College football rankings: Miami jumps to No. 2 spot, Texas A&M joins top 10 in CBS Sports 136

One of the great strengths of the CBS Sports 136, our comprehensive ranking of every FBS college football team, comes from our flexibility. With a panel of college football experts that represents a wide range of experiences, plus a Sunday afternoon ballot deadline, our team pours over the entire week of college football results to provide what we think is an accurate view of how these teams stack up against each other. 

So, while traditional polls may be stuck in some rankings gridlock in part because of a rushed deadline, our voters have been more willing to make some smaller adjustments among top teams when presented with new information. This is where the “win and move up, lose and move down” mentality can prevent real nuance in the debate among top teams — especially at this point in the season, where not every win validates your ranking. 

Look no further than the top six spots in the CBS Sports 136. They are the exact same six teams as last week’s ranking, but four of those teams are in new positions. Ohio State is still at No. 1 and Oregon is still at No. 5, but everyone else has shuffled based on what was or wasn’t shown on Saturday in victory. 

Miami is the most notable adjustment, jumping ahead of the non-Buckeyes group to take over the No. 2 spot after looking dominant in a win against the giant-killer South Florida. That was a spot previously occupied by LSU, which slid back to No. 4 after a 20-10 win against Florida in Baton Rouge on Saturday night. Georgia had previously fallen two spots after looking less than impressive in its win against Austin Peay, but after the epic overtime thriller win at Tennessee, the Bulldogs have more than made that back up with a jump up to No. 3. 

Penn State takes on the most interesting position here, as our voters started the season extremely bullish on the Nittany Lions and even gave James Franklin’s team a decent shot at No. 1. But, after three games, our voters are less enthused by that potential, and now Penn State is down three spots to No. 6. 

As you scan further down in the rankings, the adjustments get more dramatic, like big jumps up for Texas A&M and Georgia Tech after their wins as underdogs against Notre Dame and Clemson, respectively. To check out some of the bigger and most notable moves throughout the entire CBS Sports 136, see 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 26-136 on our rankings page.

Biggest movers 

• No. 44 Houston (+24): Willie Fritz and the Coogs passed their first Big 12 test of the year with a win against Colorado. Now 3-0, Houston is one win away from matching last year’s win total in a bounce-back season for the program. 
• No. 45 Cal (+20): Our voters were impressed by not just the win but the margin in a 13-point victory against Minnesota late Saturday night. Cal is 3-0 with three double-digit wins and will look to improve to 4-0 at San Diego State in some notable late-night action for Week 4. 
• No. 46 Arizona (+17): While there is an absolute fire sale for Kansas State stock right now, our voters also wanted to highlight what’s been a surprisingly impressive start for Arizona. It turns out having a full offseason to build a roster and install a program helps, and Brent Brennan is showing fans in Tucson why he was a smart hire to replace Jedd Fisch when the program needed a new coach late in the cycle.  
• No. 21 Vanderbilt (+13): Clark Lea’s squad has continued its success from 2024 and now SEC wins are no longer program celebrations but instead the expectation. Beating South Carolina in Columbia is never easy, no matter the quarterback, and Vanderbilt surges forward now judging themselves against other SEC contenders. 
• No. 48 Florida (-12): The backslide for this Florida team has been disappointing and slightly depressing. After starting the year ranked up inside the top 20, the Gators are barely hanging on inside the top 50 with only a win against FCS Long Island as a positive on its rankings profile. 
• No. 23 Notre Dame (-14): There has been — and will continue to be — much discussion about whether an 0-2 team should be ranked in a poll, but since our voters are tasked with a big-picture view of the sport, this seems like an appropriate adjustment. Notre Dame needs to start stacking wins to validate a top-30 placement for sure, but it’s hard to come up with 30 teams that look better than Marcus Freeman’s squad, even in losses. 
• No. 33 Clemson (-20): The mystique for Clemson’s reign is over, and while the Tigers can still win the ACC and make the College Football Playoff, it is clear that they do not instill fear in opponents the way they throughout much of the 2010s. Talented but beatable, every game is going to be a war for Clemson to win its way back Charlotte. 
• No. 36 South Carolina (-20): Losing LaNorris Sellers totally changed the game against Vanderbilt, but there still needed to be an adjustment in the rankings after the loss. After all, the win against Virginia Tech doesn’t hold as much weight after the Hokies loss to ODU and the Gamecocks have yet to really showcase the form that made them a top team one year ago. 

Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 136: Teams ranked 26-136