Ranking 134 college football teams after Week 7: Why Oregon is on top midseason

Editor's note: Athlete 134 is a weekly ranking of all FBS college football teams.

If there's any lesson to be learned from the first half of the college football season, it's that the gap between the top teams and the mid-majors seems as tight as it has ever been in a very long time.

It's a new week and we have another new No. 1 on The Athletic 134. Welcome to the top, Oregon.

The reasoning is simple: The Ducks are undefeated and have one of their two best wins of the season, beating Ohio State 32-31 in a thriller in Eugene. It was Oregon's first-ever win over a top-two AP team and the program's first really big win under coach Dan Lanning, which was desperately needed. Dillon Gabriel's quarterback had one of the best games of his career, Evan Stewart's receiver looked like a five-star talent to start his college football career, and the defense made enough plays.

The victory puts the Ducks in the driver's seat to advance to the Big Ten championship game and a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff. Given the surprises we've seen so far this season, the farewell could be hugely significant.

Oregon had to come back late to beat Boise State and struggled early in the season against the FCS Idaho program. Maybe the difference between No. 1 Oregon State and No. 16 Boise State isn't that big of a deal. Perhaps the break between Alabama and Vanderbilt isn't far off. Even Georgia couldn't bury a Mississippi State team that plastered Toledo a few weeks ago. Who are the great, elite teams? I'm not sure there will be one this season.

Whether this uncertainty is due to NIL, transfers, coaching changes, or a combination of all of it, this has been one of the most entertaining and unexpected seasons of college football in a long time. We're looking at a lot more exciting Saturdays, and then perhaps a postseason that will be more open than we initially anticipated.

Here's this week's Athletic 134.

1-10

Aside from Oregon moving up to No. 1, the most important move is Alabama dropping from No. 3 to No. 7. I felt a lot of praise for keeping Alabama in the top three after losing to Vanderbilt. I concluded that Alabama and Georgia were still in the same tier and their direct result influenced this ranking. Not anymore. Barely held on for a 27-25 win against South CarolinaAlabama is collapsing. Since halftime against Georgia, the Crimson Tide have played five straight halves of bad football. This team is heading in the wrong direction.

You could flip Penn State's No. 4 and Georgia's No. 3 according to the polls, and I wouldn't argue with you. Both teams have one win each against a team with a winning record. Georgia is No. 9 Clemson, while Penn State's is the No. 27 Illinois team that Purdue nearly lost to this weekend. Georgia played two top-10 teams; Penn State hasn't played any teams in my top 25. Both teams have close wins against .500 teams (Kentucky, USC) and both have had some difficulty against weak competition (Mississippi State, Bowling Green).

Ohio State drops to No. 5 because even though the Oregon game came down to the final seconds, there's nothing else on the rest of the Buckeyes' resume that stands out as much as Georgia. The gap between the top five teams is incredibly small and we have it Texas-Georgia and Ohio State-Penn State will show up in the next few weeks to shake things up again.

GO DEEPER

Oregon's impressive victory is a testament to Dan Lanning's elite talent pool

11-25

Tennessee drops from the top 10 to 12th in overtime to beat Florida at home. The Volunteers' only significant win came against a struggling Oklahoma team. It's clear that the Vols offense isn't what we thought it was at the beginning of the season. Boise State jumps to No. 16 with a win in Hawaii, largely due to Oregon State's move up to No. 1 and Washington State's move up to No. 24. To follow up on some tie-breakers in passer ownership, Arizona State's win over Utah lifts the Sun Devils up, but Texas Tech beat Arizona State and Wazzu beat Texas Tech.

Undefeated Pitt is in the top 25, all the way up to 20th after a 17-15 win over Cal. Vanderbilt's 20-13 win at Kentucky moves the Commodores to 21st place.

GO DEEPER

AP Top 25: Texas still in first place, Oregon jumps to second place

26-50

I really wanted Arizona State to be in the top 20, but the Texas and Washington State situation explained above resulted in the Sun Devils losing one spot. Michigan fell to 29th and was passed over by Iowa due to Washington's last two results (Iowa beat the Huskies 40-16 a week after the Huskies beat Michigan). No. 31 Oklahoma and No. 32 Nebraska also dropped out of the top 25.

No. 39 USC continues to decline. One play in any of those three losses could have changed the outcome, but… The Trojans are also 5-8 in their last 13 games. Wisconsin jumps to 40th place after a stunning 42-7 victory over Rutgers.

Army rose to No. 50 and is currently No. 23 in the AP poll. Last week I heard some criticism about where I had the Black Knights. They didn't lose all season, but had six wins against five teams that had one or two wins and an FCS team. Navy, meanwhile, wins 5-1 against Memphis (plus three one-win teams and an FCS team). That's the difference. The good news is that Army still has 5-1 North Texas, Our Lady and Navy on the schedule and is well positioned to make the AAC title game. There will be chances for good victories.

GO DEEPER

Arizona State's surprising rise continues, culminating in an all-time postgame interview

51-75

Cincinnati jumps to 54th place after a 19-13 victory at UCF. No. 56 Louisiana-Monroe is now 5-1 Lady of the South after the loss. Freedom needed overtime to beat FIU, so the Flames dropped to 61st place, but the road to an undefeated season is still very much open.

Texas State moves up to 66th after beating. Arkansas State. Louisiana ranks 67th after beating App State. The two Sun Belt West leaders will play just before Halloween. Oregon State drops to 70th place after loss to Nevada. Northwest jumps to 72nd place after beating Maryland 37-10. North Texas is ranked 75th after coming back and defeating FAU.

GO DEEPER

Group of 5 mailbags: Where will the Pac-12 and Mountain West look next?

76-100

The No. 77 Buffalo has wins over Northern Illinois and Toledo, but the Bulls' 47-3 loss to UConn two weeks ago helped the idle Huskies move up to No. 76. After losing, San Jose State fell to 81st place. Colorado State fell to 81st place.

All three of the lowest-ranked Power 4 teams had strong performances this week. University of California led Minnesota at halftime and lost in the final seconds; Mississippi State stayed within striking distance of Georgia, losing 41-31; Purdue took Illinois to overtime. They're all moving up and now they're sitting right behind Florida State, Kansas, and Baylor.

In the wildest comeback of the season, No. 82 Georgia Southern overcame a 23-3 deficit with seven minutes left to defeat Marshall 24-23.

GO DEEPER

Final Thoughts Mandela: Dillon Gabriel's legend grows and more from Week 7

101-134

We had a lot of matchups in this group.

UTSA beat Rice in the final seconds, sending Rice to No. 117 and UTSA to No. 118. No. 120 Louisiana Technology won 48-21 over No. 127 Middle Tennessee No. 111 San Diego State beat No. 122 Wyoming No. 114 Jacksonville State beat No. 124 New State Mexico No. 115 New Mexico beat No. 123 Air Force and No. 113 West Michigan beat No. 131 Akron.

Stan Kent played Stan ball close but ultimately stays down.

The Athletic 134 Series is part of a partnership with Allstate. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control or input in the reporting or editing process and do not review articles prior to publication.

(Photo: Ali Gradischer/Getty Images)