College Football Rankings: Winners and Losers of Week 4 AP Poll

We are three weeks into the college football season already, and there seems to be a foothold on who are the contenders and who are the pretenders.

The make-up of the top four in the AP Top 25 remain unchanged with Oklahoma, LSU, Alabama and Boise State still occupying the top spots. Clemson, Michigan, USC, Illinois and Georgia Tech are the newcomers.

But who really gained exposure and who lost some respect in the rankings?

Here are the winners and losers in the Week 4 rankings.

Clemson: Winner

Maybe the biggest winner of the new rankings this week was Clemson, who upset No. 21 Auburn 38-24. 

After relatively unconvincing wins over Troy and Wofford to start the season, the Tigers cracked the AP Top 25 with a good win over an Auburn team with an explosive offense.

Clemson, however, has an electric offense of its own, ranking in the top 27 in passing offense (21st), rushing offense (27th) and scoring offense (23rd). The defense might be a question, but if the Tigers can continually put up the type of offensive numbers it has, it may not matter.

Oklahoma: Winner

The top-ranked Sooners went into Tallahassee and reeled off an impressive 23-13 win over the Seminoles on Saturday night, further cementing Oklahoma's position at the top of any college football poll.

On what the media called "Road Test Saturday," Bob Stoops and his Sooners passed that test against a well-respected and quality Florida State team.

The test for the Sooners now is can they run the table? If they do, they are shoe-ins for the BCS National Championship Game. It is always better to lose earlier than later, but for now, Oklahoma are top.

Michigan: Winner

Maybe the Wolverines are back on track.

Michigan benefited hugely over the past two weeks. After winning a late-game thriller in Ann Arbor last weekend over Notre Dame (who beat no. 15 Michigan State this weekend), the Maize and Blue thumped Eastern Michigan 31-3 at the Big House.

They went unrewarded after a big win over the Irish last Saturday, but good things come to those who wait, and the AP gave Michigan what they deserve this week—a place in the top 25.

Oregon: Loser

Despite moving up two spots in the rankings from 12th to 10th, Oregon simply gets the benefit of the doubt in this week's poll, which may be good enough for some, but it hardly speaks to how good this team is or how underachieving they have been.

The Ducks were thumped on the road in Dallas to open the season against LSU, and they have come back to record big wins against Nevada and Missouri State by a combined score of 125-27.

So they can score a ton of points, but against cupcakes, good teams should. While there still are second and third components to this complete equation, there is little to be taken away from routs against insignificant programs.

Florida State: Loser

In what was a pretty heavy defensive matchup, the Sooners simply outlasted the Seminoles 23-13 at Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday night.

Florida State dropped from No. 5 to No. 11 in the rankings, so naturally we can look at the Noles as a loser this week.

But those six spots are easily recoverable given FSU's semi-soft ACC schedule. Expect the Seminoles to bounce back with a vengeance, but for this week's rankings, they will be losers in most books.