by Joel Ryan for 247 Sports
Ohio State‘s back. Clemson‘s cruising. Despite the crushing loss of Jaylen Waddle, Alabama‘s rolling. Michigan and Indiana are looking good. Yes, Week 8 of the 2020 college football season is in the books, and our college football power rankings for the nation’s teams are updated. Who’s up? Who’s down? Who’s out? And who’s No. 1?
Our rankings are based on the Top 25 rankings, as of Oct. 25, from CBS Sports, the Associated Press, USA Today’s Amway Coaches Poll and ESPN’s College Football Power Index. We assign scores to each team ranked by at least one of the indexes. A first-place ranking in each poll is worth 25 points; a second-place ranking is worth 24 points, and on down. Every team that gets at least one point is noted. You’ll find 34 total teams ranked here right now.
Clemson is No. 1 in the CBS Sports, AP and Coaches polls, but the ESPN FPI begs to differ: It has Clemson as the nation’s No. 3 team. Find out where that leaves Clemson in our power rankings. And find out on how much ground Justin Fields and the Ohio State Buckeyes have gained on Trevor Lawrence and the Tigers.
At the start of our rundown, you’ll see the schools that lost all of their Top 25 votes from Week 7 to Week 8, and are no longer ranked here.
Enough with the warmups. Here’s our updated college football power rankings.SLIDE1 of 38
DROPPED FROM RANKINGS: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (2-1)
Power rankings score: 0
Previous ranking: 33 (tie)
DROPPED FROM RANKINGS: NC STATE WOLFPACK (4-2)
Power rankings score: 0
Previous ranking: 28
DROPPED FROM RANKINGS: MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS (0-1)
Power rankings score: 0
Previous ranking: 18 (tie)
DROPPED FROM RANKINGS: IOWA HAWKEYES (0-1)
Power rankings score: 0
Previous ranking: 33
33 (TIE). BOISE STATE BRONCOS (1-0)
Power rankings score: 1
Previous ranking: N/A
33 (TIE). ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS (6-1)
Power rankings score: 1
Previous ranking: N/A
32. MEMPHIS TIGERS (3-1)
Power rankings score: 2
Previous ranking: 30 (tie)
31. UTAH UTES (0-0)
Power rankings score: 3
Previous ranking: 33 (tie)
30. NORTHWESTERN WILDCATS (1-0)
Power rankings score: 4
Previous ranking: 35
29. VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (3-2)
Power rankings score: 7
Previous ranking: 21 (tie)
28. AUBURN TIGERS (3-2)
Power rankings score: 9
Previous ranking: 25
26 (TIE). SMU MUSTANGS (5-1)
Power rankings score: 10
Previous ranking: 17
26 (TIE). UCF KNIGHTS (3-2)
Power rankings score: 10
Previous ranking: 26
24 (TIE). LSU TIGERS (2-2)
Power rankings score: 12
Previous ranking: 27
24 (TIE). IOWA STATE CYCLONES (3-2)
Power rankings score: 12
Previous ranking: 18 (tie)
23. TEXAS LONGHORNS (3-2)
Power rankings score: 14
Previous ranking: 23 (tie)
22. COASTAL CAROLINA CHANTICLEERS (5-0)
Power rankings score: 15
Previous ranking: 30 (tie)
21. MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD (5-0)
Power rankings score: 16
Previous ranking: 29
20. OKLAHOMA SOONERS (3-2)
Power rankings score: 23
Previous ranking: 23 (tie)
19. INDIANA HOOSIERS (1-0)
Power rankings score: 28
Previous ranking: 30 (tie)
18. KANSAS STATE WILDCATS (4-1)
Power rankings score: 30
Previous ranking: 18 (tie)
17. USC TROJANS (0-0)
Power rankings score: 36
Previous ranking: 21 (tie)
16. NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (4-1)
Power rankings score: 37
Previous ranking: 15
15. MIAMI HURRICANES (5-1)
Power rankings score: 41
Previous ranking: 13
14. PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (0-1)
Power rankings score: 45
Previous ranking: 6
13. CINCINNATI BEARCATS (4-0)
Power rankings score: 50
Previous ranking: 14
12. MICHIGAN WOLVERINES (1-0)
Power rankings score: 54
Previous ranking: 16
11. TEXAS A&M AGGIES (3-1)
Power rankings score: 56
Previous ranking: 11
9 (TIE). OREGON DUCKS (0-0)
Power rankings score: 57
Previous ranking: 9
9 (TIE). BYU COUGARS (6-0)
Power rankings score: 57
Previous ranking: 12
8. FLORIDA GATORS (2-1)
Power rankings score: 69
Previous ranking: 8
6 (TIE). OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS (4-0)
Power rankings score: 71
Previous ranking: 7
6 (TIE). WISCONSIN BADGERS (1-0)
Power rankings score: 71
Previous ranking: 10
5. NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (5-0)
Power rankings score: 84
Previous ranking: 5
4. GEORGIA BULLDOGS (3-1)
Power rankings score: 85
Previous ranking: 3 (tie)
3. OHIO STATE BUCKEYES (1-0)
Power rankings score: 94
Previous ranking: 3 (tie)
2. ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE (5-0)
Power rankings score: 96
Previous ranking: 2
1. CLEMSON TIGERS (6-0)
Power rankings score: 98
Previous ranking: 1
