College Football Ratings Week 6 2023
The Red River Rivalry never disappoints and this year’s game was no exception. The middle of the Big 12 is so weak that a Texas/Oklahoma rematch in the conference title game is more likely than not- there is not a single other team from the conference in my top 25.
Top 25
Michigan
Georgia
Ohio State (+1)
Texas (-1)
Washington
Oregon
Alabama (+4)
LSU (+1)
Oklahoma (+4)
Florida State
Texas A&M (-3)
Tennessee (+2)
Notre Dame (-6)
Clemson (-2)
Penn State
Louisville (+4)
North Carolina (+2)
Miami (-2)
USC (-2)
Oregon State (-2)
Wisconsin (+4)
UCLA
Duke
Florida (+3)
Ole Miss (-1)
Oklahoma moves into the top 10 for the first time all season. I was low on the Sooners in the preseason- I had them 24th, which was lower than pretty much anyone else. I have to eat some crow on that now as their path to the playoff is crystal clear. Louisville got a humongous win against Notre Dame to move to their highest ranking of the year. The ACC schedule is a bit of a mess as the 3 undefeated teams (Florida State, Louisville and North Carolina) all don’t play each other so there are no obvious losses for any of the 3- the Cardinals have a real shot at a 10 or 11 win season. Wisconsin has looked quite solid since their loss to Washington State and has established themselves as the clear favorites in the BIg Ten West ahead of a visit from Iowa this Saturday.
Moving Up
Few teams have had a more confusing season than Northern Illinois. The Huskies own a P5 win versus Boston College and a loss to FCS Southern Illinois. They were my biggest risers this week after a 41 point road win over Akron. Kansas has one of the best rushing attacks in the country, running for for 399 yards on 51 carries against a good UCF team- the Jayhawks should beat Oklahoma State this week to set up a ranked matchup against Oklahoma in two weeks. Michigan continues to evaporate bad teams (Minnesota was this week’s victim) and JJ McCarthy’s rate stats remain unbelievable.
Moving Down
South Florida was one of the biggest risers in September- their recent win over Navy was their first road win since 2019. They fell back down to earth hard this week with a 21 point loss to a bad UAB team. Kentucky looked like they might be a 9-3 type team but were uncompetitive from the first snap against Georgia and have fallen back to 7-5 type territory. Questions are circling in Mount Pleasant around the future for Jim McElwain as Central Michigan has taken the Chippewas into the bottom 10 of my ratings.