College Football Week 4 Power Rankings

It was another weekend of limited big time matchups but that did not stop some movement from occurring among the top 25. The biggest ripple comes from South Carolina getting a big SEC victory over Georgia who was coming off an impressive opening weekend win over Clemson. The other top 10 to stumble this past weekend was USC who may have had a bit of a hangover from a key win against Stanford on the road as Boston College ran over them to say the least. The top 5 remains intact and much of the top 25 who did win had blow out and statement making games as they make their case to play for a national title. Much like USC, Virginia Tech seemed to still have a big victory hangover impacting them as they fell to East Carolina in a close one. That loss knocks them out of the top 25 along with Louisville who got hit hard by a tough Virginia team. With Virginia Tech and Louisville falling out of the top 25, that allows BYU who looks very good and could run the table to move into the top 25 along with North Carolina who will need to take lessons from Virginia Tech as they get a very good East Carolina team.

With that, here are Week 4's power rankings:

1)(1) Florida State (vs Clemson)- They went to Death Valley and rolled over the Tigers last year and should expect Clemson's best effort in another primetime showdown.
2)(2) Oregon (at Washington State)- They continue to look nearly unstoppable offensively and it shouldn't change against a team they have had much success against.
3)(3) Alabama (vs Florida)- Their new quarterback is starting to come into his own in an offense geared to score points.
4)(4) Oklahoma (at West Virginia)- They took advantage of a spotlight game last week to show why they are positioning themselves as one of the best teams.
5)(5) Auburn (at Kansas State)- It is still hard to tell if this team can make it back to the national title game and this week will provide an opportunity to see where they might be.
6)(7) Texas A&M (at SMU)- It looks like they might be better offensively with a new quarterback and without a big receiver and can continue to position themselves to be a sleeper title contender.
7)(9) LSU (vs Mississippi State)- They are tough to beat under the lights at home but should still be leery of a hungry conference foe coming to town.
8)(10) Baylor (BYE)- Their quarterback looks to be healthy and that is not what opposing defenses want to hear.
9)(11) Notre Dame (BYE)- They can use a bye to further iron out a few wrinkles in what could slowly emerge as a team on par with a couple years ago.
10)(13) Michigan State (vs Eastern Michigan)- They have had a rough loss at Oregon lingering for two weeks and will likely look to quickly put that game behind them.
11)(12) UCLA (BYE)- They grind out close ones each week and that could help down the road but still need to develop a killer instinct.
12)(14) Stanford (BYE)- They should be able to build upon a lot of the good things they did after a loss as they are still a top team in their conference and the country.
13)(6) Georgia (vs Troy)- They had chances to pull out an important road win and build on their opening victory and let that slip away.
14)(21) South Carolina (at Vanderbilt)- They needed a win and got one and are back in the thick of things nationally and in the SEC.
15)(8) USC (BYE)- They were coming off a big win and got blown out and run over and could use a bye to regroup.
16)(16) Arizona State (BYE)- They have a week off to prepare for a huge conference game at home that could shift the conference's top tier.
17)(17) Mississippi (BYE)- They have slowly built up steam and could learn from last year's stumbles in big games.
18)(15) Wisconsin (vs Bowling Green)- They came out the gates strong but need an impressive showing to get themselves on track after not being able to put together a complete game.
19)(19) Ohio State (BYE)- They put their loss to Virginia Tech behind them quickly but still need to figure out how to grow from their struggles with a young quarterback.
20)(20) Nebraska (vs Miami (FL))- They have a chance to take advantage of some struggles of the top teams in the Big 10 if they play like they did last week.
21)(23) Clemson (at Florida State)- They did not play well in the second half against Georgia on the road and will need to figure out how to put together a complete game this time around against a slightly better team on the road.
22)(24) Missouri (vs Indiana)- They are molding nicely into form and might be better than some expected after losing some key players.
23)(25) Kansas State (vs Auburn)- They have a chance this week to show where they stand against a top 5 team at home.
24)(NR) BYU (vs Virginia)- They might have the most dynamic quarterback in the country who is tough to slow down and tackle.
25)(NR) North Carolina (at East Carolina)- Time will tell if they can make some noise this year as they continue to look balanced.

NEXT 5
1) Oklahoma State (BYE)- They get a week off to continue to build some good things seen so far.
2) Virginia Tech (vs Georgia Tech)- They have not done well in recent years after a big win and that trend continued last week.
3) Mississippi State (at LSU)- How good can this team be? This week will be a good test to show where they are.
4) Duke (vs Tulane)- While still not on par with last year, they are still proving to be a dangerous team.
5) Penn State (vs Massachusetts)- After 3 games where they needed strong finishes to secure wins, they should have a little more breathing room this week.

The big top 25 games this week are Clemson heading to Florida State and Auburn facing Kansas State. Also Mississippi State has a chance to jump into the top 25 if they can knock off LSU on the road.