College Football Rankings 2017: Reviewing NCAA Week 6 Standings Before Saturday

The calendar has turned to October, which for college football means the temperatures are dropping but the action is just heating up. All of the early-season jitters are out of the way, and now we're starting to see which teams can truly contend for a playoff spot and a shot at a national championship.

And as has been the case several times this season, a weeknight game had an impact on both the Associated Press Top 25 rankings and the title picture.

No. 24 North Carolina State won its fifth straight game and second in three weeks over a ranked opponent, taking down No. 17 Louisville at home on Thursday. The Wolfpack, who won at Florida State two weeks ago, got 367 passing yards from quarterback Ryan Finley while preventing Louisville Heisman-winning passer Lamar Jackson (427 yards of total offense, three total touchdowns) from single-handedly leading the Cardinals to victory.

The game in Raleigh was one of just two on the Week 6 slate featuring ranked opponents, but that doesn't mean this weekend's action shouldn't be exciting. Eleven ranked teams in action on Saturday are playing on the road, and in many cases, those matchups are against foes with winning records.

All told, 21 ranked teams will be on the field Saturday...meaning the next Top 25 could look a lot different.

Here are the AP rankings heading into Saturday of Week 6 along with matchups for each team.

Associated Press Top 25

1. Alabama (44 first-place votes), 5-0, 1,506 points, at Texas A&M
2. Clemson (17), 5-0, 1,475 points, vs. Wake Forest
3. Oklahoma, 4-0, 1,392 points, vs. Iowa State
4. Penn State, 5-0, 1,325 points, at Northwestern
5. Georgia, 5-0, 1,237 points, at Vanderbilt
6. Washington, 5-0, 1,218 points, vs. California
7. Michigan, 4-0, 1,115 points, vs. Michigan State
8. TCU, 4-0, 1,079 points, vs. No. 23 West Virginia
9. Wisconsin, 4-0, 1,028 points, at Nebraska
10. Ohio State, 4-1, 1,016 points, vs. Maryland
11. Washington State, 5-0, 980 points, at Oregon
12. Auburn, 4-1, 802 points, vs. Ole Miss
13. Miami (Florida), 3-0, 782 points, at Florida State
14. USC, 4-1, 713 points, vs. Oregon State
15. Oklahoma State, 4-1, 664 points, OFF
16. Virginia Tech, 4-1, 549 points, at Boston College
17. Louisville, 4-2, 507 points, lost Thursday at No. 24 NC State
18. South Florida, 5-0, 440 points, OFF
19. San Diego State, 5-0, 373 points, at UNLV
20. Utah, 4-0, 358 points, vs. Stanford
21. Florida, 3-1, 349 points, vs. LSU
22. Notre Dame, 4-1, 349 points, at North Carolina
23. West Virginia, 3-1, 221 points, at No. 8 TCU
24. North Carolina State, 5-1, 149 points, won Thursday vs. No. 17 Louisville
25. UCF, 3-0, 120 points, at Cincinnati

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The other battle of ranked teams is in Fort Worth, Texas, where No. 8 TCU (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) hosts No. 23 West Virginia (3-1, 1-0). The Horned Frogs haven't played since their surprising 44-31 win at then-No. 6 Oklahoma State on Sept. 23, a result that spread the balance of power in their league beyond the Sooner State and reminded many just how accomplished a defensive coach TCU's Gary Patterson is.

“Patterson dismisses the idea that he's some kind of guru or that what he does is special,” Chuck Carlton of the Dallas Morning News wrote. “TCU has its base defense and then plots a game plan. The philosophy isn't exactly new, with Patterson referencing an old Bill Belichick line about wanting to make teams play 'left-handed' by taking away what they do best. TCU limited SMU star receiver Courtland Sutton to one catch. Against Oklahoma State, TCU held the Cowboys and their elite passing game to 10 points and 199 yards in the first half.”

Against West Virginia that will mean trying to negate quarterback Will Grier's propensity to throw deep. The junior averages 9.5 yards per attempt, his eight completions of 40 or more yards ranking fifth in FBS.

TCU's offense is no slouch, either, with senior quarterback Kenny Hill completing 72.6 percent of his passes while sophomore running back Darius Anderson is averaging 6.21 yards per carry.

Four Top 10 squads are on the road Saturday, most notably top-ranked Alabama (5-0, 2-0 SEC). The Crimson Tide, who have blitzed their first two league foes, winning 59-0 at Vanderbilt and then housing Ole Miss 66-3 at home, head to College Station, Texas, to face a Texas A&M squad that has won four straight but could have easily lost each of those games.

The Aggies, coached by the perennial hot-seated Kevin Sumlin, blew a 31-point lead at UCLA in their opener and since have trailed or been tied in the second half against Nicholls, Louisiana-Lafayette, Arkansas and South Carolina before pulling those games out in the end. Maybe they have been looking ahead to 'Bama all along?

Alabama has yet to turn the ball over this season while forcing 10 takeaways. It has intercepted eight passes, three by senior defensive back Levi Wallace, making up for a defensive front that has somewhat underachieved with the Tide recording just 10 sacks and 29 tackles for loss. And that unit will be a little thinner on Saturday as senior defensive tackle Da'Shawn Hand is out with a leg injury.

The Top 10 team that may be in the most danger of losing on the road Saturday is No. 9 Wisconsin. The Badgers (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) travel to Lincoln to face a Nebraska team that has won two straight since a surprising home loss to Northern Illinois.

Wisconsin is 5-1 against the Cornhuskers (3-2, 2-0) since 2011 with four straight victories, winning 23-21 in Lincoln two years ago.

Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Michigan State visits Michigan for an in-state battle where the winner gets the Paul Bunyan Trophy. The seventh-ranked Wolverines (4-0, 1-0) took back that honor last year by winning 32-23 at MSU for just their second victory over the Spartans (3-1, 1-0) in the past nine seasons.

Michigan turned to senior quarterback John O'Korn to help it rally past Purdue last time out, and he'll be the guy for the time being while senior Wilton Speight is out “multiple weeks” with an undisclosed injury, per FanRag Sports' Adam Biggers.

The top ACC game on Saturday is one that was originally scheduled for Sept. 16 but had to be moved because of Hurricane Irma. No. 13 Miami (3-0, 1-0) had two games impacted by that storm, its Week 2 game at Arkansas State getting canceled and then the FSU clash moved back, yet the time off hasn't affected the Hurricanes.

They have outscored their opponents 124-49, including a 31-6 win at Duke last week, but beating Florida State is a different story. The Seminoles, despite starting 1-2 and struggling offensively, have won seven straight in the series with the last three outcomes by a combined 10 points. Regardless of the circumstances, FSU seems to always get the best of Miami, as ESPN's Chris Fallica noted:

Saturday's Top 25 lineup features three late-night games, two in the Pac-12 including No. 6 Washington (5-0, 2-0) hosting California (3-2, 0-2). Kickoff is at 10:45 p.m. ET and 7:45 p.m. in Seattle, the fifth time in as many games the Huskies have started at 5 p.m. or later local time.

The late starts have drawn coach Chris Petersen's ire, calling them “painful” to his program because it affects national exposure, per Jason Gold of DieHards.com.

Regardless of when it plays, though, Washington has been nothing short of dominant. It has outscored its foes 220-54 including 66-9 in the third quarter.

Statistics are provided by CFBstats unless otherwise noted. All recruiting information courtesy of Scout.com, unless otherwise noted. Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.