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From top to bottom: The updated 1-130 rankings

Mike Hugueninby:Mike Huguenin08/31/21

MikeHuguenin

Nick Saban
Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Week Zero is in the books, and while there were just five games involving nine FBS teams, there was some movement from our preseason 1-130 rankings.

That’s because Nebraska lost to Illinois — the team we presumed to be the worst in the Big Ten. The outcomes of the other four games didn’t have an impact on the rankings.

Week One should have a big impact on the rankings; it’s a loaded weekend filled with high-caliber matchups.

Here are this week’s 1-130 rankings; the rankings will be updated every Tuesday during the season.

The top 25

1. Alabama

2. Oklahoma

3. Ohio State

4. Clemson

5. Georgia

6. Iowa State

7. Texas A&M

8. Oregon

9. Cincinnati

10. North Carolina

11. Penn State

12. Florida

13. Notre Dame

14. USC

15. Indiana

16. Arizona State

17. Wisconsin

18. Washington

19. Miami

20. Texas

21. LSU

22. Iowa

23. Louisiana

24. TCU

25. Utah

Teams 26-50

26. UCF

27. Boise State

28. Ole Miss

29. Oklahoma State

30. Coastal Carolina

31. Boston College

32. NC State

33. Auburn

34. Northwestern

35. Michigan

36. Liberty

37. Appalachian State

38. Missouri

39. UCLA (1-0)

The buzz: The Bruins jumped out to a 30-3 lead early in the second quarter, then throttled it way back in beating Hawaii 44-10. Michigan transfer Zach Charbonnet rushed for 106 yards and three TDs on just six carries. The Bruins welcome in LSU this week.

40. Wake Forest

41. Ball State

42. Pitt

43. West Virginia

44. UAB

45. Nevada

46. Stanford

47. Minnesota

48. Kentucky

49. San Jose State (1-0)

The buzz: The Spartans thrashed FCS member Southern Utah 45-14. QB Nick Starkel threw for 394 yards and four TDs.

50. California

Teams 51-75

51. Virginia

52. Houston

53. Florida State

54. Arkansas

55. Maryland

56. Louisville

57. BYU

58. Mississippi State

59. Purdue

60. SMU

61. Colorado

62. Kansas State

63. Toledo

64. Virginia Tech

65. Texas Tech

66. Marshall

67. Washington State

68. Rutgers

69. Tennessee

70. Tulsa

71. Baylor

72. Oregon State

73. Fresno State (1-0)

The buzz: The Bulldogs manhandled UConn 45-0. We’ll get a much better idea of Fresno’s strength this week, when it plays at Oregon.

74. Nebraska (0-1 / last week, ranked 60th)

The buzz: Wow, what a messy start to the fourth season under Scott Frost, with a 30-22 loss to presumed Big Ten bottom-feeder Ilinois. The infuriating thing for Big Red fans is that the Huskers made the same kind of mistakes against the Illini that they made in Frost’s first season.

Top 10

  1. 1

    Ryan Day

    Ross Bjork addresses job security

    New
  2. 2

    Bielema responds to Kiffin

    Illini HC uses Kiffin for CFP case

  3. 3

    OSU/Michigan fined

    Big Ten levies fines for brawl

  4. 4

    AP Poll Top 25

    Big movement in latest Top 25

    Hot
  5. 5

    Neal Brown

    WVU set to fire HC

View All

Teams 75-100

75. Kent State

76. UTSA

77. Tulane

78. Georgia Tech

79. Memphis

80. South Carolina

81. Michigan State

82. East Carolina

83. Illinois (1-0 / last week, ranked 98th)

The buzz: The Bret Bielema era began with a win over a mistake-prone Nebraska team. The Illini still might be the worst team in the Big Ten, but there were some good signs, for sure.

84. Buffalo

85. San Diego State

86. Wyoming

87. Ohio

88. Louisiana Tech

89. Army

90. FAU

91. Air Force

92. Central Michigan

93. Duke

94. Colorado State

95. Georgia State

96. Western Michigan

97. Vanderbilt

98. Syracuse

99. Hawaii (0-1)

The buzz: In the first of their seven (!) road games this season, the Rainbow Warriors were flattened by UCLA. Hawaii finished with just 26 rushing yards.

100. Arizona

The bottom 30

101. Navy

102. Miami (Ohio)

103. Georgia Southern

104. USF

105. Troy

106. Southern Miss

107. Arkansas State

108. Middle Tennessee

109. Kansas

110. Western Kentucky

111. North Texas

112. Texas State

113. Charlotte

114. Temple

115. FIU

116. Utah State

117. Eastern Michigan

118. Rice

119. New Mexico

120. South Alabama

121. UTEP (1-0)

The buzz: As they should’ve, the Miners beat up on New Mexico State in their opener. UTEP had 452 yards of offense in their first game with Dave Warner, who used to be at Michigan State, as coordinator; that’s the Miners’ fifth-highest total since the start of the 2017 season.

122. Northern Illinois

123. UNLV

124. Akron

125. UConn (0-1)

The buzz: How bad was the opening 45-0 loss to Fresno State? The Huskies had more punts (11) than first downs (nine). Yikes.

126. Louisiana-Monroe

127. Old Dominion

128. Bowling Green

129. Massachusetts

130. New Mexico State (0-1)

The buzz: The Aggies’ lack of offense is going to be a season-long problem and likely will cause them to settle in at 130th in the rankings. An incredibly weird stat from their opening loss to UTEP: NMSU had 190 total yards yet managed 20 first downs. How is that? The Aggies got eight first downs off UTEP penalties.