CBS Sports 138: Utah surges, joins Miami and Georgia in top three of college football rankings

A blowout win over Cincinnati pushes the undefeated Utes up four spots, while Ohio State tumbles to No. 10 after a rain-soaked loss to a surging USC team Nov 2, 2026 at 10:09 am ET • 4 min read CBS Sports Graphic With Ohio State losing to USC and Indiana needing overtime to escape with a win against Minnesota, the college football rankings got a refresh that included some credit for two teams off to undefeated starts. Utah backed up its big-time home win against Houston with a thorough thrashing of Cincinnati, which prompted a move from No. 7 up to No. 3 in the updated CBS Sports 138. Our comprehensive ranking of every FBS team, comprised of voters from CBS Sports and 247Sports, has seen the Utes moving up nearly every week, and now at 8-0, they have joined Miami and Georgia in the top three. Miami remains the unanimous No. 1 according to our voters, and though the Bulldogs are not a unanimous No. 2, they do hold a noticeable advantage over Utah and UCLA, which also bumped up a spot as the Bruins improved to 8-0 with a Week 9 win. Arguably the most interesting portion of the top 25 remains the stretch of teams on either side of the top 10, which sets up for some fascinating debates going into this week's reveal of the College Football Playoff Rankings. Kentucky checks in at No. 8 in our updated rankings, but the Wildcats carry an average ballot ranking of 9.4. Meanwhile, LSU is all the way down at No. 14, but with an average ballot ranking of 12.7. So in the eyes of our voters, as a group, seven teams are fighting for what could be the last three at-large spots in the CFP bracket, and clearly there is little margin between these squads as we prepare to begin November football. Further down in the ranking, we see a good bit of shuffling between the 20s and the 30s, including some disappointing drops for teams like SMU and Nebraska. We've highlighted some of those notable week-to-week adjustments in the Mover's Report, which you can find 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 26-138 on our rankings page. RankTeamRecordPrevious1Miami8-012Georgia7-133Utah8-074UCLA8-055Notre Dame7-166Indiana8-147BYU7-188Kentucky7-1109Alabama6-2910Ohio State6-2211Texas6-21412Ole Miss6-21213Texas Tech7-11514LSU6-21115Wake Forest7-11316Tennessee6-21717USC7-23118Iowa6-22619Missouri6-22220Houston6-22121Boise State7-12522Arizona6-21923Northwestern5-31624New Mexico7-12725South Carolina5-338Biggest movers No. 29 Oregon (+15): The first game after making staff changes proved to be a bit of a lifeline for the Ducks as Dan Lanning's crew roared back from an early deficit to notch a huge quality win against Northwestern. The Ducks are now 5-3 overall and certainly weighed down by their loss count, but also can boast three wins (Boise State, USC and Northwestern) against top-30 quality teams. No. 17 USC (+14): Unquestionably one of the biggest winners of the weekend, the Trojans found new life in the Big Ten and College Football Playoff races thanks to Saturday night's rain-soaked win against Ohio State. The Trojans' jump up in the rankings isn't as high as USC wants to be by the end of the year, but those opportunities for additional upward movement are coming next week with a trip to face Indiana in Bloomington. No. 25 South Carolina (+13): The roller coaster ride of South Carolina football has been exhilarating to the uninvested and currently electrifying for fans. After three straight losses to open SEC play, the Gamecocks have ripped off consecutive wins against Florida, Tennessee and now Oklahoma. The Sooners may not be of vintage quality this season, but beating that team in Norman by double digits was worth some more credit as one of the top three-loss teams in the country. No. 45 Oklahoma (-9): Speaking of Oklahoma, the stock price continues to drop on a Sooners team that is slowly losing its edge as one of the top defensive teams in the country as the offensive struggles continue into the season's home stretch. Whether it's execution or production or both, there's plenty to point to as reasons why Oklahoma is finding itself in the mid-40s and not in College Football Playoff contention in November. No. 28 SMU (-10): The Mustangs really needed to carry its mostly pristine rankings profile into November to remain in the hunt nationally, but unfortunately, this season's banana peel was an orange. SMU's loss at Syracuse snaps a four-game winning streak that has put the Mustangs firmly inside the top 20 and now leaves no room for error with a final schedule that includes Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Notre Dame. No. 64 Virginia (-11): The free fall continues for the Wahoos, who have lost three straight games and gone 1-5 in their last six games against power conference competition. From ACC runner-up and top of the world in Week Zero to now sweating bowl eligibility, Virginia's struggle to score has really prevented them from backing up last year's success. Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 138: Teams ranked 26-138