ESPN reveals new Top 25 college football power rankings for Week 4

A look at ESPN's new top 25 college football power rankings moving into the Week 4 games, with some notable changes in the first month of the season.

The new ESPN top 25 college football power rankings saw some notable movement heading into an active weekend of games. | Alan Poizner-Imagn Images

Where things stand in the updated ESPN top 25 college football power rankings as we look ahead to an active Week 4 slate of games, with some prominent movement in this poll.

Three weeks into the 2025 college football season, we’re starting to get a general outline of who is who on a national scale, with some early contenders emerging from the pile, and some pretenders who are already receding into the background.

Predictably, most of the heavyweights across the country hail from either the Big Ten or the SEC, with those two conferences dominating the top of the rankings, including in the latest vote from ESPN’s analysts heading into the Week 4 action.

Let’s take a look at who landed where, and which teams had the most movement from week to week as we approach the end of the first month of the season.

ESPN college football power rankings

1. Ohio State
2. Oregon
3. Miami
4. LSU
5. Georgia
6. Texas A&M
7. Penn State
8. Florida State
9. Oklahoma
10. Texas
11. Illinois
12. Ole Miss
13. Iowa State
14. Utah
15. Alabama
16. Tennessee
17. Texas Tech
18. Georgia Tech
19. Missouri
20. Indiana
21. Michigan
22. Vanderbilt
23. Auburn
24. Notre Dame
25. TCU

— Predictably, the Fighting Irish had a precipitous drop, from the No. 8 position last week to very nearly falling out of the rankings. They stayed in the AP poll, too, arousing considerable criticism for the voters after the Golden Domers fell to 0-2 after a one-point loss to Texas A&M on Saturday.

— Conversely, the Aggies jumped in the latest rankings, six spots from 12 to 6 on the ESPN ballot after improving to 3-0 behind an aggressive offensive effort that routinely found holes in the Irish defenses. Marcel Reed averaged 21 yards per pass and Mario Craver had over 207 yards receiving.

— Penn State continues to fall in the ESPN rankings despite being undefeated, but with some analysts pressing pause on this offense after appearing to leave some points on the field, a puzzling development given how much proven production returns on that side of the ball.

— Georgia notably placed behind LSU after a spirited come-from-behind shootout win at Tennessee last week, stifling some of the concern around the Bulldogs’ offense under quarterback Gunner Stockton’s leadership.

— LSU dropped two places to 4 in the ESPN rankings amid some questions around the state of the offense. Garrett Nussmeier led college football’s seventh-ranked passing attack a year ago, but they rank 95th in total offense now. Good thing the Tigers’ defense has picked up the slack, holding Florida to 10 points last week.

— Texas fell 3 spots despite beating UTEP as concerns continue to mount around Arch Manning, the uber-hyped quarterback who had just 114 yards over the weekend.

Unranked last week

— Georgia Tech burst into the ESPN rankings this week, as it did the AP top 25 poll, after a confident last-second win over Clemson at home to stay undefeated and looking ahead to three very winnable games.

— Vanderbilt moved into ESPN’s top 25 after a dominant 31-7 win at South Carolina, improving to 3-0 on the back of Diego Pavia’s efficient play and a strong ground game, and they could be 5-0 heading into the Alabama rematch in the future.

— Auburn moved into the 23 position despite a close win over South Alabama in which Jackson Arnold struggled throwing the ball, but Jeremiah Cobb went over 100 yards rushing and Cam Coleman scored twice off Arnold’s throws.

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