had most onlookers doing a double take in what was shaping up to be a beatdown of epic proportions.

Kalen DeBoer’s offenses have a habit of doing that to opponents, and working with the caliber of talent that Alabama can attract has the potential of taking his playbook to new, stratospheric heights.

But he’ll have to be on the lookout for his team shifting into neutral after building those early leads, as the Tide did in the second half, allowing Georgia to not only crawl its way back into the game, but to take a lead, albeit short-lived, late in regulation with some big downfield gainers.

In a game full of offensive fireworks, Jalen Milroe made history: Alabama’s quarterback became the first player in AP poll history with 300 yards passing, 100 yards rushing, and 2 rushing touchdowns against a top-five ranked opponent, according to ESPN’s research.

On the back of that historic output, Alabama should be the No. 1 team in the country on Sunday.

Moving down: Georgia

Against any team not named Alabama, Kirby Smart is 96-11. But against the Crimson Tide, the Bulldogs’ two-time national champion head coach is just 1-6. 

Georgia’s passing game was out of sync early on, in large part thanks to the pressure brought against it by Alabama’s inspired front seven rushers, and the resulting mistakes, like Beck’s interceptions and lost fumble.

And the Bulldogs’ vaunted secondary was exposed by a battery of agile Bama receiving targets and a selection of Milroe runs that had these defenders out of sorts and chasing shadows.

Georgia’s early performance, had it lasted all game, would have lended credence to the theory that the Kentucky game wasn’t an outlier, and that there was a marked decline in talent from last season, but the resurrection of the offense in the second half should allay those fears for now.

The Bulldogs rallied from a 23-point deficit to take a 1-point lead with 2:31 left when Beck hit Dillon Bell on a statement 67-yard touchdown. 

But their defenders couldn’t contain Ryan Williams, Alabama’s transcendent 17-year-old receiver who spun and sprinted his way down the sideline for a 75-yard TD pass from Milroe on the next play that gave the Tide their final lead.

The comeback bid showed that Beck can still go deep, and that he has legitimate receiving talent on the other side to make those plays. But this week, Georgia will lose most of its first-place votes, if not all of them, and move down in the rankings with other big road tests still to come.

Moving up: UNLV

It was a tumultuous week for the Rebels, to say the least, after the program lost starting quarterback Matthew Shuka departed the program owing to an NIL dispute.

But his replacement, Hajj-Malik Williams, threw 3 touchdown passes and ran for over 100 yards and a fourth score as UNLV smoked Fresno State in a 59-14 decision that put the school in first place in the Mountain West standings.

UNLV is undefeated through 4 games for the first time since the school joined the Division I ranks back in 1978, and could find itself on enough ballots to crack the Week 6 rankings.

Moving down: Ole Miss

Analysts were of two minds about the No. 6 Rebels and their monumental start to the season against four non-conference cupcakes. 

Either this team could be the real deal, up there with the very best, or it would come back down to earth when SEC play opened up. This week proved it was more of the latter.

What Kentucky almost did to Georgia a few weeks ago, it did to Ole Miss, playing time of possession offense and a brand of suffocating defense that held college football’s No. 1 ranked attack to 1 of 10 on third downs, racked up 7 tackles for loss, and had 4 sacks.

And it did what it couldn’t do to Georgia, scoring a late touchdown in a fourth quarter in which the Rebels didn’t score a point, to close the deal. 

Ole Miss lost the turnover battle, allowed UK to score points all 3 times in the red zone, and let it convert all 3 of its fourth-down attempts. 

Already, a season full of huge expectations with a spot in the expanded playoff there for the taking has hit a major snag that the selection committee will remember. 

Moving up: Big 12 hopefuls

BYU will pick up some votes on AP top 25 ballots after moving to a perfect 2-0 in Big 12 play after at first dominating, and then using some timely defense late, to hold off Baylor on the road.

Kansas State is also due for a move up the polls, although still likely behind BYU after losing to that team on the road last week, but responding with a confident, ground-centered approach in a statement rout against a ranked Oklahoma State.

Moving down: Oklahoma State

This should be the moment we see the Cowboys slip entirely out of the rankings after falling to Kansas State on the road in a decisive 42-20 result.

Alan Bowman threw 2 interceptions and Ollie Gordon was held to 76 yards rushing and no touchdowns while the Wildcats ran all over OSU for 388 yards and 3 touchdowns.

That makes it 2 straight losses for the No. 20 Cowboys against ranked Big 12 opponents, which could end up being the final blow to the school’s Big 12 championship prospects. 

In the short term, it means this will likely be an unranked team on Sunday.

More ... When the Top 25 rankings come out

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