A dominant showing in nonconference play has set the SEC up for a strong season. With three weeks of regular-season results in the books, the conference is also holding down several spots at the top of the college football rankings. Ole Miss' emotional win against Lane Kiffin and LSU on Saturday has the Rebels soaring up within the top 10 of the CBS Sports 138, landing at No. 3 behind Texas at No. 1 and Georgia at No. 2.
That trio of SEC and national title contenders gives the conference all of the top three, half of the top 10 and 10 of the top 23 spots in our comprehensive ranking of every FBS team. Week 3 was not all glowing headlines for the league, however, as our voters did have to wrestle with a disappointing loss for Texas A&M and some lack of upward momentum for schools like Auburn and South Carolina. But the other sides of those results provided rankings boosts for Kentucky, Florida and Mississippi State, respectively.
In terms of the shake-ups within the top of the rankings, the top seven teams have established a bit of a tier separation from the rest of the top 15. Each of the top seven teams (Texas, Georgia, Ole Miss, Miami, Notre Dame, Indiana and Ohio State) has an average ballot ranking of 6.0 or better, meaning our voters have a consensus view that these are the top teams but share very little in common with the exact order. By the time you get down to LSU, which dropped to No. 10 after the loss to Ole Miss, the average ballot ranking drops to 12.1, which indicates a lower level of confidence for that group of teams just outside the top seven.
As usual, we have identified some of the notable week-to-week adjustments in the CBS Sports 138 in our Mover's Report, which can be found below the top 25 table. This week's report highlights some two-way movement after the Duke's Mayo Classic in Charlotte and some continued momentum behind Kamario Taylor and Mississippi State after a second straight road win. College football experts from CBS Sports and 247Sports contribute ballots each week, which are averaged together for our rankings.
You can see the top 25 below and 26-138 on our rankings page. Check out the rest of the CBS Sports 138: Teams ranked 26-138
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