College football rankings: Penn State surges into top 10 as notable teams hold steady in new CBS Sports 131

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Georgia remains the unanimous No. 1 team in the CBS Sports 131, our comprehensive ranking of every FBS program. While much of the top 10 remains the same after Week 3 results across college football, there is plenty of movement elsewhere as the sport’s landscape begins to take shape heading into the heart of conference play.

Each of the top seven teams from last week’s rankings — Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Oklahoma, USC and Clemson — held their respective positions after wins that affirmed their statuses. But while that top tier of the sport seems to be solidified for the moment, there are a handful of worthy contenders starting to knock at the door of elite status.

Kentucky (No. 8) and Oklahoma State (No. 9) both moved up two spots into the top 10 while improving to 3-0 over the weekend. The wins, both over FCS teams, weren’t going to spark major moves, but since both teams already have a Power Five win in the books and have been impressive early in the season, it’s not a surprise to see the Wildcats and and Cowboys starting to make their cases as elite teams in 2022.

The stronger statement was made by Penn State, who rolled into Auburn and dominated the Tigers in a 41-12 win. The Nittany Lions were already a team our CBS Sports 131 voters favored more than the other top 25 polls — they sat at No. 15 going into the week — but following Saturday’s win, the adjustments were made on ballots and Penn State now sits as a top-10 team in our rankings, jumping ahead of Tennessee and Arkansas to claim that No. 10 spots.

Two of the most notable additions to the top of the rankings come from the Pac-12 where Oregon and Washington started the weekend outside the top 30 of our rankings only to each jump more than a dozen spots after impressive wins in Week 3. The Ducks moved up 15 spots after beating BYU handily, and the Huskies jumped 24 spots after improving to 3-0 with a win against Michigan State. For more on the biggest week-to-week adjustments in the CBS Sports 131, 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 26-131 on our rankings page.

CBS Sports 131 college football rankings

Biggest movers

  • No. 30 Kansas (+26): Rock Chalk! Lance Leipold has Kansas football inside the top 30 after a 3-0 start that includes road wins at both West Virginia and Houston.
  • No. 38 Dukes (+25): I don’t think our voters are reacting specifically to the win over North Carolina A&T as much as they are taking notice of a 3-0 Duke team that’s playing with a ton of confidence in Mike Elko’s debut season as head coach. Up next, a showdown against the aforementioned 3-0 Jayhawks in Lawrence, Kansas.
  • No. 17 Washington (+24): The ceiling for the Huskies might be the top challenger to USC in the Pac-12. Michael Penix has been playing at a high level and the reunion with Kalen DeBoer is going about as well as anyone could have predicted. Even better, Washington has found an offensive spark that was lacking last year while maintaining the relevant defensive pressure that has been the program’s trademark in the CFP era.
  • No. 16 Oregon (+15): Since the season opening loss to Georgia, Oregon has found its rhythm offensively with Bo Nix and suddenly looks much closer to the preseason expectation of fielding a Pac-12 title contender in 2022.
  • No. 39 LSU (+15): A drop followed the season-opening loss to Florida State, but our voters are quickly starting to give the Tigers back some of that credit lost after a hard-fought 31-16 win against Mississippi State.
  • No. 29 Miami (-16): The Hurricanes played tough at Texas A&M, but a high ranking for the Hurricanes is tougher to argue with the only wins coming against Bethune-Cookman and Southern Miss. This is still a quality team, as our voters are keeping them in the top 30, but an adjustment was coming after the loss in College Station, Texas.
  • No. 43 Kansas State (-16): Surging confidence in Kansas State in 2022, which peaked last week after a four-touchdown win against Missouri, reached a screeching halt with a home loss to Tulane.
  • No. 41 Mississippi States (-18): After cracking the top 25 last week, the Bulldogs saw a pretty sizable adjustment after the 31-16 road loss at LSU. There are chances to rebound in the rankings ahead with Texas A&M and Arkansas visiting Starkville, Mississippi, in early October.
  • No. 34 Michigan States (-20): While Washington saw a major jump in our rankings, there was an almost reciprocal drop for the Spartans following the defeat in Seattle. The weeks ahead will do a better job of detailing whether the result was more a reflection on Washington or Michigan State, but for now Sparty takes a tumble in the rankings.

Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 131: Teams ranked 26-131