This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025. Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.
Last week, I opened the JFP Top 25 explaining that October is the month college footballโs best teams begin to separate themselves from the rest. This is the month when the pretenders turn into pumpkins, and contenders become monsters.
This week, the top 25 features a lot of shake-ups as eight teams in the poll lost over the weekend. Four teams didnโt survive the purge and fell out of the poll.
Clemson and Michigan make the biggest jump this week going from not ranked to the 14th and 15th ranked teams. TCU takes the biggest tumble, going from ranked to unranked.
Our march to the Alabama/LSU matchup continues this week as the Tide and Tigers keep rolling. This matchup could be a de facto National Championship game Nov. 5 at Alabama.
Dropping out: TCU Horned Frogs, South Florida Bulls, Baylor Bears, Florida State Seminoles
The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippiโs systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.