Week 4 Rankings

Preseason rankings no longer matter this week, and some wild swings are evident as a result. Here are Your Top 25:

Rk	Δ	Team	Pts
1	+7	Alabama	67.1

Bama had their first statement win this season with a 42-21 victory over a Florida team on the upswing. Coupled with the fact that their preseason #5 ranking is no longer holding them back, the Tide came up to #1 this week.

2

-1

Auburn

65.9

Auburn held off Kansas State 20-14 in a Thursday night catfight, but it's not enough to prevent the Tigers from falling to #2. That being said, if Auburn were 4-0 like Bama instead of 3-0, the Tigers would be first.

3

+8

Mississippi State

64.4

Mississippi State nearly succumbed to a last-minute comeback but managed to pull off the 34-29 upset at LSU. The Bulldogs' QB Dak Prescott was impressive, passing for 268 yards and running for another 105. Mississippi State rises to #3 as they shake off the yoke of last year's 7-6 record.

4

+3

Oklahoma

60.7

Oklahoma kicked it into gear during the second half to top West Virginia 45-33 at Morgantown. Freshman tailback Samaje Perine had a breakout performance, scoring 4 touchdowns and rushing for 242 yards, compared to the Mountaineers' combined 137 yards.

5

+1

Texas A&M

59.6

The Aggies unsurprisingly had their way with SMU, beating the Mustangs 58-6 and putting up 663 yards of total offense.

6	-1	BYU	56.6
7	+11	Notre Dame	54.5
8	-6	Baylor	53.9
9	+17	Marshall	53.3
10	+7	Arkansas	52.8
11	+4	UCLA	52.0
12	+29	Florida	51.7
13	+7	Nebraska	50.8
14	-4	Ole Miss	49.3
15	+7	Utah	48.8
16	+9	Georgia	48.5
17	-13	Oregon	48.1
18	+15	Wisconsin	47.3
19	+10	NC State	46.8
20	-11	LSU	46.2
21	-18	Pittsburgh	44.1
22	+28	Memphis	43.4
23	-7	Georgia Tech	42.5
24	-11	Arizona	41.1
25	+9	Boston College	40.6

Teams falling out of the Top 25:

• (#34) Arizona State (bye)
• (#36) Ohio State (bye)
• (#37) Northern Illinois (lost at Arkansas 52-14)
• (#44) Navy (lost to Rutgers 31-24)
• (#45) Missouri (lost to Indiana! 31-27)
• (#46) Florida State (beat Clemson in OT 23-17)

What's going on here? Arizona State, Ohio State, and Florida State all fell this week after jettisoning the preseason rankings from the calculation, and all three have underperformed compared to last season. ASU has had a weak schedule (Weber State, New Mexico, and Colorado), but these opponents have still managed to score an average of 20 points per game. OSU lost to Virginia Tech, who then proceeded to lose to East Carolina and Georgia Tech.

As for FSU, I'm not sure I agree with the math that the Seminoles belong out of the Top 25, but FSU is currently 79th in rushing defense, and 111th in rushing offense. These stats have to change for Florida State to contend at a level approaching last year's performance. This week's game against North Carolina State, their first true road game of the season, could prove to be an unexpected test for the Seminoles.

Teams worse than the average FCS team: New Mexico State (lost to New Mexico 38-35)

Largest improvement in rank: +73 By beating Murray State last week, Western Michigan has already surpassed last season's 1-11 mark. The Broncos have out-rushed their opponents by a Barack-Obama-not-bad-face amount of 157 yards.

Largest drop in rank: -37 North Carolina's loss to East Carolina wasn't entirely unexpected, but I didn't expect the Tar Heel defense to give up 70 points and 789 yards of total offense.

Conference Rankings

Conference	Average
SEC	46.46
Pac-12	32.77
ACC	30.78
Big Ten	30.02
Big 12	28.90
Conference USA	20.49
American	18.27
Mountain West	15.41
Sun Belt	14.71
MAC	13.27

Games to watch next week:

(#10) Arkansas vs. (#5) Texas A&M (3:30 PM ET, CBS)
Line: Arkansas by 1

(#22) Memphis at (#14) Ole Miss (7:30 PM ET, ESPN3)
Line: Memphis by 3

(#11) UCLA at (#34) Arizona State (Thursday 10 PM ET, Fox Sports 1)
Line: UCLA by 18.5