Week 5 was a good one for college football in the state of Florida. UCF, Miami, Florida and Florida State all came away with victories. Specifically, the Knights had one of the easier games against Pitt and handled their business 45-14. That, coupled with some results around them, helped them move up four spots to No. 11 and just outside the top 10 in our latest rankings.
The official playoff rankings aren't out yet, but the highest ranked Group of Five team will be selected for a New Year's Six bowl berth and UCF has been the favorite to claim that spot. Through five weeks, little has happened to deter that belief.
Meanwhile, Miami, led by new quarterback N'Kosi Perry, handled North Carolina 47-10 on Thursday and moved up five spots to No. 17 -- again, partially due to big losses in that portion of the rankings. However, Florida had the biggest jump of any team from last week to this one. The Gators are up 15 spots to No. 20 after beating Mississippi State 13-6 in Starkville. Voters hit Florida hard after its September loss to Kentucky, but with the Wildcats now at No. 13, that result has different optics.
College football experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports contribute ballots each week, which are averaged together for our rankings. You can see the top-25 below, and 26-129 on our rankings page.
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | PREVIOUS |
| 1 | Alabama | 5-0 | 1 |
| 2 | Ohio State | 5-0 | 2 |
| 3 | Georgia | 5-0 | 3 |
| 4 | Clemson | 5-0 | 4 |
| 5 | LSU | 5-0 | 5 |
| 6 | Oklahoma | 5-0 | 7 |
| 7 | Notre Dame | 5-0 | 8 |
| 8 | West Virginia | 4-0 | 10 |
| 9 | Penn State | 4-1 | 6 |
| 10 | Auburn | 4-1 | 11 |
| 11 | UCF | 4-0 | 15 |
| 12 | Washington | 4-1 | 12 |
| 13 | Kentucky | 5-0 | 14 |
| 14 | Michigan | 4-1 | 13 |
| 15 | Stanford | 4-1 | 9 |
| 16 | Wisconsin | 3-1 | 16 |
| 17 | Miami | 4-1 | 22 |
| 18 | Oregon | 4-1 | 18 |
| 19 | Texas | 4-1 | 17 |
| 20 | Florida | 4-1 | 35 |
| 21 | NC State | 4-0 | 23 |
| 22 | South Florida | 4-0 | 24 |
| 23 | Michigan State | 3-1 | 28 |
| 24 | Colorado | 4-0 | 26 |
| 25 | Syracuse | 4-1 | 25 |
Biggest Movers
- Florida (+15): First-year coach Dan Mullen's return to his former stomping grounds went well with a 13-6 win at Mississippi State. The interesting tidbit here is that Florida and Mississippi State nearly swapped spots. The Gators were No. 35 a week ago and actually took the Bulldogs' place at No. 20. But with Kentucky looking better and better each week, this bump feels more like a market correction for the overall view of the Gators.
- Michigan State (+5): There wasn't a lot of major movement among top-25 teams, but Michigan State jumped up five spots into the rankings to No. 23. The CBS 129 wasn't as high on the Spartans in Week 5 as the AP and Coaches polls, both of which had Michigan State ranked. However, a 31-20 win over Central Michigan probably didn't have as much to do with the change as other fringe top-25 teams losing.
- Stanford (-6): A 38-17 loss to Notre Dame hurt the Cardinal way more than it helped the Fighting Irish, who rose just one spot. But it's also crowded at the top and Stanford didn't have the horses to keep up with Notre Dame's new offense. Now conference play heats up and Stanford has a chance to make up some lost ground. Running back Bryce Love's health will be something to watch, though.
- Mississippi State (-19): Just as Florida jumped way up for beating Mississippi State, the Bulldogs fell hard for losing. With 13 points (and one touchdown) in the past two games, Mississippi State's offense has hit a brick wall and quarterback Nick Fitzgerald hasn't been able to break through. This continues a big free fall for Mississippi State, who just two weeks ago was our No. 9 team. That plummet may get worse or stabilize based on the outcomes of the next two games against Auburn and LSU.
- BYU (-22): Alright, well, that was fun while it lasted. The Cougars never stood a chance against Washington in a 35-7 loss. Vegas had Washington as a 17.5-point favorite and the natural lean was to take BYU and the points. But Vegas knew. They almost always do.
Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 130: Teams ranked 26-129
