Making tough decisions regarding the best teams in college football gets really difficult in the month of October as conference play provides notable outcomes on a week-in, week-out basis. But things get particularly challenging in the wake of a massive weekend like we had in Week 7 with top teams squaring off in instant classics throughout the day. 

Oregon offered a strong case to be the No. 1 team in the country with its performance in a 32-31 win against Ohio State on Saturday night, but unfortunately for the Ducks, there is no vacancy in the top spot. Our voters on the panel for the CBS Sports 134 — a comprehensive ranking of every FBS team from experts at CBS Sports and 247Sports — did not budge off Texas’ claim to No. 1, especially after a dominant performance against Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry. 

The Ducks did move up two spots to No. 2, though, taking over the spot that was previously held by Ohio State, which only fell one spot to No. 3. The voters have strong agreements on Texas and Oregon, but sorting out the rest of the top 10 has gotten much more difficult in recent weeks. The Buckeyes beat out Penn State for No. 3 by the smallest of margins with an average ranking of 4.0 to 4.1 showing not only how close those two teams are but that other top 10 teams are occupying spots in the top five on ballots. After all, if Ohio State can be in the top five with one loss, there’s possibly an argument for Georgia (No. 6 this week) or Alabama (No. 7 this week) as well. 

And while there’s plenty of shuffling throughout the top 30, most of it resembled moving pieces around the board without disrupting the pre-existing order outside of Ole Miss’ eight-spot drop from No. 12 to No. 20 in the wake of the Rebels’ loss at LSU. The biggest and most notable adjustments this week are found outside the top 25, and we’ve detailed those in 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. 27 Arizona State (+15): A slow climb up the CBS Sports 134 just got a big boost with Friday night’s win against Utah, which has Kenny Dillingham’s crew already eclipsing their preseason win total from the oddsmakers (4.5) and in the Big 12 title hunt. Arizona State is 5-1 overall with three power conference wins, and the only defeat was an eight-point loss on the road at Texas Tech, which is also 5-1 on the year. 
• No. 54 Cincinnati (+15): The Bearcats returned to action out of an off-week with a hard-fought road win at UCF, holding the Knights offense in check and securing a victory that has Cincinnati at 4-2 at the season’s midpoint. It wasn’t the prettiest win, but Brendan Sorsby continues to be a huge upgrade at quarterback for Scott Satterfield and the Bearcats are on track to be a bowl team after going 3-9 in their Big 12 debut last season. 
• No. 46 Wisconsin (+14): It took a second strong performance for our voters to really react to Wisconsin’s improvement, but after thrashing Rutgers on the road, the Badgers are back up inside the top 50. Wisconsin has defeated its last two conference opponents by a combined score of 96-13 and will now look to continue the improved play at Northwestern in Week 8. 
• No. 28 Vanderbilt (+10): With back-to-back wins against Alabama and Kentucky, Vanderbilt has flexed its muscles not only as a top-30 team in overall quality but as a dangerous opponent that can win in multiple ways. Saturday was all about execution in a much lower-scoring game against the Wildcats, but the Commodores came through and are now playing the best football of the Clark Lea era. 
• No. 39 USC (-11): The season-opening win against LSU was doing a lot of work for USC’s ranking stock, and with each loss that piles up, it will carry less weight deeper into the season. The Trojans played remarkably well against a Penn State team our voters have as one of the best teams in the country. But in falling short, USC is left with a 3-3 overall record and just one conference win on the season. 
• No. 36 Oklahoma (-12): The inability for Oklahoma’s offense to be effective against quality defenses has finally caught up to the Sooners as they get deeper into conference play. And given the remaining schedule, which includes four teams currently ranked in the top 20 of the AP Top 25 poll, there is some urgency to pull things back on track immediately against South Carolina in Week 8. 
• No. 51 Rutgers (-16): Our voters have dropped Rutgers in back-to-back weeks following losses, but this one is a much more dramatic adjustment as it comes in the wake of a defeat to a Wisconsin team that was previously ranked No. 60 in the CBS Sports 134. Getting blown out at home by that Badgers team was disorienting for any voter who had eyed 2024 as a breakthrough season for the Scarlet Knights, and now much of the positive momentum from wins against Virginia Tech and Washington is gone as Rutgers prepares for the back half of the schedule. 
• No. 38 Utah (-18): Cam Rising finally returned, but the offensive impact was not what anyone expected as he threw three interceptions and the offense again did not operate at a high level in the red zone. The Utes are 4-2 overall with several winnable games left on the schedule, but those Big 12 title hopes from the preseason are thinning with each additional loss. 

Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 134: Teams ranked 26-134