College football rankings 2021: Projected Week 8 AP Top 25 after Iowa gets upset & Alabama, Georgia roll

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 7: No. 10-9

10. Oregon Ducks

The Oregon Ducks are the presumed favorite to win the Pac-12. The North is a tire fire and that has allowed a good Ducks team to jump into the top-10. However, it could flip spots with Michigan State based on a less than exciting performance against Cal.

Oregon needed every bit of its 14 fourth-quarter points to hold off the Golden Bears. They won’t be punished too hard for winning, but it’s also likely this is about the ceiling for the Pac-12 this season.

9. Michigan State Spartans

While you could argue Michigan State’s win over Indiana might be as underwhelming as Oregon’s and also debate Indiana vs Cal, the benefit of the doubt goes to the stronger conference here. The Spartans defense didn’t let the Hoosiers do much against them in a 20-15 win.

The eyes of the Big Ten East are rightfully on Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan, but all those programs still have to play Michigan State. The Spartans could very well upset one of those programs and end any playoff hopes those schools might have. I don’t know if Michigan State can run the table, but being a spoiler is certainly in the cards.