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Florida State came into Saturday as the No. 2 team in both human polls. Thanks to Lamar Jackson's Louisville, the 'Noles are very much not No. 2 anymore. That’s what happens when you lose 63-20. Fun fact: The Cardinals' previous highest AP Poll spot ever was No. 3, in 2006.
Oklahoma suffered a similarly embarrassing loss to previous No. 3 Ohio State after a backup quarterback wrote a check his team could not cash. Taking a 45-24 L isn’t good for your polling prospects, Sooners.
Alabama remains No. 1 after beating Ole Miss, 48-43, in a game that has become unfortunately on-brand for the Rebels. And Notre Dame is officially out of the Playoff after a 36-28 loss against a top-10-ready Michigan State.
Also of interest in the rankings this week: North Dakota State ranks No. 28 in the AP with 78 votes after beating Iowa, the most votes for an FCS team ever.
Below is an update of the rankings after Week 3, which we made because we love you and are very kind. The College Football Playoff rankings aren’t out until Nov. 1, so we'll have to wait to get mad online about that.
After the table you’ll also find a handy rankings explainer.
| AP (prev, if diff) | Coaches (prev, if diff) | S&P+ | Massey | |
| 1 | Alabama | Alabama | Michigan | Alabama |
| 2 | Ohio State (3) | Ohio State (4) | Alabama | Ohio State |
| 3 | Louisville (10) | Clemson (3) | LSU | Clemson |
| 4 | Michigan | Louisville (10) | Washington | Stanford |
| 5 | Clemson | Michigan | Ohio State | Houston |
| 6 | Houston | Stanford | Clemson | Michigan |
| 7 | Stanford | Houston | Oklahoma | Louisville |
| 8 | Michigan State (12) | Michigan State | Louisville | Tennessee |
| 9 | Washington (8) | Washington | Florida | Florida State |
| 10 | Texas A&M (17) | Wisconsin (12) | Florida State | Wisconsin |
| 11 | Wisconsin (9) | Georgia (13) | Ole Miss | Michigan State |
| 12 | Georgia (16) | Tennessee (15) | Stanford | Arkansas |
| 13 | Florida State (2) | Texas A&M (20) | Tennessee | Oklahoma |
| 14 | Tennessee (15) | Florida State (2) | Baylor | Texas A&M |
| 15 | Miami (25) | Baylor (19) | Miami | Baylor |
| 16 | Baylor (21) | Florida (23) | USC | Washington |
| 17 | Arkansas (24) | LSU (22) | Oregon | LSU |
| 18 | LSU (20) | Arkansas (24) | UCLA | Georgia |
| 19 | Florida (23) | Miami (25) | Texas A&M | Utah |
| 20 | Nebraska (NR) | Nebraska (NR) | Wisconsin | Ole Miss |
| 21 | Texas (11) | (tie) TCU (NR) | Notre Dame | Nebraska |
| 22 | San Diego State (NR) | (tie) Ole Miss (17) | Auburn | Iowa |
| 23 | Ole Miss (19) | Utah (NR) | TCU | Oregon |
| 24 | Utah (NR) | Texas (16) | Virginia Tech | Miami |
| 25 | Oklahoma (14) | Iowa (11) | Oklahoma State | North Carolina |
The four rankings used here
The Associated Press Top 25: The longest-running and best-respected human poll. Didn't have any official bearing on the latter years of the BCS, and doesn't have any official bearing on the Playoff. Most outlets (including SB Nation) will use the AP's rankings as the standard until the committee takes over in November, though.
The USA Today Coaches Poll: Formerly part of the BCS, and now just a poll. It tends to react more cautiously than the AP's. Though polling athletic departments in order to rank other athletic departments is dubious, we still want multiple human polls in here, and this is the other big one.
The Massey computer composite: A collection of every rating out there. We include the latest version as of publication. (It does also include the two human polls, but they can't sway it all that much.)
Bill Connelly's S&P+ ratings: SB Nation's favored advanced stat, which arrives a bit later than the others. An important thing to keep in mind: for the first few weeks, it also factors in preseason projections. It'll look pretty weird early on, but it's proved to be a very strong predictor against the Vegas spread over the long term.
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