There’s a new and historic No. 1 in the updated the USA TODAY Sports NCAA Re-Rank 1-36 after Week 7 of the college football season.
Indiana rises six spots and replaces Oregon atop the rankings after beating the Ducks 30-20 at Autzen Stadium. The Hoosiers have the edge over No. 2 Ohio State by virtue of Saturday’s road win and a more dominant performance in each team’s matchup with Illinois. These wins and the eyeball test give Indiana a strong case for leading the re-rank.
The Ducks fall to No. 8, behind another one-loss team in No. 7 Alabama but ahead of No. 9 Georgia, No. 10 Tennessee and No. 11 LSU.
The rankings are unkind to Penn State. The Nittany Lions are down 27 spots to No. 72 after a third loss in a row led to the surprising midseason firing of longtime coach James Franklin.
Another change near the top of the re-rank sees a swap of No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 5 Mississippi after the Aggies controlled Florida and the Rebels struggled to beat Washington State by a field goal. Texas Tech moves up to No. 6 after rolling over Kansas.
Elsewhere, Notre Dame is up to No. 12 and is by far the highest-ranked two-loss team in the country. Georgia Tech climbs to No. 13 and South Florida jumps 11 spots to No. 21 after beating North Texas.
Two other teams climbing toward the top 25 are No. 26 Navy, which nailed a late two-point conversion to beat Temple 32-31 and No. 31 Brigham Young, which rose 11 spots after topping Arizona in overtime.