Dantabase College Football Week 4 Top 25 Recap
The College Football Experience (@TCEonSGPN) on the Sports Gambling Podcast Network continues its 2026 season coverage with the first Dantabase college football week 4 top 25. Pick Dundee aka (@TheColbyD) and Ryan McIntyre (@Moneyline_Mac) rank every team on resume alone, and road wins count most. Why is Mississippi State No. 1 when Mac says the actual poll has them 16th? How did UMass land at 23? Why is Duke tenth when, by Colby’s count, they aren’t in the top 25 at all? Should Texas Tech sit above Georgia? And does UCLA belong at No. 2?
From there they work through all 25, and Mac talks Colby into flipping Texas Tech and Georgia live on air. Mac also pushes UCLA over Alabama at No. 2 and would take Wake Forest over Ole Miss, because to him the road wins decide it. Colby also walks back the Mike Locksley firing report from the last show, and No. 1 Mississippi State meets No. 2 Alabama this week. We talk it all and more on this episode of The College Football Experience.
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How The Dantabase College Football Week 4 Top 25 Works
Colby figures they’ve been doing the Dantabase for seven or eight years, and he won’t run it before week four because a team needs a resume first. The rules are simple. Winning on the road is the hardest thing to do in the sport, so Power Five road wins count more than anything else. If you schedule an FCS team it had better be a good one. And the handful of schools that never play one, like USC, UCLA and Notre Dame, should get credit for that. As for recruiting stars, Colby points to Indiana going 16-0 without a single five-star. He also owed the audience an apology. On the last show he relayed two or three reports from Twitter saying Maryland was announcing Locksley’s firing. As far as Colby knows, Locksley still isn’t officially fired. Mac’s guess is that he’s off interviewing for an NFL job.
25 Through 16: South Florida, UMass And The Road Win Rule
South Florida opens the list at 25. They haven’t looked great, but they’re 2-0 on the road, at Army and at Bowling Green, and Colby will fight anyone who says a Power Four team couldn’t lose at Army. Next comes Oklahoma State at 24, even though Tulsa beat them head-to-head. The Cowboys won by double digits in Morgantown and own the Oregon win, while Tulsa just got pummeled by Arkansas with a backup quarterback.
UMass at 23 is the one Colby calls the hardest team on the board to evaluate. Two FCS games muddy it, but the Minutemen are 2-0 on the road and blew out Rutgers in the same building where USC barely got out alive. Mac’s reply: “Don’t you sleep on my Minutemen.” UMass also cashed the Pop Pop parlay with Lindenwood last week. Then comes LSU at 22, with a good Clemson win and no road win yet. Wake Forest is 21 with two Power Five road wins, including the one at Louisville. Ole Miss is 20 as Colby’s highest-rated one-loss team, with the head-to-head over LSU and a neutral-site win over Louisville. Mac would flip those two. Colby’s counter is that Wake lost at home to Miami, and you’re supposed to protect home field.
Indiana is 19, the second-lowest undefeated team, because they haven’t left home and Colby can’t find much on the schedule. Mac would put South Florida ahead of them. Next is BYU at 18, off a road win at Colorado State and a win over Arizona. JMU is 17 with road wins at San Diego State and Old Dominion plus Liberty at home. Nebraska is 16 with the road win at Michigan State and a win over a North Dakota team Colby would lay seven to 10 points with against ULM.
Mac Wins The Texas Tech And Georgia Argument
Colby came in with Georgia 14 and Texas Tech 15. Strictly on resume, not Kirby Smart and not recruiting, Georgia has one road win at Arkansas and two Power Five wins over Arkansas and Oklahoma, and neither has a winning record. Mac takes Tech. “I think Georgia’s better, but that’s not the exercise here.” Colby then runs it game by game. He’d take Oregon State over Arkansas and Houston over this Oklahoma. So the list changes live, with Texas Tech at 14 and Georgia at 15. Mac still wants Georgia ahead of Nebraska for how dominant they’ve been.
Cincinnati is 13 with half a road game, a neutral-site win over Miami Ohio played in Cincinnati, plus Boston College and Kansas State. This is where Mac says the fraudulent 4-0 teams that haven’t hit the road start showing up. Then comes Utah at 12, with a road win in Ames and a beatdown of Arkansas. Mac notes they were up 40 in the third quarter and could have named the number. Pitt comes next at 11. They’re undefeated with wins over UCF and Syracuse, but they have no road game yet. Colby says UCF has a real argument, having lost by five in a monsoon. Pitt finally hits the road Friday night at Virginia Tech.
Unranked Duke Checks In At No. 10
Duke is the one that will fill up the comments. Colby says the Blue Devils aren’t even in the top 25, and he has them tenth. They have two Power Five wins, one on the road at Illinois, plus Tulane and a William & Mary team he thinks is the best FCS opponent anyone on the list has played. Mac wouldn’t put Texas Tech above Duke, and he’d drop Pitt and Cincinnati below them for never hitting the road.
Virginia Tech is ninth with two Power Five road wins at Maryland and Boston College, even after scheduling VMI. Mac allows it might be two of the worst Power Four programs, but a top 10 spot is fair for now. Miami is eighth because of road wins at Stanford and Wake Forest, a team Colby also has ranked. Mac adds that all their games have been annihilations. Then Iowa sits seventh with the road win at Michigan and Iowa State. Texas is sixth because they didn’t play an FCS team, and Colby says the Ohio State win only holds up as well as a 2-2 Illinois does. Mac would order it Texas, Miami, Iowa. Florida then lands fifth after beating Auburn and Ole Miss. Colby’s point is that Ole Miss has more meat on the bone than Ohio State right now, and Mac comes around.
UCLA, Alabama And Mississippi State At The Top
Colby’s top four are the only four teams he found with three Power Five wins. Notre Dame is fourth with Purdue, a neutral-site Wisconsin win and Michigan State, and they played Rice instead of an FCS team. UCLA is third with Cal, Purdue and Maryland, and two of those came in true road stadiums. Mac’s take on the Maryland game: “they went across the country and beat them by 50.” Alabama comes next at No. 2 with Florida State, Kentucky and South Carolina. Mac would flip those two because UCLA has two road wins and Alabama has one.
Mississippi State is No. 1. The Bulldogs beat Minnesota and South Carolina on the road and also have Missouri, and they haven’t played an FCS team. Mac calls it the best resume by far and says the actual poll has them 16th. Colby blames that on recruiting rankings and name brands sold for television, because nobody looks at the schedule. His ask is simple: rank the resume, not the brand. The good news is No. 1 and No. 2 in the Dantabase play each other this week. They’re back tomorrow with the week 5 weekday games. The slate has Western Kentucky and New Mexico State, North Texas and Tulsa, Pitt at Virginia Tech, Liberty at Delaware, Penn State at Northwestern and Montana State at Idaho late.
Watch: Wake Forest on the Moneyline!
Podcast Chapters
0:00 Download the SGPN App Today!
0:58 Week 4 Dantabase Top 25 Intro
7:24 Number 25: South Florida Bulls
11:37 Number 24: Oklahoma State Cowboys
13:30 Number 23: UMass Minutemen
17:21 Number 22: LSU Tigers
18:28 Number 21: Wake Forest Demon Deacons
19:22 Number 20: Ole Miss Rebels
23:20 Number 19: Indiana Hoosiers
26:06 Number 18: BYU Cougars
26:57 Number 17: James Madison Dukes
28:13 Number 16: Nebraska Cornhuskers
30:05 Number 15: Texas Tech Red Raiders
31:51 Number 14: Georgia Bulldogs
34:49 Number 13: Cincinnati Bearcats
38:30 Number 12: Utah Utes
42:23 Number 11: Pitt Panthers
45:15 Number 10: Duke Blue Devils
49:14 Number 9: Virginia Tech Hokies
50:32 Number 8: Miami Hurricanes
51:53 Number 7: Iowa Hawkeyes
53:01 Number 6: Texas Longhorns
55:45 Number 5: Florida Gators
58:51 Number 4: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
1:00:08 Number 3: UCLA Bruins
1:02:09 Number 2: Alabama Crimson Tide
1:03:30 Number 1: Mississippi State Bulldogs
1:06:44 Week 5 Weekday Games Preview
1:09:27 Sign-Off & Socials
