How the AP Top 25 should look after Week 2 of college football
College football powerhouses took care of business Saturday, most doing so in convincing fashion against lesser competition.
No.1 Ohio State was one of four Top 10 teams to beat a Football Championship Subdivision opponent, and the Buckeyes are in no danger of losing their top spot after a 70-0 win over Grambling.
There doesn’t figure to be much shuffling at the top of the poll, as none of the top 11 teams lost, though No. 6 Oregon could move up a spot or two on the strength of its eye-opening 69-3 win over Big 12 opponent Oklahoma State.
The No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs had their offensive struggles in defeating FCS school Austin Peay, but Kirby Smart’s reputation and the Bulldogs’ defensive prowess is such that they could hold their spot.
A case could be made for Clemson to drop out of the Top 10 after it fell behind Sun Belt Conference member Troy 16-0 at home before rallying for 27-16 win with 24 unanswered points in the second half.
No. 12 ranked Arizona State might fall out of the Top 25 completely after suffering its first loss of the season.
The defending Big 12 champion Sun Devils lost by a 24-20 count in Starkville, Mississippi, as Mississippi State snapped what had been a 13-game losing streak against Power 4 conference competition.
SMU is another Top 25 team that could exit the rankings after losing at home to unranked Baylor 48-45 in two overtimes.
The Florida Gators also got bitten by the upset bug, losing at home to South Florida when Bulls kicker Nico Gramatica hit a 20-yard field goal as time expired to lift his team to the 18-16 win.
South Florida (2-0) will likely crack the Top 25 rankings, as it upset then-No. 25 Boise State 34-7 in its opener last week in Tampa.
Michigan, ranked No. 15, was another Top 25 team to fall, but the Wolverines were in the underdog role playing at No. 18 Oklahoma.
Sooners quarterback John Mateer, a transfer from Washington State, rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another to lead Oklahoma to the 24-13 win over the Big Ten’s Wolverines.
SEC traditional powerhouses Alabama and Tennessee — ranked No. 21 and No. 22, respectively — served notice their offenses have life with 70-point-plus performances that could influence pollsters to move them ahead of other victorious teams in the Top 25.
Here’s how the Top 25 should look this week
- Ohio State (2-0, Defeated Grambling 70-0)
- Penn State (2-0, Defeated Florida International 34-0)
- LSU (2-0, Defeated Louisiana Tech 23-7)
- Oregon (2-0, Defeated Oklahoma State 69-3)
- Georgia (2-0, Defeated Austin Peay 28-6)
- Miami (2-0, Defeated Bethune-Cookman 45-3)
- Texas (1-1, Defeated San Jose State 38-7)
- Notre Dame (0-1, Off)
- Illinois (2-0, Won at Duke 45-19)
- Florida State (2-0, Defeated East Texas A&M 77-3)
- Oklahoma (2-0, Defeated No. 15 Michigan 24-13)
- Clemson (1-1, Defeated Troy 27-16)
- South Carolina (2-0, Defeated South Carolina State 38-10)
- Alabama (1-1, Defeated Louisiana Monroe 73-0)
- Tennessee (2-0, Defeated East Tennessee State 72-17)
- Ole Miss (2-0, Defeated Kentucky 30-23)
- Texas A&M (2-0, Defeated Utah State 44-22)
- South Florida (2-0, Defeated No. 13 Florida 18-16)
- Iowa State (3-0, Defeated Iowa 16-13)
- Michigan (1-1, Lost at No. 18 Oklahoma 24-13)
- Indiana (2-0, Defeated Kennesaw State 56-9)
- Texas Tech (2-0, Defeated Kent State 62-14)
- Utah (2-0, Defeated Cal-Poly 63-9)
- Auburn (2-0, Defeated Ball State 42-3)
- Florida (1-1, Lost to South Florida 18-16)
Next 5:
- Georgia Tech (2-0, Defeated Gardner-Webb 59-12)
- BYU (2-0, Defeated Stanford 27-3)
- USC (2-0, Defeated Georgia Southern 59-20)
- No. 17 SMU (1-1 Lost to Baylor 48-45 in 2OT)
- No. 12 Arizona State (1-1, Lost at Mississippi State 24-20)
About the Author
Mike is in his eighth season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 30 years of collegiate sports multimedia experience, 25 of them in the SEC including beat writer stops at Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee and now Georgia. Mike was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
