Florida Gators, Mississippi State soar and USC slumps in final inexplicable AP Top 25 poll

One of college football’s greatest traditions got another entry Sunday, as the week four edition of the AP Top 25 poll was released, drawing mostly perplexed reactions from confused fans.

And if there was any doubt that the SEC continues to enjoy some, uh, questionable advantages based on preseason polls and perceived strength, this week’s vote should put an end to that.

Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest winners of the week was the Florida Gators, who posted an impressive 52-28 victory over the Ole Miss Rebels. Florida racked up more than 300 yards rushing, forced two turnovers and kept the ball away from Trinidad Chambliss and the high-powered Ole Miss offense. After what could be a season-changing move, the Gators jumped 13 spots to No. 8, one spot ahead of the Rebels.

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Florida’s Jadan Baugh runs the ball Saturday against the Ole Miss Rebels (Photo by Dustin Markland/Getty Images)

The Oklahoma State Cowboys were another big mover, jumping 11 spots to 19th, as their win over the Oregon Ducks looks even better after OU’s win over USC. UCLA also moved up 14 spots in the top 25 to No. 23 thanks to a 54-3 blowout of the Maryland Terrapins. Another surprise team in week four? The Mississippi State Bulldogs, who held on to beat Missouri and moved up eight spots to 16th.

But speaking of Missouri, they illustrate the problem that preseason polling and voters’ preconceived biases have with these rankings.

The Tigers entered the season as the No. 25 team in the preseason poll and have literally done nothing of significance in the first three weeks. A 54-21 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a 38-21 win over a bad Kansas team, and a surprisingly close 27-17 win over an atrocious Troy team.

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Their reward was moving up to 19th heading into the game against the Bulldogs, which ended in a 31-24 loss. Somehow, once again, looking very unimpressive all season, Missouri sits at…#25 in the week four poll. This is exactly the type of SEC-specific result that fans of other conferences complain about. Look bad, do nothing, lose, stay where you were. And then brag about the number of “ranked games” and “ranked wins”.

Meanwhile, Missouri has not beaten an SEC team that finished the season with a winning record since 2024 and their wins this season were better than 7-6 for Arkansas and 7-6 for Vanderbilt.

Kamario Taylor #1 of the Mississippi State Bulldogs warms up before the game at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi on September 26, 2026. (Getty Images)

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Meanwhile, Kentucky moved up three spots to 24th, although its victory over Texas A&M seems far away. less impressive than a week ago, with the Aggies looking more like a top 50 team this year than a top 25. But Missouri’s ranking has immense value, because it means their next game against Florida is yet another “ranked SEC game.”

Meanwhile, Iowa, which pulled off the upset win over Michigan with a last-second touchdown, moved up just three spots. Michigan fell from 18th to unranked. Penn State fell from 13th in the rankings after losing to Wisconsin, which got its own miraculous touchdown pass in Happy Valley, and USC fell six spots after losing to Oregon.

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Nebraska is unranked because it began the preseason unranked, while advanced metric systems have the Cornhuskers ranked 16th based on actual performance. Wake Forest beat No. 16 Louisville on the road, and their only loss was to a top-five Miami team, but they are unranked while Missouri is. There is no logic or consistency to any of this, it’s just a grab bag based on an eye test, preseason polls, conference affiliation, the size of a team’s stadium and whatever else ESPN chooses to highlight.

Here is the full survey:

1. Texas (4-0)
2. Georgia (4-0)
3. Notre Dame (4-0)
4. Miami (4-0)
5. Ohio State (3-1)
6. Indiana (4-0)
7. Alabama (4-0)
8. Florida (4-0)
9. Ole Miss (3-1)
10. BYU (3-0)
11. LSU (3-1)
12. Texas Tech (4-0)
13. Utah (4-0)
14. Iowa (4-0)
15. Oregon (3-1)
16. Mississippi State (4-0)
17. Tennessee (3-1)
18. USC (4-1)
19. Oklahoma State (3-1)
20. Houston (3-1)
21. SMU (3-1)
22. Boise State (3-1)
23. UCLA (4-0)
24. Kentucky (3-1)
25. Missouri (3-1)

Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko reacts against the Southern California Trojans in the first half at Allegiant Stadium on December 27, 2024. (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)

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Again, the upside is that the AP poll ultimately doesn’t matter. The downside? There is no doubt that these horrible rankings are used to inform the deliberations of the College Football Playoff selection committee and fuel arguments about “strength of schedule”, “strength of conference”, “return to winning”, etc. Texas A&M, although currently sitting at 39th in the computerized rankings, one spot ahead of UCF, will count as a “ranked win” for Kentucky and LSU, as preseason polls expected them to perform well. They are not good.

With a full slate of big games in week five, expect more AP nonsense next week. After all, it’s one of the sport’s most cherished traditions.