Josh’s College Football Rankings 2026–Week 6

College football is wild. Just when you think you have teams figured out, they will surprise you. I did not get a chance to watch many games because I was at the Penn State game. The White Out is always awesome, even if the product on the field was not great. I am willing to be patient with Matt Campbell, I always figured this season would be a bit of a rebuild. But you know what drives me crazy? The unnecessary timeouts. It was a close game, and you need to have timeouts for the end, and yet, we had to waste one or two in the third quarter because the offense was not on the same page. Very frustrating. 

Okay, sorry for that little Penn State related rant. Here are my rankings for this week…

1. Georgia (6-0)–#1–W 20-17 #4 Alabama. I told you that Georgia was the best team in the country. And I was pretty sure ‘Bama was close behind them. Looks like I was right.
2. Ohio State (5-1)–#3–W 45-16 Maryland. If the Buckeyes played Texas now, would it be a totally different game? I think so.
3. Notre Dame (6-0)–#5–W 58-7 Stanford. The Irish keep rolling.
4. Alabama (5-1)–#4–L 20-17 #1 Georgia. Hard to punish them after playing such a tough game against Georgia.
5. Miami (5-0)–#6–BYE
6. Indiana (6-0)–#7–W 20-17 #24 Nebraska. The Hoosiers continued their winning streak with a tough win at Nebraska.
7. BYU (5-0)–#8–W 24-10 Iowa State
8. Utah (5-0)–#9–W 41-24 Kansas
9. Texas Tech (5-0)–#10–BYE
10. Texas (4-1)–#2–L 27-24 Oklahoma. I feel like the Longhorns have been flirting with the loss column all season. Close games against Ohio State and Tennessee. Eventually playing tight will catch up with you.
11. Kentucky (5-1)–#28–W 35-34 OT #13 LSU. I debated where to put the Wildcats. A big win against LSU has me believing in them, but I am not sure if #11 is the right spot. Somewhere between 11-16 seems right though.
12. Tennessee (5-1)–#11–W 24-17 Arkansas
13. Ole Miss (4-1)–#12–W 52-17 Vanderbilt
14. UCLA (5-0)–#32–W 17-15 #14 Oregon. Another huge jump, but I wanted to see how UCLA did in this game before I jumped on the Bruin-bandwagon.
15. SMU (4-1)–#15–BYE
16. Mississippi State (4-1)–#16–BYE
17. Missouri (5-1)–#17–W 27-6 Texas A&M
18. Houston (5-1)–#19–W 35-16 #37 Kansas State
19. USC (6-1)–#20–W 31-23 Penn State. They finally went on the road, to a team out east, and picked up a win. Good for the Trojans.
20. Iowa (5-1)–#26–W 41-24 Washington. The Hawkeyes have an offense, it is official. Look out Big Ten!
21. LSU (4-2)–#13–L 35-34 OT #28 Kentucky. How will the Tigers rebound after this loss? They have Mississippi State next week…another loss and the fans may be having buyer’s remorse with Lane.
22. Wisconsin (4-1)–#21–BYE
23. Oklahoma State (5-1)–#22–W 42-28 UCF
24. Oregon (3-2)–#14–L 17-15 #32 UCLA. I will take some crap for keeping the Ducks in the Top 25, but I just cannot fathom this team continuing to lose games.
25. Nebraska (5-1)–#24–L 20-17 #7 Indiana. The ‘Huskers look like a legit team, despite the loss. Now, can they head out to Eugene and pick up a win against Oregon? That will be the big test. In recent years, this team has taken a loss, then just strung a few losses together. Now they need to prove they are for real.
26. Florida (4-2)–#18–L 38-19 South Carolina. A few weeks ago we were ready to put the Gators in the playoffs and crown them the SEC champs. “GATORS ARE BACK!” I guess they forgot to tell the rest of the teams they had to play.
27. Northwestern (4-1)–#29–W 45-14 Ball State
28. Arizona (5-1)–#31–W 52-31 West Virginia
29. Wake Forest (5-1)–#35–W 38-14 NC State
30. Auburn (3-2)–#33–BYE
31. Boise State (5-1)–#34–W 38-31 Fresno State. The AP really wants to keep Boise State in the Top 25. Not sure why though. They keep winning, but they are not dominating.
32. Pittsburgh (5-1)–#23–L 21-17 UNC. Remember when Narduzzi complained about the ACC not getting respect by the rankings? Hard to be taken seriously when you lose at home to the Tar Heels.
33. Baylor (4-1)–#36–BYE
34. James Madison (6-0)–#38–W 27-24 Georgia Southern
35. Duke (4-1)–#27–L 28-25 Georgia Tech
36. Cincinnati (4-1)–HM–BYE
37. Minnesota (4-2)–#25–L 41-13 Purdue. How do you get beat that badly by Purdue? Come on PJ Fleck, smear more blood on your face and row that boat.
38. Michigan (3-2)–#39–BYE
39. Oklahoma (3-2)–NR–W 27-24 #2 Texas. The Sooners love to do this to me. They will lose some games, then win a big one.
40. New Mexico (4-1)–HM–BYE

Honorable Mentions
Memphis (5-1)–NR–W 38-13 UAB
UTSA (5-1)–NR–W 31-24 South Florida
Kansas State (3-2)–#37–L 35-16 #19 Houston
UNC (3-2)–NR–W 21-17 #23 Pittsburgh
Oregon State (4-2)–NR–W 66-14 San Diego State. The Beavers lost to Houston and Texas Tech. Since then they have won four straight games, where they have averaged 51.8 points per game. Keep an eye on this team.

Another week of big games. I am not going to mention all of them, but I want to highlight a few of the ones I am most looking forward to, and whether or not there is a chance of an upset…
#2 Ohio State at #6 Indiana–I have a feeling the Buckeyes are going to win this one by 2 TDs
#3 Notre Dame at #7 BYU–The Irish are going to win this game easily over the Cougars
#26 Florida at #10 Texas–The Gators are going to get things back on track and pull an upset on the Longhorns
#4 Alabama at #12 Tennessee–Nope, the Tide are going to give the Vols a beatdown
#22 Wisconsin at #14 UCLA–I think this one has the potential to be a good one. It will be close, but I think UCLA pulls out the victory

Tiny But Mighty
This week we take a look at another PSAC school: Kutztown. The Golden Bears won 56-0 over Lackawanna College. You may recognize Lackawanna since they were one of the top junior colleges (I remember Jaquan Brisker came from there). They are making the move to the Division II ranks, and it was pretty obvious they were not matched well against the #3 team in the country. Jim Clements is the head coach at Kutztown. He has been there since 2014 and has compiled a 104-30 record. Maybe one of those names you watch to see if an FCS team would take a chance on him.

Coaching Hot Seat
Well I think Lincoln Riley is safe after winning at Penn State. It may not be the most impressive win of his career, but there was plenty of talk about how his teams have not performed well in those types of games. But you know who could find their seat starting to warm up? Jedd Fisch of Washington. There were some decent expectations for the Huskies this season, and they have underperformed. Not only that, but against Iowa, they looked completely overwhelmed. 

Heisman Watch
Okay, we all know that Jeremiah Smith is the frontrunner. So who are some other players who could possibly be invited to the ceremony? Or if you like to gamble, maybe take some longshot players…
Jesse Legree–WR–Oregon State: 932 yards receiving, 12 TDs
Braden Atkinson–QB–Oregon State: 2257 yards, 21 TDs/2 INTs

Yeah, the Beavers are in a weak conference, but they still have games against Fresno State and Boise State. Legree and Atkinson have been impressive so far. Legree is a +12500 right now on FanDual. He has a couple more monster games (he had 240 yards against Texas Tech), you might see that number drop. Might as well get in on him now.

Another super longshot? Gio Lopez from Wake Forest. He is sitting at +22500. Lopez has thrown for 1680 yards and 13 TDs. He also has 6 rushing TDs