College football rankings 2022: Projected Week 2 AP Top 25 after Ohio State outlasts Notre Dame, Georgia dismantles Oregon

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 1: No. 2-1

2. Ohio State Buckeyes

Jaxon Smith-Njigba getting injured early in the matchup against Notre Dame undoubtedly threw a wrench into Ryan Day’s plans for the Buckeyes, but hats off to Ohio State as a whole for showing the resiliency to fight back from a 10-7 halftime deficit to blank the Irish in the second half and pull out a 21-10 victory over a Top 5 team.

C.J. Stroud had a nice night despite being without his top pass-catcher as he went 24-of-34 for 223 yards and two touchdowns and TreVeyon Henderson shined with 15 carries for 91 yards on the night. But the big story was the defense that was a problem at times last year. Under new coordinator Jim Knowles, that unit tightened up and delivered in the second half when the Buckeyes needed it most. That could be a dangerous thing for the rest of the country.

1. Alabama Crimson Tide

Nick Saban’s team hardly broke a sweat on Saturday night against Utah State and they left no doubt why they came into the 2022 season as the No. 1 team in college football.

Bryce Young came out looking dead-set on repeating as the Heisman winner as he lit up the visiting Aggies, going 18-of-28 for 195 yards but with five touchdowns and also rushing for 100 yards and another score. Meanwhile, the defense was suffocating and allowed nothing from Utah State.

All told, it was a 55-0 victory for Bama, which is what you would expect, even against a good Group of 5 team like the Aggies. That speaks to the overall quality of the Crimson Tide this season and what could be a special, special season forthcoming for this group.

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