College football rankings 2022: Projected Week 5 AP Top 25 after Oklahoma upset, USC survives, Ohio State cruises

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 4: No. 6-5

6. USC Trojans

Some people are going to look at the trip to Corvallis as a reason to doubt USC. But if you really look at what transpired for the Trojans, it’s actually a reason to be more confident in what they are capable of moving forward this season.

The big question coming into this game was the USC defense, which had not been tested by a good offense overall and still had been conceding a concerning amount of yardage and even points. It was Caleb Williams and the offense that kept bailing them out. Well, with the offense really struggling off the bus, the defense stepped up and delivered a gem.

Williams couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn but he made the clutch throw to Jordan Addison when it mattered. Then the defense came up with the game-sealing interception to add exclamation to a huge performance on that side of the ball and keep the Trojans perfect.

5. Clemson Tigers

There’s a bit of good news and bad news coming out of Clemson scoring a double-overtime win over No. 21-ranked Wake Forest on Saturday. DJ Uiagalelei, Will Shipley and the Tigers offense awoke from their season-long slumber to have their best day of the year thus far as they hung 51 on the Demon Deacons with the two extra frames to help them out. At the same time, though, the vaunted defense also gave up 45 points, even if they came up with the biggest stop in double-OT to secure the win.

After that performance, I was fully ready to have Clemson falling a bit in the polls, but that was before both Oklahoma and USC directly behind them started to show their warts just as mightily late on Saturday night. Still, it feels like the Tigers are still a far cry from a College Football Playoff team at this point, even if they’re ranked like a team right on the cusp of a berth.