College football rankings: AP top 25 teams moving up, down in Week 5

As we look back on another big week of action across the nation, let’s take a turn predicting what teams will emerge as the biggest movers in the AP top 25 college football rankings in Week 5.

It was a Statement Saturday across the country a month into the 2025 college football season, with hopefuls in the SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 staking their claims as contenders to watch going forward in signature victories against ranked opponents.

Texas Tech passed a big test at Utah, while Oklahoma pulled out a close win at home against Auburn, and Indiana turned heads with an unforgiving performance against what was a top 10 ranked Illinois team.

What teams will be on the move in the AP top 25 college football rankings this week? Let’s take a shot at predicting who’s moving up, and who’s going down, in the polls heading into Week 5.

Rankings reflect AP top 25 poll

Moving up: Oklahoma

College football rankings: AP top 25 teams moving up, down in Week 5 — Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Last week’s ranking: No. 11

Oklahoma survived at home against Auburn in a slugfest to win its SEC opener, relying on a school-record defensive effort and a late touchdown from John Mateer to take out the Tigers by a 24-17 count to improve to 4-0 on the season.

Brent Venables’ malevolent defense finished the game with an Oklahoma record 10 sacks, a run of dominance at the line of scrimmage that set the tone in a low-scoring fistfight between two SEC up and comers.

In the process, the Sooners picked up a second victory against an AP ranked opponent, beating Michigan a couple weeks ago, and moved to 9-1 in their last 10 home games against opponents that were ranked at the time.

This season marks the first where OU won two games against AP ranked teams before the month of October for the third time ever, since 1954 and 1990.

Their reward? A nice jump in this week’s rankings, likely into the top 10 with a chance to leapfrog idle Texas A&M and move ahead of Illinois, which got pounded by Indiana.

Moving down: Auburn

Last week’s ranking: No. 22

Jackson Arnold was hoping to prove to Oklahoma he made the right choice after transferring to Auburn, but instead the quarterback left Norman on the receiving end of those 10 sacks from the Sooners’ swarming defensive front seven tacklers in the loss.

He had Oklahoma’s number late in the game, though, leading a 75-yard drive over 14 plays midway through the fourth quarter, capped off by Malcolm Simmons running in for a touchdown from 4 yards out to give Auburn a 1-point lead.

While the play of this offensive line will be a key question going forward in SEC play, Auburn’s defensive rotation stood firm, locking down the Sooners’ elite skill threats for the most part and held Mateer to just one completion over 20 yards.

There’s a danger Auburn could fall out of the rankings if other candidates get enough votes, namely Memphis or BYU, or at best it could cling to a place at the bottom of the poll given it was a close loss on the road in SEC play, which voters have more respect for.

Moving up: Indiana

Last week’s ranking: No. 19

It looks like this year’s Indiana is last year’s Indiana.

Rumors of the Hoosiers being a one-year wonder under Curt Cignetti turned out to be wildly premature after a Saturday night massacre that saw Indiana lay a 63-10 beating on ninth-ranked Illinois.

Saturday’s matchup was the first since 1950 in which both teams on the field were ranked nationally, and 75 years later, only one of those teams showed up.

Maybe no other team put on such a thoroughly-dominating performance this season, as Fernando Mendoza hit 91 percent of his throws (21 of 23) with 5 touchdowns and no picks while the Hoosiers tacked on over 300 rushing yards with 3 more scores.

But it wasn’t just the offense. Indiana’s defense held the Illini ground game to 2 yards — yes, two — on a 0.1 yard per carry average and mangled Luke Altmyer to the tune of 7 sacks.

That should be more than good enough for a jump into the top 15 of this week’s rankings, definitely over loser Utah and possibly over idle Alabama owing to IU’s perceived high-quality win against a ranked Big Ten opponent.

Moving up: Texas Tech

Last week’s ranking: No. 17

After this offseason’s big spending spree, all eyes were on what the Red Raiders were able to buy with that money, and after a statement 34-10 victory at Utah, so far the return on that investment looks like a potential Big 12 championship.

One position they didn’t have to invest in was quarterback, as backup Will Hammond proved, entering the game in place of the injured Behren Morton and reviving what was a dormant offense, throwing 2 touchdown passes and leading 4 scoring drives.

That new defense held Utah to 263 total yards, held it to 4 of 14 on third down, and forced 4 turnovers.

In the process, Texas Tech elbowed its way to the top of the Big 12 pecking order, emerging as the new favorite to win the conference and make a run at the College Football Playoff.

AP top 25 voters will be very impressed with the Red Raiders’ complete game performance in such a high-profile environment, and potentially push them up into the top 10 of the forthcoming rankings in a major vote of confidence.

Moving down: Utah

Last week’s ranking: No. 16

Utah was 0-4 at home in its last four meetings against Big 12 competition, and that dismal record fell to 0-5 after a disappointing result against Texas Tech on Saturday.

Coming into the game, the Utes’ offense looked to have improved from last season after acquiring transfer dual-threat quarterback Devon Dampier, but his output was decidedly muted in the face of Texas Tech’s defensive onslaught.

Dampier covered just 162 yards in the air passing, didn’t score a touchdown, and threw 2 interceptions while averaging just over 4 yards per attempt.

Sitting one spot ahead of Texas Tech coming into this week, the Utes will fall into the bottom fifth of the rankings heading into Week 5, if not out entirely.

AP top 25 voters have proven more than willing to dump teams from their ballot from a relatively high ranking the week prior if results warrant, and they may want to appropriate their votes to more deserving teams that placed outside the rankings before.

But the more likely result is that Utah will slide into the bottom fifth of the rankings behind those lower-ranked teams that won their games.

Who else could move?

— Michigan should improve from its No. 22 ranking after a physical victory on the road against undefeated Nebraska, rushing for 286 yards and holding the Cornhuskers to 43 yards on the ground while sacking Dylan Raiola 7 times.

— Ryan Silverfield is 25-5 at Memphis since 2023, has won 17 of his last 19 games, has defeated five Power Four opponents, and just knocked off Arkansas by one point to bring the Tigers to 4-0. Remarkably, Memphis didn’t get any votes in last week’s AP ballot, but that could change after this start.

— Vanderbilt will inch up from its place at 20 this week after hanging 70 points on Georgia Southern, moving to 4-0 for the first time since 2008.

— TCU earned 67 votes in the poll last week, coming in 30th, but should be in store for more votes this time around after an emotional 35-24 win over SMU in the final Battle for the Iron Skillet, as Josh Hoover threw for 379 yards and 5 touchdowns.

— There’s an outside chance Miami could jump LSU and move into the No. 3 slot after a hard-fought victory over Florida. Just 44 votes separated these teams in last week’s ballot, but some voters may be more impressed with the Hurricanes having to earn it.

— Illinois was very highly-placed at No. 9 in last week’s rankings, but getting housed in a 63-10 rout at Indiana just might be enough to fall out entirely, or at best, suffer a major fall near the bottom of the Week 5 poll. AP voters could feel betrayed and drop them.

— South Carolina had 82 votes in last week’s rankings, sitting at 28 nationally, but it should lose all of them after falling to 0-2 in SEC play with a loss at Missouri.

— Likewise for Tulane, which had a chance to earn more confidence with a good showing at Ole Miss, but the Rebels had other ideas in a 45-10 drubbing, throwing a monkey wrench into the Wave’s bid as a G5 playoff hopeful.

— Clemson will lose its remaining 6 votes after falling to 1-3 in a surprise (or was it?) loss at home to Syracuse, the worst start in Dabo Swinney’s long tenure. This is getting ugly.