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. 8-7

8. Oklahoma Sooners

The new era in Norman got underway with Brent Venables leading the Sooners at home on Saturday against UTEP and it largely looked as you’d expect. Under offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, the offense looked dangerous as Dillon Gabriel looked good in his first Oklahoma start as he accounted for three total touchdowns. Eric Gray and Marcus Major were also dynamic out of the backfield with 156 yards and two scores combined on just 23 carries.

As for the defense, which the hope is that Venables will work his magic with, they were solid as they gave up only 13 points in the 45-13 victory.

Still, it’s hard to say what we totally learned about the Sooners in this game other than they are better than UTEP, which was easy enough to guess coming into the matchup. Even still, going 1-0 without a real sweat is a win for the new staff after a tumultuous offseason in the program.

7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Though the game didn’t play out exactly like some people expected it would as Notre Dame actually jumped out to a 10-7 lead in the first half, the overall feeling about the Fighting Irish in their high-profile matchup against Ohio State didn’t really change after 60 minutes of play.

Tyler Buchner had his moments, but the newcomer at quarterback ultimately looked like that and, as such, the offense was a bit limited. The defense, which is loaded with high-end talent, was stingy, but not enough so as they coughed up the lead and ended up giving up two touchdowns in the second half of the 21-10 loss.

Notre Dame feels like a team that can beat the majority of other teams in the country but might be limited against the best of the best. That played out to a T on Saturday night in The Shoe.