How the Top 25 should look after frantic football weekend

Scoreboards lit up around the nation, but nowhere was it more eye-opening than in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Saturday night.

Lane Kiffin made a smashing debut as the Tigers’ coach with a 51-10 blowout win over Clemson.

That might not be enough for some pollsters to come off their preseason rankings, but considering the first poll is based on projections, there’s a case to be made LSU should stand at No. 1 after its dominant debut.

At least, that’s how the top of this poll is going to look when submitted for this week’s AP Top 25 poll.

For some, seeing how Arizona State transfer Sam Leavitt would respond in Kiffin’s offense was a big question.

Not anymore: Leavitt completed passes of more than 20 yards to four different receivers and had 113 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries.

The LSU defense, meanwhile, held Clemson to just eight first downs and 145 total yards.

Texas gets the nod over Georgia at No. 2 in the poll because its 59-7 blowout win came against an FBS team in Texas State while the Bulldogs 63-3 win was against FCS Tennessee State.

Arch Manning opened his season and Heisman Trophy campaign with 305 yards passing and four touchdown throws while Gunner Stockton threw for 202 yards and three touchdowns before getting pulled in the second quarter.

The top of this poll is SEC heavy, but it seems warranted after the league had its first undefeated opening week since 1997 — when the SEC still had only 12 teams, as opposed to the 16 it has now.

Ohio State, the conventional No. 1 pick based on the AP preseason Top 25, might deserve more than its No. 4 ranking in this poll, and it will have the opportunity to prove so when it travels to play at Texas next Saturday.

Notre Dame, this pollster’s preseason No. 1, needed more time than expected to pull away from Wisconsin at Lambeau Field on Sunday night before prevailing 41-13, so it slips this week.

Miami, Indiana and Oklahoma were all impressive enough to the extent they remain in the top eight as potential championship contenders.

There are enough questions about Oregon after its less-than-impressive 34-27 home win over Boise State to drop the Ducks to No. 9, while Alabama’s line play poses questions about its ceiling, though not top 10 ranking at the moment.

Here’s how the Top 25 should look — per this pending AP Top 25 ballot — when the rankings are released on Tuesday (provided 3-point favorite SMU wins at Florida State on Monday night):