First-year head coaches are leaving their fingerprints all over college football, and the AP Top 25 is starting to catch up.
That was the big takeaway as the latest ballot came together this week: the teams creating the most noise right now are often the ones nobody fully knew what to expect from in August. A long offseason gives everyone time to build opinions, but the games have a way of blowing those ideas apart fast. What’s happening now is a wave of turnarounds, and a lot of it starts with new voices on the sideline.
Florida is the clearest example. Jon Sumrall has reshaped the Gators into a team that plays tough, physical and smart.
On offense, coordinator Buster Faulkner is running one of the sport’s most creative and entertaining units, with Jadan Baugh giving Florida what may be the best running back in the country. The Gators have already matched their win total from the entire 2025 season, and it’s only September.
For the first time in five years, Florida is back in the top 10, and it looks deserved.
The ballot also reflects the rise of UCLA, Oklahoma State and Kentucky, all of whom are ranked this week for the first time this season. Oklahoma State had already been on the radar for a few weeks, and Kentucky got there after its road win over Texas A&M, so the rest of the voters were a little slow to the table.
Still, these are the kinds of teams that have earned the attention. They’ve put together some of the best wins of the young season.
At UCLA, Bob Chesney has guided a squad with three Power 4 wins, including two on the road. The pattern is familiar by now: a former James Madison coach brings along assistants and players, lands at a Big Ten job and immediately makes it work. It’s the Curt Cignetti model, or maybe the JMU playbook by this point.
Eric Morris has done something similar at Oklahoma State. He brought 21 players from his North Texas days with him to Stillwater, including quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who led the Cowboys to their stunning upset of Oregon. That kind of continuity has sped up the rebuild.
None of that guarantees a conference title race or a College Football Playoff push in December. But these teams are already supplying some of the season’s most compelling storylines, and that matters.
There are a few other teams worth watching closely in the rankings picture. Wake Forest has two road wins over Power 4 opponents, including one against then-No.
16 Louisville, and its only loss came by 13 points to Miami in a game that held up as one of the better showings anyone has managed against the Hurricanes this season. Wake should be ranked, and so should Duke.
Friday night’s Pitt-Virginia Tech game could also produce another ranked team next week, if the voters are paying attention to ACC play.
Utah, meanwhile, is getting less national attention than it should. The Utes are the team this writer would take to win the Big 12 right now, and they’ve been dominant in Morgan Scalley’s first season.
The issue is visibility. Utah may not fully register with the broader voting public until its Oct. 24 game against Houston.
There was also some real debate over Oklahoma State, especially when weighed against Oregon. The Ducks’ win over USC gave them two top-25 victories, which makes their resume look stronger than Oklahoma State’s, even with the Cowboys’ Week 2 win over Oregon in the head-to-head meeting.
Oklahoma State has one top-25 win and a bad loss to Tulsa, and that has to count against it. Still, head-to-head remains part of the equation, and it could come back into play later if the two teams become more directly comparable.
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Now comes the part that could tell us a lot more about where this team really stands. UCF is heading into a brutal stretch against one ranked opponent after another, and the next few weeks will show whether this defensive turnaround is built to last or just a strong run against a softer part of the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma States Bye Week Just Made One Lineup Battle Feel Bigger
Oklahoma States win over West Virginia did more than keep the Cowboys moving toward Big 12 contention. It also offered a cleaner look at the offensive front, with all five starting linemen on the field for every snap for the first time this season. With Joseph Hanson back at right guard and other key pieces logging major minutes, the staff got a rare chance to see what the group can look like when it stays intact.
The timing matters because the Cowboys now have a bye week to sort through the details before the schedule picks back up, including a matchup with UCF. There was also a notable defensive moment in the win, with Phillips starting at free safety and helping swing momentum with an interception, another reminder that the team is beginning to settle into a more complete version of itself just as the next stretch arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma State Finally Has The Big 12 Breakthrough Fans Needed
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Eric Morris made clear how much it meant inside the building, especially for defensive end and captain Jaleel Johnson, who has lived through the entire skid and stayed with the team through it all. The Cowboys are back in the AP Top 25, too, which only sharpens the stakes as they try to turn one breakthrough into something more lasting in Big 12 play. [Read more 🡒]