College Football Rankings Week 7: UCLA, Iowa, Kentucky Shake Up the Top 25

Before the season, what if someone told you that Iowa would be a legitimate top 15 team by the middle of the season? Okay, fine – it’s Iowa, there’s nothing too crazy about that.
Okay, how about Wake Forest? Or Northwestern? Kentucky, Mississippi State, and South Carolina?
What if you were told that UCLA is a legitimate threat to go undefeated in the regular season?
2026 is shaping up as one of the most fluid college football seasons ever – are you old enough to remember two weeks ago when it was Florida’s college football season, and we were all just witnesses? – but at the halfway point in the season, something big is happening. Established powerhouses (cough Texas A&M, Penn State, Michigan, cough) are being shoved aside for the shocking new contenders, and the CFN Week 7 Top 25 reflects the shift.

2026 College Football Rankings: The 25 Best Teams in Week 7

25. Wisconsin Badgers

Record: (4-1)
Last Week Rank: 18
Week 6: OPEN DATE
Up Next: at UCLA
Wisconsin, you’re forgiven for losing 41-13 to a powerhouse Notre Dame team, but we’re going to need to see a lot more than just a comeback win at Penn State. We’re about to get our wish: at UCLA, USC, at Iowa.

24. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Record: (5-1)
Last Week Rank: 28
Week 6: Wake Forest 38, NC State 14
Up Next: at Cal
Purdue just dominated Minnesota, and its three losses were UCLA on the road, Notre Dame, and … Wake Forest. It might not always be pretty, but the Demon Deacons played well in a loss to Miami, and beat the Boilermakers, Louisville, and NC State on the road.

23. Houston Cougars

Record: (5-1)
Last Week Rank: 32
Week 6: Houston 35, Kansas State 16
Up Next: Oklahoma State
The only loss came on a missed two-point conversion against Texas Tech. The 33-20 win over Oregon State looks fantastic now, and double-digit wins over UCF and Kansas State over the last two weeks have made Houston a player in the Big 12.

22. LSU Tigers

Record: (4-2)
Last Week Rank: 12
Week 6: Kentucky 35, LSU 34 OT
Up Next: Mississippi State
We don’t want to beat up LSU too much for totally blowing it in the loss to Kentucky. This is still a team you don’t want to see in the College Football Playoff, but that might be off the table now after what happened in Lexington. The Tigers still have to be ranked behind …

21. Ole Miss Rebels

Record: (4-1)
Last Week Rank: 11
Week 6: Ole Miss 52, Vanderbilt 17
Up Next: Missouri
Ole Miss went from overloved to all but disappearing, but the blowout win at Vanderbilt was impressive. The Rebels dropped like a rock in our rankings because they still have to be behind …

20. Florida Gators

Record: (4-2)
Last Week Rank: 10
Week 6: South Carolina 38, Florida 19
Up Next: Texas
Uh oh … the SEC figured out how to stop the Gator running game. Florida still gets two-tons of credit for winning at Auburn and stomping all over Ole Miss, but the 45-17 loss at Mizzou two weeks ago was jarring, and weather, schmeather, it was unforgivable to get blown out at home by …

19. South Carolina Gamecocks

Record: (3-3)
Last Week Rank: 47
Week 6: South Carolina 38, Florida 19
Up Next: OPEN DATE
Before you say anything, South Carolina just wiped out a Florida team that blew out Ole Miss. The three Gamecock losses? At Alabama, a close fight against Mississippi State, and in overtime against Kentucky.

18. Nebraska Cornhuskers

Record: (5-1)
Last Week Rank: 24
Week 6: Indiana 20, Nebraska 17
Up Next: at Oregon
Nebraska still needs a real live win – Ohio is the only victory over a team that might go bowling – but it had Indiana on the ropes for a while. Beat Oregon next week, Huskers, and you can stay in the top 25.

17. Texas Tech Red Raiders

Record: (5-0)
Last Week Rank: 20
Week 6: OPEN DATE
Up Next: Arizona State
This is only because we’re record-ranking a bit and because the Red Raiders handed Houston its only loss. Some big games are coming up, but Texas Tech needs to start dazzling.

16. Northwestern Wildcats

Record: (4-1)
Last Week Rank: 16
Week 6: Northwestern 45, Ball State 14
Up Next: at Michigan State
It’s been lost in the wash that Northwestern’s offensive coordinator is Chip Kelly, and he’s proving week after week why he’s just that special. The Wildcat offense is throttling teams and gave Indiana a push in Bloomington.
Barring something crazy with Michigan State and Rutgers up next, the team should be 6-1 before heading back to Kelly’s old stomping grounds at Oregon.

15. BYU Cougars

Record: (5-0)
Last Week Rank: 19
Week 6: BYU 24, Iowa State 10
Up Next: Notre Dame
The Cougars had better find a whole other gear if they’re planning on hanging with Notre Dame next week. The 28-17 win over Arizona in Week 2 looks better and better, and even though it was a tussle, beating Iowa State by two touchdowns wasn’t bad.

14. Iowa Hawkeyes

Record: (5-1)
Last Week Rank: 15
Week 6: Iowa 41, Washington 24
Up Next: OPEN DATE
No one wants to buy it, but Washington really is a good team, and Iowa walked into Husky Stadium on a Friday night, sat down, and had a picnic in a shocking blowout. We’re about to find out just how real this is – at Minnesota, Wisconsin, at Northwestern, Purdue. That might not sound like a gauntlet, but that’s a super-dangerous run.

13. Utah Utes

Record: (5-0)
Last Week Rank: 14
Week 6: Utah 41, Kansas 24
Up Next: at Colorado
Utah might have blowout wins over Arkansas, Iowa State, and Kansas, but it has yet to beat someone who’ll likely go bowling. That includes Colorado next week.

12. UCLA Bruins

Record: (5-0)
Last Week Rank: 17
Week 6: UCLA 17, Oregon 15
Up Next: Wisconsin
Taking down Purdue was good, and hanging 54 on Maryland wasn’t without its charm, but UCLA just ended Oregon’s season – not really, the Ducks still have just two losses, but, yeah, really – with its best defensive performance yet under Bob Chesney.

11. Kentucky Wildcats

Record: (5-1)
Last Week Rank: 26
Week 6: Kentucky 35, LSU 34 OT
Up Next: at Oklahoma
Kentucky was closer to being 2-4 than 6-0, but this bunch is legit. There’s no dogging two straight one-point wins in the SEC – that’s life in the big city. So there’s a blowout loss to Alabama. Big deal. The Wildcats took out a South Carolina team that wiped out Florida, and they just beat Lane Kiffin.

10. Tennessee Volunteers

Record: (5-1)
Last Week Rank: 13
Week 6: Tennessee 24, Arkansas 17
Up Next: Alabama
Ehhhhhhhhhh, okay, Arkansas is probably a little better than anyone is giving it credit for, but it would’ve been nice to see a bit more in this week’s win. The Vols still get credit for playing formerly No. 1 Texas down to the wire and for beating Auburn by ten.

9. Missouri Tigers

Record: (5-1)
Last Week Rank: 9
Week 6: Missouri 27, Texas A&M 6
Up Next: at Ole Miss
Before the season, did you think Mizzou was going to end any dreams of the Aggies getting back to the College Football Playoff? The Tiger defense has been outstanding, but here we go – at Ole Miss is next. There’s also the loss to …

8. Mississippi State Bulldogs

Record: (4-1)
Last Week Rank: 8
Week 6: OPEN DATE
Up Next: LSU
How fantastic do the road wins at Minnesota and South Carolina, and the home victory over Missouri, look now?

7. Texas Longhorns

Record: (4-1)
Last Week Rank: 1
Week 6: Oklahoma 27, Texas 24
Up Next: Florida
Remember, Texas won the Red River Rivalry last year, and Oklahoma was the one that went to the College Football Playoff. Call the collapse against the Sooners a regression-to-the-mean moment after surviving on the right side of wins over Ohio State and Tennessee by a combined four points.

6. Indiana Hoosiers

Record: (6-0)
Last Week Rank: 7
Week 6: Indiana 20, Nebraska 17
Up Next: Ohio State
Nebraska was undefeated, and Northwestern still hasn’t lost to anyone else, but Indiana hasn’t looked anything like last year’s team in two wins over decent teams.
Yeah, the whole winning the national title thing changed the narrative a wee bit, but here’s the crazy part. With that win over the Huskers, Indiana now has just its 28th season with six wins or more in 128 years of playing college football.

5. Miami Hurricanes

Record: (5-0)
Last Week Rank: 6
Week 6: OPEN DATE
Up Next: Florida State
Now the 13-point win over Wake Forest looks amazing, and the 41-13 victory at Clemson is still impressive. It’s all about the Notre Dame game in a few weeks, but Florida State, Pitt, and a trip to North Carolina isn’t a breeze of a run.

4. Alabama Crimson Tide

Record: (5-1)
Last Week Rank: 2
Week 6: Georgia 20, Alabama 17
Up Next: Tennessee
Nope – we’re not dropping Alabama any lower than that. It was a brain-cramp of a shove and/or a missed pass interference call away from probably beating Georgia, but as is, it was still an impressive three-point loss. (When this thing works, the offensive explosion is amazing.)

3. Ohio State Buckeyes

Record: (5-1)
Last Week Rank: 3
Week 6: Ohio State 45, Maryland 16
Up Next: at Indiana
No more punishment for the fourth quarter gag against Texas. The defense needs to be better, and the running game still isn’t anything special, but this passing game is amazing. It helps to have Jeremiah Smith to carry the offense.

2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Record: (6-0)
Last Week Rank: 4
Week 6: Notre Dame 58, Stanford 7
Up Next: at BYU
Purdue, as it turns out, isn’t bad, and the Irish beat the Boilermakers by 39. North Carolina is pretty good, Wisconsin is solid, and those were double-digit wins. The Irish didn’t even let the Stanford game get interesting. BYU is good, but there’s a chance Notre Dame shows that it’s by far the best team in America when it goes to Provo.

1. Georgia Bulldogs

Record: (6-0)
Last Week Rank: 5
Week 6: Georgia 20, Alabama 17
Up Next: Auburn
That was a titanic heavyweight fight. Alabama threw a few haymakers that would’ve knocked out anyone else, and Georgia stayed standing until the end. It took a few big breaks, but the Bulldogs kept their heads in a special win – it was the first time Kirby Smart beat the Tide in the regular season.