College football rankings: Oregon breaks into top 10, Penn State moves up in CBS Sports 131

After an impressive showing in one of the headlining games on the Week 8 schedule, Oregon is on the move in the updated college football rankings and has finally crashed the top 10 for the first time this season in the CBS Sports 131. 

The Ducks started the year at No. 14 in our comprehensive ranking of every FBS team, but after a lopsided loss to Georgia in the season opener, they dropped all the way to No. 30. As Oregon has continued its winning ways, however, the ranking has slowly improved, though our voters have been slightly behind the traditional polls in being ready to identify the Ducks as one of the 10 best teams in the country. 

But after improving to 6-1 with a 45-30 win against previously unbeaten UCLA, there is no longer any hesitation about where Oregon stands against its peers at the top of the sport. The Ducks landed in the top 10 at No. 8 in our new rankings, just behind undefeated TCU and higher than all one-loss teams besides Alabama. 

The entire top seven remained in place from last week with Ohio State holding on to No. 1 as No. 2 Georgia was on a bye and No. 3 Tennessee played FCS UT Martin. Michigan, our No. 4 team, was also idle while Clemson needed a second-half comeback to maintain its undefeated status — and 38-game home winning streak — against Syracuse. While there wasn’t much movement at the very top of the rankings, there was plenty of shuffling outside the top 10. 

Penn State, like Oregon, saw a four-spot increase in its position as the primetime win against Minnesota saw the Nittany Lions move up to No. 13, and LSU earned a six-spot bump from No. 24 to No. 18 after beating Ole Miss. The Rebels, as you might expect, are moving in the opposite direction after taking their first loss of the season, falling from No. 8 to No. 14. That wasn’t the most dramatic adjustment in the rankings but is still notable; our voters now have seven one-loss teams slotted ahead of Ole Miss following the team’s first loss of the year. 

For more on the most notable and dramatic week-to-week adjustments, check out the Mover’s Report below the top 25 table. 

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 26-131 on our rankings page.