When the Top 25 college football rankings come out for Week 4

What you need to know about when the Top 25 college football rankings will be released as we look ahead to the Week 4 games.

Your guide for when the AP top 25 college football rankings come out | Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

Another active weekend of college football is in the books, and now it’s time to get a glance at the updated top 25 rankings as we look ahead to the Week 4 games.

First things first: what will the new rankings look like?

After watching several ranked teams come out on the losing end of some dramatic finishes across the country, it’s a sure thing that pollsters both of the AP and Coaches variety will be making some considerable amendments in their ballots this week.

Tennessee went down against Georgia, Notre Dame fell by a point to Texas A&M, South Carolina was upset by Vanderbilt, and Clemson took an L at Georgia Tech.

Here’s what you need to know for when the AP and Coaches college football rankings will be released as we prepare for the Week 4 slate.

When the Top 25 college football rankings are released

First up, the Coaches Poll will be announced at or around 1 p.m. Eastern on Sunday after the eligible coaches cast their ballots for the top 25 teams.

From there, the Associated Press will announce its official top 25 rankings at or around 2 p.m. Eastern on Sunday afternoon after official voters submit their ballots to the AP to be counted.

Keep in mind, however: much like the football rankings themselves, their scheduled release time isn't an exact science.

These are estimated times and occasionally the ranking services can be early or late, by as much as 15 to 30 minutes every week.

Sometimes, ballots arrive late or there are technical issues in calculating them, but both polls are usually released around the times listed.

The new AP poll: Our prediction for the Top 25 rankings in Week 4

AP top 25 college football teams moving up, down in Week 4 rankings

-

How the AP top 25 rankings are created

Voters designated by the Associated Press who take part in the poll first create a list of what they consider the 25 best teams in the country. 

From there, they assign each team a number of points, awarding the best team the most number of points, which is 25. 

They give the second-lowest number to the second-best team, the third-lowest to the third-best team, etc.

• No. 1 team: 25 points
• No. 2 team: 24
• No. 3 team: 23
• No. 4 team: 22
• No. 5 team: 21
• No. 6 team: 20
• No. 7 team: 19
• No. 8 team: 18
• No. 9 team: 17
• No. 10 team: 16
• No. 11 team: 15
• No. 12 team: 14
• No. 13 team: 13
• No. 14 team: 12
• No. 15 team: 11
• No. 16 team: 10
• No. 17 team: 9
• No. 18 team: 8
• No. 19 team: 7
• No. 20 team: 6
• No. 21 team: 5
• No. 22 team: 4
• No. 23 team: 3
• No. 24 team: 2
• No. 25 team: 1

The AP then combines the numerical value of each voter's poll and ranks the teams by number of points in descending order to create the final rankings.

--