AP Top 25: Oregon, Iowa make big move up in projected college football rankings
Does Ohio State fall out of the top 10 of the college football rankings after Week 2? Will Oregon make it into the top four? We have your projected top 25.
Who would’ve thought that the week after the 2021 college football season opened with a Georgia-Clemson showdown while there were numerous upsets would be even better? But that’s exactly what we saw as the college football rankings were once again turned on their heads throughout Saturday in Week 2.
No. 3-ranked Ohio State getting knocked off by the Oregon Ducks at home was the big way to start the day but it was far from the only shocker of the proceedings. It wasn’t necessarily stunning that Iowa beat rival Iowa State for the Cy-Hawk Trophy but the way the Hawkeyes dominated was, in fact a bit shocking. Then you have Texas, a team with promise once again going to Arkansas and getting run all over in Fayetteville.
So yes, you could say that the college football rankings are going to change. After the Week 2 action and with all of the upsets, we have a projected top 25, one not featuring the Longhorns as the loss to Arkansas knocks them out.
College football rankings after Week 2: No. 25-21
25. TCU Horned Frogs
It was far more of a back-and-forth affair between TCU and Cal but the Horned Frogs got the win in the end and continued to show that they have a sneaky dangerous offense. Max Duggan came on strong late in the game while running back Zach Evans is going to be a problem for Big 12 defenses to handle.
24. Auburn Tigers
Point blank, the Bryan Harsin era for Auburn will begin when the Tigers actually play somebody. It’s great that they’ve now scored 60+ points in each of their first two games but when those wins came over Akron and Alabama State, that’s not really telling anyone what you are as an SEC contingent.
23. Miami Hurricanes
Appalachian State took a 23-22 lead over Miami with under six minutes to play on Saturday night, so suffice it to say that the Hurricanes aren’t clicking on all cylinders just yet. Until they lose another one, we’ll keep them in the top 25, but they are definitely on thin ice with a 1-1 record and not a truly impressive performance to date.
22. North Carolina Tar Heels
Fans in Chapel Hill were immensely disappointed with the way the season-opener transpired as the then-top-10 Tar Heels were manhandled. North Carolina did the manhandling in Week 2, however, as Sam Howell righted the ship to dismantle Georgia State. It’ll be back to ACC play with a game against Virginia next week but this could be a get-right game.
21. Arizona State Sun Devils
It was an inauspicious start to the game against UNLV but, as expected the Sun Devils were able to take care of business and secure the win. We’ll learn a lot more about Arizona State in the upcoming three-game stretch against BYU, Colorado and then on the road at UCLA.