Everybody exhale. What was billed as the biggest weekend of the college football season sure lived up to that billing, with classic finishes between LSU and Ole Miss, Alabama and Georgia and Oregon and Penn State in addition to havoc across the rest of the country.
It's the sort of week that leads to some very big shakeups in the AP Top 25, and sure enough, Sunday's fresh poll brings more than its fair share of changes. The Nittany Lions dropped down to No. 7 thanks to their first loss of the year, while Georgia and LSU are now Nos. 12 and 13 respectively. Ole Miss was the big riser, up to No. 5, and Indiana finds itself back in the top 10 (and above Texas) with a gutty road win over Iowa. Here's how the full top 25 shakes out.
AP Top 25 college football rankings for Week 6
- Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0)
- Oregon Ducks (5-0)
- Miami Hurricanes (4-0)
- Ole Miss Rebels (5-0)
- Oklahoma Sooners (4-0)
- Texas A&M Aggies (4-0)
- Penn State Nittany Lions (3-1)
- Indiana Hoosiers (5-0)
- Texas Longhorns (3-1)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (3-1)
- Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-0)
- Georgia Bulldogs (3-1)
- LSU Tigers (4-1)
- Iowa State Cyclones (5-0)
- Tennessee Volunteers (4-1)
- Vanderbilt Commodores (5-0)
- Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (5-0)
- Florida State Seminoles (3-1)
- Missouri Tigers (5-0)
- Michigan Wolverines (3-1)
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-2)
- Illinois Fighting Illini (4-1)
- BYU Cougars (4-0)
- Virginia Cavaliers (4-1)
- Arizona State (4-1)
Of course, not all change is good change. The AP voters don't always get everything right, after all, and this week as ever there are plenty of rankings that have us scratching our heads.
Teams ranked way too high in Week 6 AP top 25 poll
Oklahoma doesn't quite look like a top-five team under the hood
No, this doesn't have anything to do with the injury to Heisman frontrunner John Mateer. It seems like he'll be back relatively soon, for starters, and this has much more to do with the team around him than it does the Sooners' star QB.
Yes, there's a win over a ranked Michigan team here, and yes, Mateer has this Oklahoma offense looking vastly improved over what it was last season. But there are still serious causes for concern here, specifically an inability to run the ball with anybody not named Mateer. In their two games against Power 4 competition so far this season, Sooners running backs have run for a grand total of 70 yards; that's going to cost them eventually, especially against this schedule, and is a big part of the reason why this team is mostly just finding ways to win ugly.
Mateer can mask all manner of sins, and this remains one of the better defenses in the country. Do we really believe in this group as a top-five team, though? I'm skeptical.
Penn State should have fallen even farther after loss to Oregon
At this point, what exactly is propping up Penn State as the seventh-best team in the country? Sure, they managed to take Oregon to overtime and even had a fourth down opportunity to win the game in the extra session, but come on: For the overwhelming majority of Saturday's game in Happy Valley, it was all too clear who the better team was.
In just about every way, Oregon substantively outplayed the Nittany Lions. And when you combine that with a tissue-soft non-conference schedule — one that Penn State hardly rampaged through — what argument is there for having them ahead of, say, undefeated Indiana? At a certain point, the burden of proof is on Drew Allar and Co. to prove something to us, because this year isn't last year.
How on Earth is Alabama ranked so far ahead of Florida State?
This is less a beef about where Alabama is ranked; I've been a believer in the Tide this season dating back to the summer, and they were impressive in gutting out a win in Athens on Saturday night. But seriously: eight spots ahead of a Seminoles team that pantsed them in front of the entire country in Week 1?
Yes, I know that the AP poll can't solely be about head-to-head results. And yes, I understand that Florida State just lost at a Virginia team that's hardly a College Football Playoff contender. But both of these teams are sitting on one loss, and crucially, Alabama's loss is to Florida State. Only in the minds of the AP voters could that loss somehow be worth more than Florida State's loss to UVA.
Teams ranked too low in Week 6 AP top 25 poll
Texas Tech remains the biggest sleeper in the country
I understand that Tech talked a big game this offseason, engendering a big dose of skepticism before they even played a down in 2025. And a very soft non-conference schedule certainly didn't help shut the haters up.
At this point, though, what are we doing here? Tech went into Salt Lake City and blasted Utah, nearly doubling up the Utes in yards per play, and they finally have a defense that can hold up at the point of attack to go with that go-go offense. This team sure feels built for the long haul, and if you were just ranking resumes right now, you'd be hard-pressed not to have the Red Raiders in the top 10 at least.
Notre Dame might actually be ... underrated?
I know, I know, I don't like it any more than you do. And yet, I must follow where the facts lead me, and the facts say that, if that holding on the final play against Texas A&M gets called correctly and the Fighting Irish win that game, this team is probably verging on the top 10 at the very least.
Miami has been one of the most impressive teams in the country this season, and Notre Dame gave them one heck of a game with a freshman quarterback making his first career start. They by all accounts should have beaten No. 6 A&M. And they've looked like world-beaters on offense the last two weeks against Purdue and Arkansas, respectively.
Remove the logos and all the baggage, and that's a more than respectable resume, one befitting a top-15 team rather than one struggling to crack the top 20.
It's time to start believing in Missouri
It's more than fair to point out that the Tigers haven't exactly played a murderer's row of yet, with Kansas and South Carolina their two Power 4 wins and exactly zero road games to date. But it's hard to overstate just how good this offense has looked so far, even adjusted for the level of competition: This might be the single best rushing attack in the country between running backs Ahmad Hardy and Jamal Roberts and quarterback Beau Pribula.
Add to that a defense that proved plenty capable of harassing two very good quarterbacks in Kansas' Jalon Daniels and South Carolina's LaNorris Sellers, and you've suddenly got yourself a dark-horse SEC contender. The schedule will get tougher from here, with trips to Alabama, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma on tap along with a visit from A&M. But from what they've shown so far, this is a top-15 team.