Joel Klatt's College Football Rankings: Ducks' Big W, New Faces Shake Up Top 10

Published September 29, 2025

Joel Klatt has had questions about just how good Penn State is, and Saturday's matchup against Oregon provided some answers. Alabama, stunned in a Week 1 loss to Florida State, has rebounded. Ohio State was back in action, and it looked every bit like the Ohio State we've come to know.

Week 5 of the college football season is in the books, and so are Joel Klatt's weekly rankings of the top 10 schools.

Here are Klatt's top 10 rankings after another week of college football games.

1. Ohio State

Klatt's take: Why is it that the fastest runner looks like they're running the easiest at times? Have you ever watched Usain Bolt running and beating everybody, and you're like, "Why does he look like he's running easier than everyone else?" Because he's just faster. With everyone else, they're straining to run that fast. That's how I feel about Ohio State right now. They don't look like they're running the fastest, but they are. And that's why they're the No. 1 team. I don't think that I've even fourth gear from Ohio State, at least offensively. I've seen what they can bring to the party on defense – oh buddy, that defense is good, to say the least. They're fast, they're long, the defensive line was terrific against Washington. They gave up two field goals to the No. 2 scoring offense in all of America. Demond Williams is one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the land, one of the quickest, one of the fastest, and this team swallowed him up. That defense is the best defense in America right now, it just is, and then this offense is just like, have they hit fourth gear yet? Have they even given you what they really wanted yet? They can run it, Julian Sayin is as accurate as anyone in the country. They've got players everywhere. Let's watch out for Ohio State.

2. Oregon

Klatt's take: I was tempted to throw Oregon all the way up to No. 1 after that incredible, emotional win on Saturday, but they're going to be No. 2. I'm so impressed with them: earlier this year, I said that this is a team that could go and win the national championship. I still believe that I believe their quarterback, Dante Moore, is going to be right now and should be on the shortlist in the Heisman Trophy race. I love what they do on defense, they were able to stop, for the most part, the downhill running attack from Penn State, which was the concern coming into that game. They've got skill and speed on the outside, they've got a great coach – I'm in.

3. Miami (Fla.)

Klatt's take: I still am a big fan of Miami, Rueben Bain, more specifically. I think that Miami is going to be tough to beat because their offensive line is solid, which travels, their defense is solid, which travels, Bain is a game wrecker and they've got a good quality quarterback.

4. Texas A&M

Klatt's take: I'm kind of in on this team, I really am. I have talked about the way that you need to have balance in the way that you win to be a great college football team. What is your answer if someone takes something away from you? Can you win a low-scoring game? Can you win a high-scoring game? So my No. 4 team is going to be Texas A&M. I really was impressed with Texas A&M this week. On paper, they dominated the game: the turnover ended up on the two-yard line for Auburn. That's the only way that they scored. A&M was elite defensively after going up to South Bend and having to be elite offensively. So what does that say to me? Answers! Answers, man, competitive balance, here we go.

5. Texas

Klatt's take: This is a little higher than most people, but here's the thing with Texas: defense wins, and folks, that's a great defense. And so, to me, Arch Manning is going to be allowed time to develop – he's getting that, he played much better against Sam Houston. Now he's going to get much stiffer tests – OU's defense is a lot better than Sam Houston's – but Texas' defense is never going to let a game get away. And so I don't think Arch is going to have to put a cape on his back anytime soon. Heck, he didn't even really need a cape on his back to get them back into that Ohio State game, because the defense is very good. So that's why I love Texas – they have answers. And if Arch just gets a little better, then watch out, because that'll be a tough team to beat.

6. Ole Miss

Klatt's take: This is where I have to eat a bunch of crow. So, all of you Ole Miss fans, I'm going to give you a big tip of the cap and say no, no, no, it was not Ole Miss that was overrated, it was LSU that was overrated. And it was Ole Miss that was maybe underrated, because that's a good football team. I didn't love the way that they played against Kentucky and Arkansas, so I didn't know what I was going to get, but, this version with Lane Kiffin and quarterback Trinidad Chambliss is really good. This is a great story: Division II transfer, and he comes in there, he's won Division II national championships, and now Lane is building a system around Chambliss. And Chambliss, because he's this dual-threat who can hurt you with his legs and his arm, man, he's dangerous, and this offense becomes dangerous.

Maybe the fly in the ointment game of all college football was the opener between LSU and Clemson. Maybe just maybe, both of these teams are just not great. And that's fine! But at the time, we thought they were both elite, and now that's shaped the way that we have looked at and viewed the first month of the college football season. And now we're seeing that maybe that game was a bit of smoke and mirrors. And this LSU loss to Ole Miss might be part of that.

7. Indiana

Klatt's take: Indiana went on the road and beat Iowa – Iowa is where top-10 teams go to die. And they were able to beat the Iowa Hawkeyes in a gritty-style, 20-15 game. So now we've seen them win both ways. We've seen them win with just absolute shock and awe against Illinois, and now we've seen them win a grind-it-out game against Iowa. That Indiana team is now 16-2 over their last two seasons – they are for real. Their only two losses since the beginning of last year are at Ohio State and at Notre Dame: those two teams played for the national championship a year ago.

8. Alabama

Klatt's take: That's a huge win; I know they lost to Florida State earlier this year, but all of us who watched that game on Saturday night know that team looks drastically different. The effort was different, the physicality was different, the game plan was different. I loved all of it. Ty Simpson continues to be elite at quarterback. What they did to start that game on 3rd down was remarkable – their level of execution was fantastic. Now granted, they had to hang on in the end, and didn't really run it that great, but it's there, the top end is there: if they play disciplined, and they protect Ty Simpson, that is going to be a very difficult team to beat.

9. Penn State

Klatt's take: Now listen, double-overtime thriller against a really good football team in Oregon, and we might have seen them figure some things out late in that game. I think Penn State is going to need to grow from this game; obviously, they need to find a way to get their offense better moving forward, and specifically in these top-10 matchups like they had on Saturday night against Oregon. How do you do that? You evaluate with clear eyes, and you say, "What is it that we are not doing?" And right now what I don't think is happening is the great marriage between the skill set of Drew Allar and the offense of offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. They need to build the system around what Drew does best. Their best series was when they were putting him back there in big heavy play-action, and letting him rip it down the field. Where he struggles at times is when he's in the short area, run-pass option game, as he doesn't have the requisite foot speed or hand speed. Not a knock, as he can throw it as well as anybody, but he's not really a point guard-style QB. Build an offense suited to him, rather than try to get him suited to your offense. That would be the way forward for Penn State.

10. Georgia

Klatt's take: At No. 10, even though they lost at home, I have Georgia. Georgia is still tough to beat, and they had great opportunities to win that game against Alabama – they had the opportunity to kick that field goal, and they chose not to. I don't mind not kicking the field goal – the problem is the play call. The play call on fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter was borderline egregious: with the way that Georgia dominated on the ground, to not dominate in that way at that moment is something that they're going to want back.

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