Let’s count the ways Kansas State’s upset of Oklahoma shuffled the College Football Playoff picture on Saturday. (What, too early? Never! We’re entering Week 5 and the No. 20 Wildcats enter the Power Rankings for the first time.)

Start with the math. There are five major conferences and only four playoff spots.

The 38-35 Kansas State win enhanced the chances of every Power Five — particularly the SEC — getting a second team in the College Football Playoff. That’s assuming the Big 12 losing its spot in line.

It also enhanced the chances of Notre Dame getting in as a second team from the ACC, something it could never have done until this season. Clemson remains the overwhelming ACC favorite.

It gave hope to the Pac-12 — which doesn’t kick off for another 40 days — of having a single team in the CFP. The Pac-12 has missed out three straight years and four of six seasons overall.

It gave hope to whoever wins the AAC — No. 6 UCF, No. 10 Cincinnati, No. 25 Memphis). This is the best chance a Group of Five team (or Power Six, Mike Aresco) has had at the CFP despite a lack of Power Five opponents on their collective schedules.

It gave hope to … Oklahoma. You see, last year, the Wildcats seemingly ruined the Sooners’ season with a 48-41 upset in Manhattan, Kansas. OU won the rest of its games and a fifth straight Big 12 title on its way to earning a third straight playoff appearance.

This time seems different, though. Oklahoma had a 35-14 lead with less than e minutes to go in the third quarter. This time, it is different with a shorter season. Results are magnified. K-State scored the last 24 points to potentially knock OU out of the CFP race.

Or did it?

Let’s take a look at the rest of this week’s Power Rankings, which include two long-time powers that have been dormant in recent years climbing their way into the top four.

Editor’s note: Teams from the five conferences not yet playing in the 2020 college football season will be eligible for the Power Rankings beginning Monday, Oct. 19.

Biggest Movers

14

Mississippi State

9

Oklahoma

Rk	Teams		Chg	Rcrd
1	Clemson	The Oct. 10 game with Miami suddenly got a lot more interesting. The Hurricanes now are the chief challengers to the Tigers in the ACC. First, Clemson has to get by Virginia this week.	—	2-0
2	Alabama	Bama was never threatened by Missouri in the season opener. The defense seems to be “fixed.” But my main takeaway was Bryce Young. In mop-up time, the five-star quarterback prospect completed 5 of 8 passes and was sacked twice. Young wasn’t great, but judging by his arm and athleticism, he will be the starter by the end of the season.	1	1-0
3	Texas	With 3:13 left at Texas Tech, the Longhorns were down by 15. Well, of course Sam Ehlinger told coach Tom Herman, “They left us too much time. We’re going to tie it up and win in overtime.” Ehlinger gets a Heisman for the seeing the future. The Horns won 63-56 in OT. Herman is 2-0 for the first time at Texas. Oklahoma looms in two weeks.	2	2-0
4	Florida	You were wondering about the best quarterback in the SEC? OK, it’s K.J. Costello, at least for now. But Kyle Trask staked a claim throwing for six touchdowns (four of them to Kyle Pitts) against Ole Miss, matching Joe Burrow for most TDs in an SEC opener and leading the Gators to a program-record yardage total. This is going to be Florida’s most exciting offense since Tim Tebow.	2	1-0
5	Miami (FL)	Clemson should be concerned because Miami has dudes. That’s code for elite athletes who can beat the Tigers in two weeks. Quarterback D’Eriq King accounted for 332 total yards against Florida State. Brevin Jordan might be the best pound-for-pound receiver in the country. FSU is really, really bad, but Miami’s defensive numbers (six sacks, 13 tackles for loss) were really, really good.	4	3-0
6	UCF	One out of every 11 Dillon Gabriel passes has gone for a touchdown this season. There have been eight in UCF’s first two games. The Knights have looked every bit like a top 10 team to open the season.	4	2-0
7	Notre Dame	It looked like Notre Dame had done things right in regard to COVID-19. It released its positive numbers. It protected the students by going to online learning for two weeks. Then the Wake Forest game was canceled. The Fighting Irish don’t play again until Oct. 10 (Florida State). The nation’s longest winning streak (eight) will be on the line.	3	2-0
8	Georgia	The season opener looked like just what you could expect — 37-10 over Arkansas. But it took two quarterbacks to do it and raised more questions about the position. D’Wan Mathis was yanked (and then reinserted). Stetson Bennett is either the second, third or fourth stringer. J.T. Daniels can’t get cleared fast enough.	1	1-0
9	Auburn	That Kentucky buzz died quickly when Bo Nix led two short fourth-quarter scoring drives to beat the Wildcats by 16 points. WR Seth Williams is a weapon worth watching (112 yards, two TDs).	2	1-0
10	Cincinnati	The Bearcats knew what they were doing when they scheduled Army as their only nonconference game. I think. They invited in the Black Knights for a game that was the first between ranked teams at Nippert Stadium in 12 years. Army’s defense ran back an option pitch for a score 51 seconds into the game. Cincinnati’s defense took over from there, holding the Knights to less than half their rushing average, 182 yards.	2	2-0
11	Oklahoma	Spencer Rattler began the season completing 39 of his first 45 passes. Then he finished 5 of 13 against Kansas State. His three picks absolutely killed the Sooners, who have to figure out some things. It looked like they stopped playing after going up three touchdowns on the Wildcats.	9	1-1
12	Mississippi State	I don’t care if there were only a fraction of the usual fans at Tiger Stadium, this is one of the biggest wins in Bulldogs history. In his first SEC start, K.J. Costello made his coach a winner in his first SEC game. For now, the Stanford graduate transfer leads the Heisman Trophy race. It took Steve Spurrier years to conquer the SEC with the forward pass. It took Mike Leach all of one game to stick the Air Raid up everyone’s butt.	NR	1-0
13	LSU	It’s official: The Tigers have lost too much to be an SEC factor this season. There are athletes all over the field, but there wasn’t enough defensively to stop Mississippi State. Only Ole Miss and North Texas have given up more yards per game.	5	0-1
14	Oklahoma State	What happened to Chuba Hubbard? He fumbled on consecutive possessions against West Virginia, making it three fumbles for the season. Hubbard ran for at least 100 yards for the 12th time in 13 games, but something is missing. It took until Hubbard’s touchdown run with 77 seconds left until the Cowboys put away West Virginia.	1	2-0
15	Texas A&M	You knew Vanderbilt was going to be stubborn, but a 17-12 season-opening win was too close. Three Aggie turnovers kept the Commodores in it. Texas A&M will have to be sharper this week at Alabama.	—	1-0
16	Pittsburgh	The Pitt defense has faced 164 plays from the opposition. More than 20% have ended behind the line of scrimmage. It’s a nice time to be a Pittsburgher. The Panthers are 3-0 for the first time since 2014. The Steelers are 3-0 for the first time in a decade.	3	3-0
17	Louisiana	Billy Napier continues to build his national coach of the year credentials. Kicker Nate Snyder beat Georgia Southern with a 53-yard field goal on the last play of the game. Not bad for a guy who missed four of his first six kicks.	1	3-0
18	North Carolina	A fun early-season ACC showdown looms this week at Boston College. The Tar Heels will go three weeks between games after having the Charlotte game canceled.	4	1-0
19	BYU	Guess who leads the country in point differential? BYU has outscored its opponents by a cumulative 90 points. Troy was held to 19 rushing yards in a 48-7 loss. The Cougars held the ball for 44 minutes and ran up 664 yards.	1	2-0
20	Kansas State	On the same day Wildcats coach Chris Klieman turned 53 and coached his 100th career game, the man who has won four FCS national championships improved to 2-0 against Oklahoma. How was your day?	NR	1-1
21	SMU	The Mustangs stuck to the ground (260 yards rushing) in beating Stephen F. Austin, 50-7. SMU is one of only five 3-0 teams in the country. Showdown with Memphis this week.	2	3-0
22	Memphis	The Tigers are losing poll position — at least in this corner of the world — by not playing. Four weeks after beating Arkansas State in the opener, Memphis finally plays again. The game at SMU could define its season. The Tigers will have to stop the nation’s leader in rushing yards, Ulysses Bentley IV.	5	1-0
23	Tennessee	A tough, grind-it-out win at South Carolina. Jarrett Guarantano threw for 258 yards. Ty Chandler ran for 86. The Volunteers showed some guts blowing a two-touchdown lead on the road in the second half before holding on. Only Notre Dame (eight) has won more consecutive games than Tennessee (seven).	1	1-0
24	Marshall	Saturday’s game against Rice was postponed. We’ll next see the Thundering Herd on Oct. 10 at Western Kentucky. Grant Wells is second in Conference USA averaging 235 yards per game. Marshall has quietly won nine of its last 11.	—	2-0
25	Boston College	Down 21-7 at home against three-touchdown underdog Texas State, the Eagles rallied in scoring the game’s last 17 points. Aaron Boumerhi’s 36-yard field goal with 3 seconds left won it. A loss to three-touchdown underdog Kansas a year ago helped Steve Addazio get fired.	—	2-0

Dropped out: Army West Point, Kentucky