College football rankings 2022: Projected Week 7 AP Top 25 after Alabama barely escapes, Tennessee, Ohio State & Georgia cruise

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 6: No. 12-11

12. NC State Wolfpack

Going into halftime, it looked like NC State was in for a world of hurt as Devin Leary and the NC State offense couldn’t get anything going and Florida State had enough juice behind Jordan Travis to jump out to a 17-3 lead. Things looked even bleaker for the Wolfpack when Leary was forced out of the game with an injury after he ate a big hit.

But Dave Doren had his team fired up coming out of the locker room and they did what Top 15 teams in college football do. Despite their ongoing hardships, the offense pieced together one drive after another to chip away at the lead. More importantly, the defense showed up to blank the Seminoles in the second half to pick up the 19-17 win sealed by an interception in the end zone with under a minute to play. Leary’s health is worth watching, but what a gritty win from the Wolfpack.

11. Oregon Ducks

Since getting blown out by Georgia in the first game of the season, Oregon has just made sure to check one box after another. After beating BYU, Washington State and Stanford, the Ducks had to go on the road to face an Arizona team that, though not at the top of the Pac-12 by any stretch, has looked frisky at times this season.

But Bo Nix and the Ducks came out and made a big statement to make things happen. After falling behind 3-0 in the first quarter, Oregon scored 21 unanswered points and then went into the half up 28-13 and never looked back. The second half was one-sided as they outscored the Wildcats 21-9 to secure a dominant 49-22 win.

Nix has been quite good this season, which raises the ceiling of this team. The big question is if the other shoe is going to drop with the quarterback as it often did with Auburn.