College football rankings: Penn State sits above Ohio State as Georgia moves to No. 2 in CBS Sports 134

When it comes to midseason college football rankings updates, it is important to remember that not every change is a direct result of that team’s weekend action. You are, of course, judged against the company you keep, and as pollsters or the voters in the CBS Sports 134 — our comprehensive ranking of every FBS team — continue to gather more information with each week of action, the landscape is constantly shifting.
We have seen teams move down in the rankings, even after a win, and sometimes you can move without playing at all. That’s the case for Georgia, which moved up two spots from No. 4 and now sits only behind No. 1 Oregon in the latest edition of the CBS Sports 134. That’s not a reflection of Kirby Smart’s team dominating the bye week as much as it is our voters changing their rating for Penn State and Ohio State. The Nittany Lions remained steady at No. 3 after winning at Wisconsin, but the Buckeyes were dropped two spots to No. 4 after a late touchdown helped them survive an upset bid at the hands of Nebraska.
And while Georgia moved up without playing, Clemson actually dropped spots during its off week. In the case of the Tigers, there is not a crisis of confidence in their ability to be a top-10 team — as they are down just two spots to No. 10 — as much as there is increased reward for Iowa State and BYU to make it another week into the season without taking a loss.
Because while fans will often associate their team with a certain ranking and look for concrete responses, the rankings process is fluid as every team’s rating is constantly changing. That will be important to keep in mind as the playoff race gets started in earnest next month and the competition for positioning will be even more scrutinized. No top-10 or top-12 position is safe once it is attained because you’re always fighting off the potential of getting passed in the race.
Outside the top 10, the changes this week were mostly minor, such as LSU dropping five spots to No. 18 and some big jumps up for Colorado (10 spots to No. 22) and Tulane (nine spots to No. 28) as both teams logged key conference wins to stay in their respective conference title races.
For more on some of the larger and notable week-to-week adjustments outside the top 30, check out 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 26-134 on our rankings page.
Biggest movers
No. 56 North Carolina (+20): This is admittedly a larger than expected adjustment for a Tar Heels team that just beat Virginia 41-14 to improve to 4-4 on the season. But in looking for an explanation, it seems clear that voters believe the stock price had just been driven too low in the wake of a four-game losing streak that included three losses by 10 points or less. The continued success of JMU, Pitt and Duke put those results in a different light, and North Carolina did put together its most complete performance of the season in the 27-point win following a week off.
This is admittedly a larger than expected adjustment for a Tar Heels team that just beat Virginia 41-14 to improve to 4-4 on the season. But in looking for an explanation, it seems clear that voters believe the stock price had just been driven too low in the wake of a four-game losing streak that included three losses by 10 points or less. The continued success of JMU, Pitt and Duke put those results in a different light, and North Carolina did put together its most complete performance of the season in the 27-point win following a week off. No. 64 Fresno State (+16): The Bulldogs are 5-3 and one game out of first place in the loss column in the Mountain West standings after Mikey Keene and the defense had a big day in a 33-10 win against San José State. The rankings profile has all three losses coming to teams ranked between Nos. 20 and 40 in the CBS Sports 134 with No. 39 Michigan being the