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Last week, I said we would circle back to the Pac-12 realignment news. So, let’s start there.
Pac-12 Rebuild
Timeline of additions
The two-team Pac-12 began its rebuild last week by announcing the additions of Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado State and Fresno State from the Mountain West Conference. The four new members officially will join Oregon State and Washington State on July 1, 2026. Today, I brought in The Athletic’s Chris Vannini to answer a couple of questions about how this came together and what’s next.
What is the relationship between the Pac-12 and Mountain West like?
Even before the poaching, it was not as good as people on the outside assumed. The Mountain West threw OSU and WSU a lifeline with the 2024 scheduling agreement, but once OSU and WSU found their footing, they didn’t want to join the MWC. When their scheduling negotiations fell apart at the beginning of September, the wheels started turning in the Pac-12 to add four Mountain West schools, and it came together in just a few days. Now the MWC is trying to keep together what it can.
The Pac-12 has to get to eight members, eventually. What’s the timeline for getting there?
Technically they just need eight by July 1, 2026, but the conference hopes the momentum of last week’s announcement can bring in more sooner rather than later. And the sooner there’s a set group, the quicker it can go to market to find the new TV deal that is the basis for everything. It likely will add more than two, maybe three or four, which would make scheduling easier.
Who could those new targets be? Read Chris’ list of candidates here. As for the Mountain West, two powerhouse FCS programs from the Dakotas look like frontrunners as replacements.
Texas is ranked No. 1 for the first time since 2008. (Tim Warner / Getty Images)
New No. 1 in Town
Texas tops Georgia in AP Poll
The biggest shakeup in this week’s AP poll was the first change at No. 1 of the season. Otherwise, poll fluctuation was tame. No team moved more than two spots from its previous position (not including the two teams that fell out of the poll and their replacements). Here’s the rundown:
📈 Texas jumped Georgia for No. 1 after the Longhorns showed they have nothing to worry about at QB (Quinn Ewers and backup Arch Manning are both really good), while the Bulldogs skated by against Kentucky. It’s the Longhorns’ first week at the top of the rankings since spending three weeks there in 2008. No. 6 Tennessee rose one spot, and No. 8 Miami rose two spots after shutting out their respective MAC opponents in Week 3. But it wasn’t all bad news for the MAC as No. 23 Northern Illinois rose two spots and remained the only ranked Group of 5 team (Memphis and Boise State topped the receiving votes category). No. 13 Kansas State, No. 17 Notre Dame, No. 20 Iowa State, No. 21 Clemson and No. 22 Nebraska all rose one spot.
📉 No. 7 Missouri fell one spot after winning a close game against former No. 24 Boston College, which fell out of the poll. No. 10 Penn State dropped two places despite not playing. No. 14 Oklahoma State and No. 18 Michigan each fell one spot despite wins. And former No. 20 Arizona fell from the Top 25 after losing to No. 13 Kansas State.
👋 Illinois is 3-0 for the first time since 2011 and entered the poll at No. 24. Texas A&M, which started the season at No. 20 but then lost to Notre Dame, is back in at No. 25 after crushing Florida (what is Billy Napier’s job status?) in a 33-20 win at The Swamp.
Read more poll takeaways from AP voter Matt Brown here.
Reviewing The 134
Big jumps for Georgia State, UNLV
Kent State (remember, the one in Ohio … or more famously, Nick Saban’s alma mater?) remains at No. 134 in Chris Vannini’s rankings this week. Let’s check in with the Golden Eagles and hand out a few other superlatives.
Checking in with Kent State: The Golden Eagles failed to climb out of last place last week. They faced No. 6 Tennessee, which could be the most underrated team in the CFP picture, and were handed a 71-0 humbling loss as the Vols gained 740 yards of offense to Kent State’s 112. There’s not much time to recover with No. 10 Penn State on the schedule this week.
Jumps of the week: Georgia State skyrocketed from No. 116 to No. 42. The Panthers beat Vanderbilt 36-32 on a game-winning touchdown with 15 seconds left. But this might say more about Vandy falling back down to Earth (now No. 43) than it says about Georgia State. The Panthers’ last SEC upset was just five years ago when they stunned Tennessee 38-30.
And hello, UNLV, which jumped from No. 50 to No. 25 as the second-highest-ranked G5 team. The Rebels’ Friday the 13th road trip to Kansas (the game was played at Kansas City’s MLS stadium because of construction to the Jayhawks’ stadium in Lawrence) was anything but scary. The Rebels topped Kansas 23-20, improving to 3-0 for the first time in 40 years and jumping into the CFP picture with other G5 hopefuls.
This week’s geography lesson: Kennesaw State debuted at No. 134 this season but has climbed to No. 131, despite not recording a win. The Owls are from Kennesaw, Ga., about a 25-mile drive from Atlanta (per Google Maps) and a 75-mile trek west of big, bad UGA.
Quick Snaps
Eastern Michigan coaches in mechanic uniforms? A second-and-59-yard play? Here are the most “college football” things that happened in Week 3.
Oregon, USC and Ohio State look best equipped at QB among Big Ten teams. But is Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke making a case for the top tier? Our staff ranked every Big Ten QB situation here.
Shotgun or under center? Joe Rexrode debunks the great college football short-yardage debate and why shotgun is better than you think.
Florida plummets to the bottom of this week’s SEC “vibes” rankings while Texas is riding high (even with its starting QB injured … thanks to Manning). Read more of the conference’s highs and lows here.
Speaking of Manning, the former five-star recruit from a family of football royalty stayed at Texas behind Ewers despite the sport’s pull to the transfer portal. David Ubben has the story on why Manning stayed — and why it was never a question.
Tennessee will add a 10 percent “talent fee” to the cost of 2025 football season tickets. The school already announced an initial 4.5 percent average ticket increase, meaning Vols fans will pay 14.5 percent more on average for tickets next season.
You can buy tickets to every college football game here.
For streaming info on Fubo, click here.
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(Top photo: Ali Gradischer / Getty Images)
