College Football Power Rankings: Ohio State Moves Up, Baylor Falls Off List

College football power rankings for Week 10 have been released. Alabama leads the new ESPN college football power rankings, which was expected after the Crimson Tide beat the LSU Tigers over the weekend. The new report came out on Sunday (Nov. 6), with the top four teams remaining the same, despite what the College Football Playoff rankings had revealed.

There was actually no movement among the top four schools, with Alabama, Clemson, Michigan, and Washington remaining undefeated through the latest games. Ohio State moves up to No. 5, Wisconsin is up to No. 7, and Auburn is up to No. 8. That movement was caused by Texas A&M dropping to No. 11 after a big loss to Mississippi State.

The biggest move in the latest college football power rankings belongs to the Penn State Nittany Lions. The team had been ranked No. 22 by the ESPN experts, but after beating Iowa 41-14, the team moved all the way up to No. 10 in this poll. The Colorado Buffaloes also saw a big improvement, going from No. 20 up to No. 13 after beating the UCLA Bruins over the weekend.

There is only one new school to the top 25 college football power rankings. The Washington State Cougars beat the Arizona Wildcats 69-7 in Pullman on Saturday (Nov. 5), keeping the team undefeated in conference play. WSU went from being unranked in Week 9 to getting listed at No. 21 this time around. WSU could be on a collision course with the Washington Huskies in an Apple Cup game that would decide the Pac-12 North.

The full Week 10 college football power rankings are listed below, showing five schools from the SEC and Pac-12 this time around. The two power conferences are well represented, despite having clear leaders that could soon qualify for the College Football Playoff. Alabama (SEC) has a tough game coming up against Auburn that could shift the rankings, while UW (Pac-12) has to deal with WSU in a few weeks. Those games could be a very big deal, but an equally important battle between Michigan and Ohio State could decide the Big Ten.

These particular power rankings are decided by a panel of college football experts at ESPN each week. Edward Aschoff, Butch Davis, Heather Dinich, Brad Edwards, Chris Fallica, Rod Gilmore, Danny Kanell, Chris Low, Ivan Maisel, Ryan McGee, Adam Rittenberg, and Mark Schlabach are the current voters. They each rank a top 25 list of teams and that is combined into a calculation that the site releases each weekend. It gives a look at how the experts and analysts are viewing the best teams in the nation, at times disagreeing with the College Football Playoff poll.

Baylor fans could be a tad frustrated that the Bears don’t appear in the latest ESPN college football power rankings. In the Week 11 AP Top 25 and Coaches poll, Baylor is still ranked at No. 25, despite a rough loss to TCU over the weekend. Baylor is still 6-2 on the season, with a good chance to receive an invite to a postseason bowl game. The school has lost any shot at making it into the College Football Playoff, though, so they have dropped off the radar a bit in the eyes of the experts. The next version of the CFP rankings will come out on Tuesday, November 8.

Week 10 ESPN College Football Power Rankings

1 – Alabama Crimson Tide
2 – Clemson Tigers
3 – Michigan Wolverines
4 – Washington Huskies
5 – Ohio State Buckeyes
6 – Louisville Cardinals
7 – Wisconsin Badgers
8 – Auburn Tigers
9 – Oklahoma Sooners
10 – Penn State Nittany Lions
11 – Texas A&M Aggies
12 – Utah Utes
13 – Colorado Buffaloes
14 – North Carolina Tar Heels
15 – West Virginia Mountaineers
16 – Virginia Tech Hokies
17 – LSU Tigers
18 – Oklahoma State Cowboys
19- Nebraska Cornhuskers
20 – Western Michigan Broncos
21 – Washington State Cougars
22 – Florida State Seminoles
23 – USC Trojans
24 – Florida Gators
25 – Boise State Broncos

[Featured Image by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images]