There was a lot of offense out there in week 4 of the college football season. That included Notre Dame slicing its way through Purdue’s defense, that was pretty fun. For now, we don’t need to talk about the other side of the ball for the Irish. It was a quiet week nationally with not a lot of movement in the polls, but a couple teams made some big statement wins.

Here’s the latest poll from 18S:

18 Stripes Top 20 Poll

RANK TEAM RECORD NEXT
1 Ohio State 3-0 at Washington
2 Miami 4-0 BYE
3 Florida State 3-0 at Virginia
4 LSU 4-0 at Ole Miss
5 Georgia 3-0 vs. Alabama
6 Oklahoma (+3) 4-0 BYE
7 Penn State (-1) 3-0 vs. Oregon
8 Texas (-1) 3-1 BYE
9 Oregon (-1) 4-0 at Penn State
10 Texas A&M 3-0 vs. Auburn
11 Alabama 2-1 at Georgia
12 Indiana (NR) 4-0 at Iowa
13 Tennessee 3-1 at Miss State
14 Vanderbilt 4-0 vs. Utah State
15 Georgia Tech 4-0 at Wake Forest
16 Ole Miss 4-0 vs. LSU
17 Missouri (+2) 4-0 vs. UMass
18 Texas Tech (NR) 4-0 BYE
19 Louisville (-2) 3-0 at Pittsburgh
20 Iowa State 4-0 vs. Arizona

Dropped Out:

#12 Illinois
#18 Auburn

We had the feeling one of Indiana or Illinois wouldn’t rise to the challenge and tumble down the rankings. No one saw the massacre coming as the Hoosiers completely blew the doors off the visitors 63-10. After a 53-point win we now welcome Indiana back to the 18S rankings!

Auburn fought valiantly but ended up falling on the road at Oklahoma 24-17. The Sooners have Kent State up next and then finish the season with a brutal schedule featuring 6 currently ranked teams.

Top Games Recap:

The Miami-Florida game was a rare defensive battle this weekend. The Gators only mustered 141 yards in a 26-7 loss. That’s 3 losses already for Florida and their schedule isn’t getting any easier.

Texas’ win over Sam Houston State 55-0 wouldn’t make any headlines although I would like to inform everyone that Arch Manning is rightfully being ridiculed for his reaction to this run-of-the-mill rushing touchdown. His NFL stock continues to tumble.

Ole Miss cruised past previously undefeated Tulane 45-10 at The Grove.

The score was only 10-3 at the halftime but thanks to a huge 4th quarter, Texas Tech goes into Utah and takes away a big 34-10 victory. It was an impressive game from the Red Raiders as they gained more than 200 yards against the Utes, even after their quarterback left the game with an injury.

Missouri rallied in the 4th quarter to hold off South Carolina 29-20 in Columbia West.

Interesting Games to Note:

Michigan 30-27 Nebraska: The drought continues for Nebraska who never seem to beat anyone with a pulse.

Vanderbilt 70-21 Georgia State: That’s a lot of points.

Oregon 41-7 Oregon State: This was a sleepy Civil War for a while before the Ducks piled it on. The Beavers are 0-4 now.

Tulsa 19-12 Oklahoma State: Things look pretty rotten in Stillwater. This was a home loss, too.

Iowa 38-28 Rutgers: I’m pretty sure this game went way, way over on the total points prediction from Vegas.

Maryland 27-10 Wisconsin: Luke Fickell got a vote of confidence from the school after yet another loss.

TCU 35-24 SMU: The Frogs are knocking on the door to national relevance. Quarterback Josh Hoover has thrown for exactly 1,000 yards through 3 games thus far.

Arizona State 27-24 Baylor: Potentially an important Big XII game goes to the Sun Devils.

San Diego State 34-0 California: After a good start to the season, Cal gets destroyed late at night on Saturday.

Opponent Recap:

Miami (4-0): The AP Poll finally bumped up the Hurricanes in their rankings.

Texas A&M (3-0): The Aggies were on a bye following the Notre Dame win.

Purdue (2-2): Maybe this team can win at Northwestern? I don’t see 2 more wins from the team we saw on Saturday.

Arkansas (2-2): Back-to-back brutal losses for the Hogs as they fall at Memphis 32-31.

Boise State (2-1): It feels like Boise hadn’t played in a month. They were back and beat Air Force 49-37.

NC State (3-1): The unbeaten season is no longer following a 45-33 loss at Duke.

USC (4-0): Points aplenty in the Coliseum but the Trojans didn’t have too many problems with Michigan State in a 45-31 win.

Boston College (1-2): The Eagles have losses to Michigan State and Stanford before a bye this week. An important game against Cal awaits.

Navy (3-0): The only team on Notre Dame’s schedule in November that still hasn’t lost. The Middies were on a bye week.

Pittsburgh (2-1): A bye week after losing the Backyard Brawl and Pitt watched West Virginia then lose by 31 at Kansas, oof.

Syracuse (3-1): The Orange are officially frisky after beating Clemson 34-21. Dabo Swinney is in full crisis mode. Unfortunately for Syracuse, quarterback Steve Angeli tore his Achilles. That’s heartbreaking. Let’s hope he heals up in time for the start of the 2026 season.

Stanford (1-3): The Cardinal traveled all the way across the country to Virginia and lost 48-20.