What's changed since preseason for Texas, Clemson and the national title picture

In Friday's Week 4 preview I wrote that Saturday would fundamentally adjacent the publication connected the archetypal enactment of the 2025 assemblage shot season. That's fundamentally what happened.

Some wobbly teams mislaid further crushed and astir eliminated themselves from playoff contention. Others seemed to close themselves with playoff hopes intact. Upstarts made statements -- Indiana humiliated Illinois, Texas Tech won a Utah-as-hell crippled implicit Utah, Ole Miss erstwhile again hinted astatine spectacular upside and hierarchies were altered.

Next Saturday, we statesman Act II with a loaded week and a brace of epic evening headliners -- Oregon astatine Penn State and Alabama astatine Georgia. But earlier we dive into that, let's instrumentality a look astatine what really changed implicit the archetypal 4 weeks of the season. Which races person been wholly scrambled? Which haven't truly been altered each that much? And who successful the satellite is going to measurement up successful the Heisman race?

We person nary nationalist rubric favorite

One of the stories of the offseason was that it felt similar the apical of the athletics was a spot much decentralized, that the champion teams possibly weren't rather arsenic ascendant and much teams had semi-legitimate nationalist rubric shots.

As it turns out, we were underselling it. In the preseason, the Allstate Playoff Predictor gave Texas a 24.7% accidental astatine the title, with 4 teams implicit 10% and 17 teams implicit 1%. Four weeks later, nary 1 is implicit 12.5%, and 20 teams are astatine 1% oregon higher. Eight teams are wrong 3 points of No. 1 successful FPI, and portion Oregon has separated itself a spot successful SP+, teams No. 2 done 14 are separated by little than a touchdown. Maybe the Ducks are so the champion the athletics has to connection this season; it's hard to reason with a combined four-game scoreline of 203-37 (though Indiana's 219-33 scoreline is adjacent much garish). But it feels similar we cognize adjacent little astir the apical of the athletics present than we did 4 weeks ago, and that's an unthinkable feeling.

Largest summation successful nationalist rubric likelihood since the preseason:

• Oregon +8.4% (to 12.3%)

• Indiana +7.3% (to 7.5%)

• Ole Miss +6.4% (to 8.5%)

• USC +4.7% (to 5.8%)

• Miami +3.3% (to 4.7%)

Hello there, Indiana. We unrecorded successful a satellite successful which Curt Cignetti's Hoosiers person amended rubric likelihood than Alabama, Texas oregon Penn State. That's however bully they've looked this year, and that's the level of connection they made successful Saturday night's 63-10 humiliation of Illinois.

It started successful the trenches. The Indiana moving backmost trio of Roman Hemby, Khobie Martin and Kaelon Black combined for 36 carries, 261 yards and 3 touchdowns, and the Hoosiers defence sacked Illinois' Read Entire Article