Computer Rankings: Stanford, Penn State Make Big Moves Upward

September 9, 2018 by Dave Congrove

Stanford and Penn State make big jumps this week in the Congrove Computer Rankings, released Sunday morning. Stanford's 17-3 win over Southern California, and Penn State's 51-6 thrashing of Pitt provides the impetus for their rise. The Cardinal catapults upward from 9th to 3rd while the Nittany Lions surge from 13th to 8th.

Oklahoma retains its hold on the top spot, followed by Ohio State, Stanford, Clemson and Wisconsin.

Notre Dame fell from 3rd to 6th after its surprisingly close 24-16 win over Ball State. Auburn, Penn State, Alabama and Mississippi State round out the top 10.

Michigan State, which had been ranked 4th going into the weekend, crashed downward to No. 13 with its 16-13 loss at Arizona State.

Duke rose from 26th to 16th on the heels of 21-7 win at Northwestern. The Wildcats fell from 10th to 23rd.

South Carolina nose-dived from 17th to 35th after a 41-17 home loss to Georgia.

Texas A&M slid considerably, from 18th to 31st, in spite of just a 2-point home loss to Clemson.

With the Gamecocks and Aggies losing, the Southeastern Conference this week has 6 representatives in the Top 25. The conference had 8 last week. The Big Ten takes the lead with 7 schools in the upper echelon of the rankings, followed by the ACC with the 5. The Big 12 and PAC-12 have 3 each. Notre Dame is the lone member of the Top 25 that doesn't have a Power 5 conference affiliation.

The highest-ranked Group of Five schools is Mountain West member Boise State at No 30. UCF tops all American Conference teams at No. 49 while North Texas is the top CUSA entrant at No. 55. Toledo leads all MAC squads at No. 56, and Appalachian State outranks all the other Sun Belt teams at No. 78.

View the full Top 130.