Ranking 134 college football teams after Week 4: Tennessee to the top 3; BYU, Navy soar

Editor’s note: The Athletic 134 is a weekly ranking of all FBS college football teams.

Much of the talk going into Tennessee’s trip to Oklahoma was about Volunteers coach Josh Heupel’s return to his alma mater, Heupel was right when, through teary eyes, he told his players that Saturday’s 25-15 win against the Sooners was about them and their future. Right now, Tennessee’s future looks like an SEC contender.

After a road win that wasn’t as close as the final score, Tennessee moves up to No. 3 in this week’s edition of The Athletic 134.

Through four games, the Vols have shown they can win in different ways, and that should bode well in SEC play. Saturday’s win was an ugly one, and that’s not a bad thing. Two years ago, the Tennessee team that finished No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings could put up 40 or 50 points on almost everyone, but it ranked 31st in yards per rush on offense and 48th in yards per play allowed on defense. This Tennessee team can run the ball and play better defense.

Yes, Oklahoma’s offense has struggled, but Tennessee played a game in which it knew it could hold on to a lead, run the ball and play defense to run out the clock, and that’s what happened. The Vols passed the ball 21 times and ran it 49 times (excluding sacks) while missing two offensive tackles. The Sooners averaged 1.1 yards per carry and turned it over three times.

Tennessee is playing complete ball right now, and after one of the best wins of the weekend, the Vols move up in the rankings.

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Mandel’s Final Thoughts: Remember Travis Hunter’s dominance. Plus, ‘new’ CFB is here

We’ve reached the point where most teams are one-third of the way through their season. Head-to-head results aren’t weighted as heavily for teams that aren’t on the same tier (goodbye, Northern Illinois), but some lopsided results this weekend resulted in some final few big jumps.

Here is the Week 5 edition of The Athletic 134.

1-10

Other than Tennessee’s rise, the only change here is that Missouri moves out of the top 10 and Utah moves up to No. 9 after the Utes’ 22-19 win at Oklahoma State that was 22-3 at one point in the fourth quarter. I don’t think the ceiling of this Utah team is high without quarterback Cam Rising, but the defense is as nasty as it’s ever been, and the Utes are the Big 12 favorite.

Georgia’s trip to Alabama this Saturday will shake up next week’s rankings.

To acknowledge Ohio State, my preseason No. 1 has now dropped down to No. 4 simply because of the schedule. The three teams above the Buckeyes have played much better opponents. Games against Iowa and Oregon to open October will be Ohio State’s first chance to start climbing back up.

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AP Top 25 takeaways: Who’s No. 1? Tennessee can’t be dismissed in SEC-heavy debate

11-25

I can’t tell whether Missouri is not as good as we expected or just playing with its food too much. Beating Vanderbilt in overtime after playing Boston College unexpectedly close were not performances indicative of a top-10 team. The Tigers are testing my patience and will continue to drop with play like that, even though their schedule is very favorable for an SEC team.

Michigan jumps back up to No. 11 after a comeback win to beat USC at home. Like Utah, I don’t think the Wolverines’ ceiling is high — the offense went nowhere once USC adjusted — but they are also better in the trenches than almost everyone they’ll play. BYU makes a big jump up to No. 16 after a 38-9 beatdown of Kansas State, a previous top-15 team. The final margin wasn’t indicative of the box score numbers in K-State’s favor, but BYU’s defense looks solid, and its earlier win at SMU looks better after Saturday’s results.

Illinois climbs up to No. 18 after a win at Nebraska. The Illini are grabbing takeaways and playing efficiently on offense. This team plays really hard and could be another Bret Bielema overachieving classic. Louisville finally played someone of note, moving up to No. 23 after a 31-19 win against Georgia Tech. Indiana also moves into the top 25 at No. 24 not because the Hoosiers demolished Charlotte but because they’ve demolished everyone so far. The next game against Maryland will tell us whether this is for real.

Welcome to the top 25, Washington State. The Cougars are 4-0 after stopping a two-point attempt to beat San Jose State in overtime, and their earlier win against Texas Tech looks better this week. They can only reach the CFP as an at-large team this year and next, meaning they’ll have to be ranked around the top 10.

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Michigan proved it can win ugly against USC. That’s all that matters — for now

26-50

If Oklahoma wasn’t “Oklahoma,” the Sooners wouldn’t be ranked in the top 25. They haven’t been good all season outside of their opening blowout of Temple, and they drop to No. 26 here facing major questions on offense with the benching of quarterback Jackson Arnold. Iowa still can’t pass the ball, but its new offense is opening lanes for explosive running back Kaleb Johnson. The Hawkeyes slide up to No. 28 after beating Minnesota. Texas Tech jumps up to No. 35 after beating previously unbeaten Arizona State. It’s possible neither of these teams are as good as their ranking, but for now, they’ll sit here.

SMU’s 66-42 win against TCU sees the Mustangs come up to No. 36; their earlier loss to BYU doesn’t look as bad after what BYU did to Kansas State. Navy makes the biggest jump of the week, from No. 105 to No. 37, after beating Memphis. The 3-0 Midshipmen have scored their most points through three games since 1918 and might end up being one of the better teams in the AAC. Northern Illinois tumbles to No. 38 after blowing an 11-point lead and losing to Buffalo in overtime.

Arkansas’ 24-14 win against Auburn moves the Razorbacks up to No. 41, while Cal’s loss to Florida State sees the Golden Bears drop to No. 42. James Madison had not played well this year, but a stunning 70-50 win at North Carolina vaults the Dukes up to No. 44.

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How JMU, a former women’s teaching school, became a college sports disruptor

51-75

North Carolina had been playing well before Saturday, but that JMU loss drops the Tar Heels to No. 55. Virginia Tech tumbles to No. 58 after a late loss to Rutgers. The larger problem is that two losses to Rutgers and Vanderbilt now leave Virginia Tech without many chances for notable wins. NC State also drops to No. 59 after a 59-35 loss to Clemson, the Wolfpack’s second beating of the season at the hands of an AP Top 25 team.

Toledo is another Group of 5 darling that drops, this time after a dramatic loss at Western Kentucky. TCU falls to No. 69 after losing to SMU, while Stanford jumps up to No. 70 after beating Syracuse on a last-second field goal. TCU’s head-to-head win against Stanford explains their relative positioning. Wisconsin dropped to No. 71 without playing, but that’s simply because other teams (like Stanford) got good wins while Wisconsin was idle. Army is 3-0 and looking quite solid thus far. Service academies back on the rise, perhaps? Cincinnati is up to 3-1 and No. 73 after a 34-0 win against Houston, and the Bearcats may be rounding into form. If not for that blown fourth quarter against Pitt…

Kansas is down to No. 74 after another one-score loss, this time to West Virginia, and Florida State is up to No. 75 after beating Cal, becoming the final Power 4 team to get a victory.

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Stewart Mandel’s 12-team Playoff projections after Week 4

76-100

No. 77 San Jose State lost to Washington State, but the Spartans are looking quite good under first-year coach Ken Niumatalolo so far. Virginia leapfrogs Coastal Carolina to No. 79 after beating the Chanticleers. South Florida drops to No. 78 after a 50-15 loss to Miami. The Bulls’ nonconference schedule has been rough.

Bowling Green moves up to No. 86 after a one-score loss to Texas A&M, which came after a one-score loss to Penn State. This feels like a team that could do a lot of damage in the MAC. Same with Buffalo, which is 3-1 and No. 87 after beating Northern Illinois. Sam Houston is 3-1 and up to No. 91 after taking care of business against New Mexico State and could make noise in Conference USA.

South Alabama is the toughest team to rank this week. The Jaguars have losses to Ohio and North Texas but beat Appalachian State 48-14 on the road. They were missing quarterback Gio Lopez against Ohio, so maybe they’ve just figured things out after an 0-2 start? Or maybe App State is in big trouble the rest of the year. This is a South Alabama team we need to see more of to get a better read.

Mississippi State is the lowest-ranked Power 4 team at No. 98, and quarterback Blake Shapen is out for the year after suffering a shoulder injury in the 45-28 loss to Florida. Annnnnd next up on the schedule are Texas and Georgia. I’m so sorry, Bulldogs.

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College Football Playoff 2024 projections: Utah back in, USC hangs on in bracket

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Shoutout to No. 108 Troy and No. 125 Temple for their first wins of the season. I thought Temple could be an 0-12 candidate, but the Owls beat Utah State 45-29. Is UConn turning a corner? The Huskies played Duke close last week and whipped FAU 48-14 on Saturday, moving up to No. 113.

FIU, meanwhile, lost to FCS Monmouth at Pitbull Stadium and falls to No. 115. Tulsa beat Louisiana Tech in overtime to move up to No. 118. Wyoming is tumbling fast, now down to No. 130 after a 44-17 loss to North Texas. The Cowboys, a perennial bowl team under Craig Bohl, have three blowout losses to FBS teams and a loss to FBS Idaho in Jay Sawvel’s first season.

Kent State remains at the bottom after getting outgained 718-67 in total yards against Penn State. That is the largest gap I can ever remember seeing, off the top of my head.

The Athletic 134 series is part of a partnership with Allstate. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

(Photo: Brian Bahr / Getty Images)