The top five of the latest AP Top 25 Poll remained unchanged following Week 5 of the college football season, but 19 teams moved up (or down) in the new release.
The Week 5 edition of the AP Top 25 rankings were released Sunday, and ironically there was exactly zero change among the top five teams in the country.
Texas remains an overwhelming No. 1 for the fourth straight week, earning 61 of 70 first place votes despite being on a bye week. No. 2 Georgia earned six first-place votes following the Bulldogs’ 38-14 dismantling of Vanderbilt, while No. 4 Miami earned one first-place vote after a convincing 41-13 victory over Clemson. No. 3 Notre Dame stayed put despite once again not receiving any first-place votes, as did No. 5 Ohio State.
The biggest riser is this week’s poll is No. 14 Missouri, which moved up 11 spots from No. 25 with a convincing 45-17 thrashing of a very hyped Florida team. That loss also made Florida this week’s biggest faller, as the Gators dropped to No. 16 after coming in at No. 8 a week ago.
No. 25 Pittsburgh is this week’s only new addition to the poll, earning 162 points to narrowly make the cut over Kentucky, which received 160 votes and fell out of the rankings after landing at No. 24 last week despite beating South Carolina on Saturday.
Top Takeaways Following The AP Top 25 Poll Week 5 Release
Missouri’s beatdown of Florida made the Tigers the biggest riser in the latest AP Top 25 Poll while the Gators time in the top 10 was short lived as they fell 8 spots to No. 16. on Sunday.
Did the voters get it right after Week 5? 📈📉 https://t.co/21o2XtEjRR
— teamfb (@teamfbseven) October 4, 2026
Did The Voters Even Try This Week?
Now that we’ve gotten past the standard “where each team landed” mumbo jumbo, let’s really dive into some of the absurdities in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll. After losing to No. 7 Alabama by 33 (!) points, Mississippi State fell just one spot to No. 17 and one voter in particular moved the Bulldogs up 8 spots on his ballot.
On the contrary, Iowa fell six spots to No. 20 after a much less embarrassing 17-point defeat to No. 5 Ohio State. We’ve known for a while that the sanctity of the poll had long gone out the window, but it’s hard to tell nowadays if that’s because of personal agendas or because people with votes simply don’t care enough to pay attention to teams outside of their bubble.
BYU Hype Won’t Age Well
All in all, BYU is a rising program that should become a consistent Big 12 powerhouse in the NIL era. What the Cougars are in the present is certainly not that, although you wouldn’t be able to tell by the respect they’re getting in the rankings. Against a TCU program that’s current state can only be described as damaged, BYU barely hung on for a 17-10 win and didn’t look particularly impressive all night.
No. 10 BYU had 62 pass yards in their 17-10 win over TCU on Saturday, the second-fewest for the Cougars in a win in program history.
Prior to Saturday, the last time BYU won a game when throwing for fewer than 100 pass yards was the 2022 New Mexico Bowl. pic.twitter.com/flaavVArOp
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) October 4, 2026
The Cougs’ win over Arizona should age a bit better, but I’m not giving them too much credit for an 18-point win over a Colorado State team that just fired it’s defensive coordinator mid-game on Saturday. I’m open to being proven wrong, but I could see three losses for BYU in its next six games.
Has There Ever Been A Better No. 7 Than Bama?
Something that’s becoming more and more apparent each week is that No. 7 Alabama is far better than the preseason ranking bestowed on it by our beloved voters, but it still can’t break into the preconceived top five despite scoring at least 48 points and winning by two touchdowns in every game.
If there’s any justice in the world, Saturday’s showdown against No. 2 Georgia would be what decides the No. 1 team in next week’s AP Top 25 Poll, but for some reason we’re still operating under the assumption that teams like Texas and Ohio State are definitively better than the Crimson Tide, and the reality is those teams are not.
Boise State Bias Could Affect G6 Playoff Race
ESPN’s @ESPN_BillC wants College GameDay in Albuquerque in three weeks for UNM/NDSU! He also favors a 12-1 UNM over a 12-1 Boise for the college football playoff based on resumes!! I never thought I’d be talking about this as a Lobo fan/alumni! pic.twitter.com/VnkfDdxsyw
— Kenny Ortega (@KennyMac1986) October 4, 2026
Don’t get me wrong, Boise State deserves every bit of its No. 23 ranking and is the current frontrunner for the G6 playoff spot if things play out the way we expect them to. The problem I have is that both New Mexico and North Dakota State are putting together somewhat comparable resumes without getting even a morsel of the respect that Boise State is getting among voters, and it’s clear that’s because voters have a built-in respect for the Broncos that hasn’t been extended to some of their mid-major counterparts yet.
I’m not saying New Mexico and North Dakota State should be in the rankings just yet, but the fact that NDSU received just seven points (3 votes) and UNM received none in comparison to Boise State’s 271 (52 votes) is good insight into how the media views non-Boise G6 programs also how the playoff committee will likely view those programs as well.
Kentucky Got Hosed, But Pitt Deserves Ranking
VIRGINIA TECH MISSES THE FIELD GOAL AND PITT WINS 35-33.
UNBELIEVABLE. pic.twitter.com/2RGPPeag2Y
— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) October 3, 2026
No. 25 Pitt’s win over Virginia Tech on Friday was particularly noteworthy because it was the first time in FBS history that two unranked, unbeaten power conference teams met this late in the season. Because of that billing, there was simply no way that the winner of that game was going to be left out of the Week 5 rankings. The team that gets the short end of that stick is Kentucky, which put together a cardiac-inducing comeback on the road against South Carolina and only to be rewarded by being left out of the AP Top 25 Poll.
