Travis Hunter's Heisman Trophy competition, plus college football's rankings review

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Parts of the Vanderbilt goal posts from last week’s upset win over Alabama were selling for as much as $4,035 this week. And they sold out.

Today, we’ll discuss all the rankings shakeups stemming from that game and more. But first, Heisman poll time!

Heisman Poll

QBs make a move

There are a few new candidates in The Athletic’s weekly Heisman straw poll. But let’s start with the top three:

1. Travis Hunter, Colorado WR/DB
2. Ashton Jeanty, Boise State RB
3. Cam Ward, Miami QB

All three front-runners earned at least one first-place vote. As for the changes from last week, Alabama QB Jalen Milroe — who debuted in second place — fell to fifth with just two third-place votes. Newcomers include Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia — aka the Alabama slayer — and Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke.

The Hoosiers lead the Big Ten in total offense (515.7 yards per game), and a lot of that has to do with Rourke’s efficiency. The Ohio transfer leads the conference in passing yards (1,752). His 73.8 completion percentage is fourth in the country, and it’s behind only Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel in the Big Ten. Rourke received one third-place vote in The Athletic’s poll, and I asked that voter to share their rationale anonymously today. Here’s what they said.

“Most of the credit for Indiana’s hot start has gone to new coach Curt Cignetti, but don’t overlook the quarterback he brought in. Rourke, the 2022 MAC MVP at Ohio, is in the top five nationally in yards per attempt, passing efficiency and completion rate, and he’s thrown 14 TDs to just two INTs in directing the nation’s No. 3 scoring offense. He needs to do it on bigger stages to get actual Heisman buzz — Nebraska, Washington, Michigan and Ohio State are still ahead — but propelling Indiana to 6-0 is a huge accomplishment, no matter the schedule.”

Read the full Heisman poll here.

Top 25 Updates

Big fallers and small risers

After a Saturday full of chaos, the AP Top 25 saw some major shifts (Reminder: The first College Football Playoff rankings come out Nov. 5).

📈 It’s no surprise to see Texas retake No. 1. But other risers made the Big Ten the most well-represented conference in the top five: No. 2 Ohio State (up one), No. 3 Oregon (up three) and No. 4 Penn State (up three) followed by No. 5 Georgia. Oregon hosts Ohio State this week! No. 6 Miami reached its highest ranking since 2017 despite a close call versus Cal, and the Canes should be thanking Vandy (which beat Alabama) and Arkansas (which beat Tennessee) for the help with their upsets. No. 15 Texas A&M had the biggest rise of the week (10 spots) after beating previous No. 9 Missouri. No. 11 Notre Dame is creeping back since its Week 2 upset against Northern Illinois, rising three spots after a bye week. No. 17 Boise State is up four spots and is the highest-ranked Group of 5 team.

📉 No. 7 Alabama dropped seven spots after its shocking loss to unranked Vanderbilt (the Commodores received 26 votes this week). But the Tide were far from the only big fallers. No. 8 Tennessee fell two spots after losing to Arkansas (which received 17 votes). No. 24 Michigan dropped the most inside the poll (14 spots), and No. 21 Missouri fell 12 spots. Former No. 11 USC and former No. 22 Louisville fell out of the poll.

👋 No. 22 Pitt (5-0) jumped into the rankings, leaving Liberty, Army and Navy as the only undefeated teams not in the poll. No. 25 SMU (5-1) cracked the poll for the first time this season after beating Louisville. Last year, the Mustangs debuted at No. 25 in Week 14 before ending at No. 22.

Read more analysis on the AP poll here.

Steve Sarkisian’s Texas Longhorns face rival Oklahoma on Saturday. (Tim Warner / Getty Images)

The Athletic 134

Louisiana-Monroe and Charlotte escape 100s

Chris Vannini’s weekly ranking of all 134 FBS teams also saw some shifts this week. But No. 134 remains the same. Let’s review:

• Checking in with No. 134 Kent State: The Golden Flashes had a bye week, so it would’ve been hard for them to jump from No. 134 status. Kent State is among three winless teams in the FBS along with No. 132 UTEP and No. 133 Kennesaw State. A relatively winnable home game against 1-4 Ball State (ranked No. 122) is next. If the Golden Flashes don’t take advantage, their next easiest matchup won’t come until Nov. 19 against Akron (currently No. 131).
• Jumps of the week: Vandy jumped from No. 51 to 31 with its upset of Alabama. New No. 48 Virginia made a big climb from No. 76 after knocking off Boston College 24-14. No. 58 Louisiana-Monroe made the jump of the week from No. 101. The Warhawks (4-1, 2-0 Sun Belt) beat James Madison 21-19 last week and held down a Dukes offense that scored 63 and 70 points in its previous two games. No. 97 Charlotte (3-3, 2-0 AAC) made a considerable jump from No. 124 after beating East Carolina 55-24. Next up for the 49ers is undefeated Navy.

Read Chris’ full ranking here.

Quick Snaps

Leaders from the Big Ten and SEC will meet this week at a conference in Nashville. On the agenda: the future of college football scheduling and the CFP.

Texas A&M’s Playoff stock is rising, while surprising BYU (5-0) is still a long shot. Read more Playoff trends from Austin Mock here.

We’re overreacting to the discourse around Alabama DB Malachi Moore but underreacting to Sam Houston’s rise. Kennington Smith shares lessons from college football’s Week 6.

Which Big Ten teams have the toughest schedules moving forward? What about the easiest? And how does the path for the CFP favorites look? Read more in this week’s Big Ten ranking.

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(Top photo: Andrew Wevers / Getty Images)