EVERY TEAM IN OUR TOP 10 POLL IS UNDEFEATED. 1. Texas Texas is good at the line of scrimmage. Normally, a game against Kansas, the week before Red River, this would be a classic look-ahead game, and Texas didn't look ahead because this team is great on the line of scrimmage. They play really good defense, and they can run the rock. It wasn’t always pretty on Saturday, but it doesn’t have to be when facing a top-25 team. Quinn Ewers made one mistake that cost the Texas Longhorns some points, but Jonathan Brooks came through with 200 yards and a score while Adonai Mitchell and Xavier Worthy combined for over 190 receiving yards. Texas is what Georgia has been over the last couple of years: great on defense, consistent effort, great on the line of scrimmage. Now, we get what we wanted, a classic rivalry of Oklahoma vs Texas. 2. Michigan Complete domination. Michigan is better than Georgia. They would beat Georgia next week, maybe even in Athens. They have proven it at the line of scrimmage. The Wolverines can play defense, and they can cover. The Michigan Wolverines offense did its thing on Saturday, but the real standout performance in Week 5 came from Michigan’s defense. The Wolverines held Nebraska to 210 total yards on their first eight drives, pitching a shutout against the Cornhuskers’ starting offense. With more performances like this one or a signature win, Michigan can grab a top-4 spot in our CPO rankings. BTW, who is stopping the Wolverines' run game? 3. Georgia After playing Auburn, we have data and evidence that show that this Georgia team is a shell of what it was in the past. The Georgia Bulldogs have won 22 consecutive games and the victory in Week 5 is thanks to Brock Bowers. With 160 scrimmage yards on just nine touches, Bowers once again demonstrated why he’s an NFL star in the making. With that said, Georgia drops in the college football rankings again because it’s still not performing at the level you’d expect from a championship contender. Georgia is 67th in yards per carry allowed this season after ranking in the top three in each of the last four seasons. This is clearly not the same Georgia of what we were used to over the last two seasons, when it won back-to-back championships. I probably have them ranked too high. 4. Ohio St Coming off the Week 5 bye, the Ohio State Buckeyes head into a favorable two-game stretch of their schedule. There are several big storylines surrounding this team heading into its Week 6 matchup against Maryland, including the confidence of first-year starting QB Kyle McCord, who led that memorable game-winning drive to beat the Irish in South Bend. Maryland will be competitive, but it’s a matchup the Buckeyes should walk away with fairly comfortably and the same goes for Purdue. On the defensive side of the ball, OSU has been stout all season long, holding opponents to 8.5 points per game and ranking second in the country in scoring defense. If all goes well, we’ll get Ohio State vs Penn State on Oct. 21with both programs boasting perfect records. 5. Florida St After a one-week recovery coming off the overtime victory on the road against Clemson, the Florida State Seminoles now stare down a perfect opportunity to be 6-0. Jordan Travis threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns to help the Seminoles snap a seven-game losing streak against ACC foe Clemson. The Seminoles went undefeated in September for the first time in years and if they can beat Virginia Tech and Syracuse, it will be the first time Florida State is 6-0 since 2015. Their win over LSU is looking a lot less impressive by the week, as the Tigers fell to 3-2 after dropping a game to Ole Miss this past weekend. Also, the Seminoles have been outgained by 100-plus yards in each of their last two games. That alone is a recipe for an upcoming disaster.
6. Oregon After what happened to USC in Boulder, the Oregon Ducks look even better. After trailing 6-0 at Stanford after the first quarter, the Ducks put their foot down and ran off 42 straight points in a dominant win over the Cardinal. Oregon is one of only two FBS teams averaging 50-plus points per game this season, with the other being USC. While Oregon might not have a quick strike offense that’s on the same level as the Trojans, it’s evident the Ducks’ defense is much better. Of course, head coach Dan Lanning will need to bring out every defensive trick and need his team to execute to near perfection for the Ducks to stop Washington and Michael Penix Jr. in Week 6. 7. Penn St It’s happening. Penn State was tied at the half with Northwestern this past weekend, and then, just like that, James Franklin's team came alive on both sides of the ball and cruised to a 41-13 win over the Wildcats. On an afternoon that saw Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen combine for just 107 rushing yards on 27 attempts, quarterback Drew Allar stepped up. The efficiency (5.7 yards per attempt, 54.5% completion rate) was bad, but Allar responded to a 10-10 halftime score with two touchdowns and he helped the Nittany Lions outscore Northwestern 31-3 in the second half of the game. If it’s defense you’re looking for, look no further. The Nittany Lions' defense held Northwestern to just three points on its final nine drives, looking like the same group that was coming off a dominant showing against Iowa the previous week. This is a unit that ranks first in the country in total defense, and third in scoring defense, takeaways and sacks. 8. Washington The Washington Huskies are staring down a golden opportunity. This has been one of the best teams in college football in the last calendar year, with just a single loss on the resume since October 2022. If the Huskies can find a way to take out Oregon in Week 6, everyone will start talking up Michael Penix Jr. as the Heisman favorite as he leads Washington into the playoff hunt. Michael Penix Jr. leads the country in passing, averaging 400 yards per contest. He is the real deal, guiding an offense that is posting 569 yards per game, which leads all FBS teams, and 46 points per game, which ranks fourth. Now sitting at 5-0, Kalen DeBoer's team has a bye this weekend before hosting Oregon in a top-10 showdown on Oct. 14. 9. USC A notable drop for a winning team, and the Trojans defense is still very much a liability after allowing Colorado to score 48 points and make this close.Even in a win, Saturday was a massive disappointment for USC. This team is really good at football, and it has the best player in college football. USC is an elite team and an elite offense because of Caleb Williams. If teams were ranked based purely on offenses, Caleb Williams and the USC Trojans belong at No. 1. Unfortunately for Williams and Lincoln Riley, this Trojans’ defense is just as bad this season as it was in 2022. USC is 63rd in scoring defense and 103rd in total yards per game - and the Trojans haven't even faced the meat of their schedule yet. That's alarming. If you can only escape Colorado with a 48-41 victory, that doesn’t bode well for your program’s chances against Notre Dame, Utah, Washington and Oregon. 10. Oklahoma Oklahoma’s Brent Venables' team is putting up more than 47 points per game this season, while also holding opponents to under 11 points per contest. The stage is set for the Red River Rivalry. Oklahoma vs Texas, the final meeting between these two rivals in the Big 12 Conference. It’s fitting that the stakes couldn’t be higher for this game and both teams will take the field with explosive offenses. Oklahoma is 5-0, having won every game by at least 14 points. The Sooners are fresh off a 50-20 win over Iowa State, a game in which they outscored the Cyclones 29-0 over the final 2.5 quarters. Dillon Gabriel has thrown for 300-plus yards in four of the team's five games this season.
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