College football rankings: Predicting the AP top 25 poll for Week 4

As we survey the damage from another very active Saturday of games across the country, let's look ahead to the AP top 25 college football rankings for Week 4

Who's moving up? Who's moving down?

Note: this isn't our ranking of the best teams, but our prediction for how top 25 voters will slot them in the official poll

Predicting the AP top 25 college football rankings for Week 4

Dropping out: Clemson, USF

25. South Carolina. Vanderbilt snapped a 16-game losing streak against the Gamecocks in a surprisingly dominant 31-7 victory on the road at Columbia in a game that didn’t see Carolina score a touchdown after the first quarter, and quarterback LaNorris Sellers injured after a hit.

24. Notre Dame. Sitting at an unexpected 0-2, the Irish could just cling to a spot in the rankings owing to their close losses to ranked Miami and Texas A&M, but there’s no margin for error in the College Football Playoff picture going forward.

23. Vanderbilt. The largest margin of victory against a ranked team for the Commodores since the 1955 season, as Diego Pavia threw 2 touchdowns and Vandy ran for 2 more in a 31-7 win at South Carolina.

22. Georgia Tech. Haynes King led a game-winning drive to take out preseason ACC favorite Clemson to improve to 3-0 on the year and finally crack the top 25 rankings after earning votes just on the outside last week.

21. Missouri. It’s time to start paying attention to Missouri after Beau Pribula put up 3 all-purpose touchdowns and Ahmad Hardy ran for 250 yards and 3 more scores in a dominant 52-10 win against Louisiana at home, coming off that huge win over Kansas, and with the SEC opener against South Carolina next.

20. Auburn. Jeremiah Cobb led the way with over 100 rushing yards and a touchdown while quarterback Jackson Arnold added 3 all-purpose touchdowns in a win over South Alabama looking forward to the SEC opener on the road against perfect Oklahoma.

19. Michigan. The Wolverines ran for nearly 400 yards and 8 touchdowns on the ground in a 63-3 blitzkrieg against Central Michigan at the Big House, the 60-point margin being Michigan’s largest in any football game since the 1922 season, when it beat Michigan Agricultural, 63-0.

18. Indiana. Curt Cignetti wanted to see more from his offense, and they certainly delivered in a 73-0 destruction of Indiana State on Friday night, as Fernando Mendoza completed 95 percent of his throws and the Hoosiers stacked up 301 rushing yards heading into the Big Ten opener against Illinois.

17. Tennessee. Joey Aguilar had a brilliant early start in his first SEC game against rival Georgia, putting up 4 touchdown passes against a good defense and rushing for a fifth, but also had 2 interceptions and the Vols couldn’t kick a would-be game-winner in an eventual 3-point loss to their rivals.

16. Texas Tech. Behren Morton put up 442 yards passing with 4 touchdowns in a 45-14 win against Oregon State to stay undefeated with the Big 12 opener at Utah next.

15. Utah. Leading just 3-0 in the first half at Wyoming, the Utes came to life in the second half, tacking on four touchdowns to win 31-6 as Devon Dampier had 230 yards passing and led a ground game that finished with 311 yards and 2 more touchdowns.

14. Alabama. Ty Simpson was good for 82 percent of his throws with 4 touchdowns and no picks and wideout Ryan Williams scored twice off 5 catches for 165 yards as the Crimson Tide put away Big Ten visitor Wisconsin to improve to 2-1 heading into an idle weekend before a marquee road game against Georgia on Sept. 27.

13. Ole Miss. Trinidad Chambliss stepped in for the injured Austin Simmons, hitting 21 of 29 passes for 353 yards with a touchdown and the Rebels scored 3 times on the ground in a back-and-forth 41-35 win over Arkansas to move to 2-0 in SEC play with Tulane next.

12. Iowa State. Rocco Becht had 2 total touchdowns and Abu Sama ran for a third as the Cyclones played things a little close in a 24-16 win at Arkansas State, improving to 4-0 heading into the Big 12 opener against undefeated Arizona in two weeks.

11. Texas A&M. Le’Veon Moss ran for 3 touchdowns, Mario Craver had over 200 yards receiving, and Marcel Reed threw the game-winning touchdown on fourth and goal with seconds left to knock off Notre Dame on the road in a huge win for the Aggies.

10. Oklahoma. The Sooners ran for 228 yards and 4 touchdowns in a 42-3 shellacking against Temple on the road, a solid response coming out of an emotional statement win against Michigan, and heading into the SEC opener against Auburn next weekend.

9. Florida State. Idle this week, the 2-0 Seminoles are still sitting pretty, averaging more than 50 points per game and with nearly 300 rushing yards on average, with a date against a Kent State team that is statistically one of college football’s worst teams next weekend.

8. Illinois. Luke Altmyer accounted for 3 total touchdowns and Kaden Feagin ran for 100 yards and a score to smash Western Michigan by a 38-0 count with the Big Ten opener at Indiana coming up next.

7. Texas. Some more criticism is coming for Arch Manning, the uber-hyped quarterback who had just 114 yards while completing 11 passes in a 17-point win against UTEP, but the Longhorns’ ground game helped out, adding 226 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Texas gets Sam Houston at home next weekend.

6. Miami. Mark Fletcher ran for 3 touchdowns as the Hurricanes piled up over 200 yards on the ground in another signature victory, this time against a surprise USF team that was 2-0 and ranked, but Miami put on a 49-12 beating at home to stay undefeated.

5. Georgia. The reigning SEC champions endured an early deficit, scored 20 unanswered points, and came through with the game-winning touchdown in overtime to take down rival Tennessee for a ninth-straight year and stay undefeated. Alabama comes to Athens in two weeks’ time.

4. Oregon. Dante Moore hit 80 percent of his passes as the Ducks smashed Oregon in a 20-point decision on the road in the Big Ten opener, and now look ahead to hosting rival Oregon State in the Civil War before a monster road trip to Penn State after that.

3. LSU. This offense is still a work in progress, as Garrett Nussmeier completed 55 percent of his throws and the Tigers ran for under 96 yards and didn’t score, but did enough defensively, picking off DJ Lagway five times including a pick-six to beat Florida 20-10.

2. Penn State. PSU’s dynamic duo combined for 170 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns and this defense turned a pick into a pick-six to put away Villanova in a 52-6 decision, but there are still questions around some of quarterback Drew Allar’s decision making heading into an idle week with Oregon on the other side of it.

1. Ohio State. The reigning champs led Ohio by a close 13-9 count in the third quarter after allowing a long touchdown, but pulled away to complete a 37-9 victory as Jeremiah Smith had 153 yards receiving off a career-high nine receptions.

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