With a week of college football nearly complete (there’s still UNC/TCU on tap for Monday), it’s not too early to start thinking about the AP top 25 college football poll. Here’s an early look at some of the likely movers and shakers of Week 1, and how things might end up playing out.
AP Top 25 Predictions for Week 2
Going Up
Start with No. 3 Ohio State. Off a 14-7 win over previously No. 1 Texas, the Buckeyes are the likely pick to jump into that vacated top spot. Who else has a likely move in the top echelons of the poll?
Well, No. 9 LSU bested No. 4 Clemson, so look for something near a flip-flop among those two schools, with the LSU Tigers moving up several spots within the top ten. Meanwhile, No. 10 Miami will also likely make a move off their 27-24 win over No. 6 Notre Dame.
It’s much less dramatic and basically comes due to attrition and not to some sort of massive victory, but No. 11 Arizona State and No. 12 Illinois are likely to move into the top ten, likely at the bottom two spots, because of the multitude of losses behind them.
Lower down in the poll, unranked Florida State will likely get a welcome into the bottom of the top 25 off their 31-17 domination of No. 8 Alabama. While FSU wasn’t really on the radar in the preseason, a two-score victory over a top ten team has to move the Seminoles into immediate top 25 contention, likely in one of the last couple spots in the poll.
Utah and potentially Georgia Tech are also solid picks to climb in. Utah dominated UCLA and was barely outside the top 25 in the preseason poll. Georgia Tech’s case is a little dicier, as the Yellowjackets took down an unranked Colorado team on the road for a win that was impressive, but might not be quite enough to leap into the top 25 after coming in 31st in the preseason voting.
Headed Down
Texas has to take a thud, although somewhere around 4th seems logical for a one-score road loss to the defending champion and preseason No. 3 team. Clemson will slide a few steps back to around No. 7 or No. 8 after being No. 4 before losing at home to LSU. Notre Dame will drop to around the bottom of the top 10 or maybe just outside after their Week 1 loss.
Obviously, the big slide here has to be Alabama. The Tide were preseason No. 8, but that looks likely to see a sharp decline after the two-score loss to unranked Florida State. Project Alabama somewhere in the back of the teens for the poll.
Formerly No. 25 Boise State will fall out of the poll after a 34-7 loss to South Florida. Kansas State’s loss and three-point win over an FCS team could see them drop a tick or two from No. 17. Most of the top 25 took care of business, and their poll stop should accordingly more or less hold steady.
Projected Top 10 Rankings for Week 2
| Ranking | Team | Previous Rank |
| 1 | Ohio State | 3 |
| 2 | Penn State | 2 |
| 3 | Georgia | 5 |
| 4 | Texas | 1 |
| 5 | LSU | 9 |
| 6 | Miami | 10 |
| 7 | Oregon | 7 |
| 8 | Clemson | 4 |
| 9 | Arizona St. | 11 |
| 10 | Illinois | 12 |
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