Bet Thrive — College Football Power Rankings
September 21, 2026
Notre Dame
Miami
Texas
Indiana
USC
Ohio State
Georgia
Alabama
LSU
Texas Tech
Ole Miss
Utah
A quick reminder about what these rankings are designed to measure.
This is not a résumé ranking. We are not simply rewarding teams for what they have already accomplished, and we are not reshuffling the board every time somebody wins a big game or has one bad Saturday.
These rankings are built from our power ratings and are focused on one question:
Who do we believe is most likely to be the best team moving forward?
That distinction is important.
Notre Dame remains No. 1, with Miami right behind at No. 2. Texas, Indiana and USC round out a top five that we believe has separated itself from the rest of the country.
Ohio State, Georgia and Alabama remain firmly in the next tier, while LSU checks in at No. 9.
And yes, LSU remains ahead of Ole Miss despite Ole Miss beating the Tigers.
Why?
Because if those two teams played again tomorrow on a true neutral field, we would still have LSU favored.
That is exactly the kind of distinction these rankings are built to capture.
We are not asking who won the last meeting. We are asking who would be favored in the next one.
Texas Tech remains inside the Top 10, Ole Miss sits at No. 11, and Utah rounds out the list at No. 12.
The goal is stability, not reaction.
We make adjustments when the underlying information changes, but we are not interested in chasing final scores. These are forward-looking numbers built for betting purposes, and they are designed to reflect where teams are headed rather than simply where they have already been.