College football rankings 2022: Projected Week 8 AP Top 25 after Tennessee downs Alabama, USC falls, Michigan rolls

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 7: No. 6-5

6. Alabama Crimson Tide

Bryce Young returned for Alabama after the Jalen Milroe offense a week ago with the reigning Heisman Trophy winner out injured left a ton to be desired and the offense showed its moxie. Young was hit hard throughout the game on a number of plays but made one play after another to keep the Crimson Tide alive in Knoxville against a spirited Tennessee team.

Unfortunately, the defense did not hold up their end of the bargain.

Alabama conceded 52 points after the Vols’ last-second game-winning field goal and suffered their first defeat of the 2022 season because of it. There were good signs as the Crimson Tide had arguably their best offensive performance of the year but it’s clear that Nick Saban doesn’t have a classic Bama defensive stalwart on his hands. And that’s something to monitor moving forward as they currently drop out of the College Football Playoff picture.

5. Clemson Tigers

Florida State certainly welcomed Clemson to Tallahassee with an upset on its mind. The Seminoles came out firing on all cylinders and seemingly caught Dabo Swinney and the Tigers defense off guard in doing so. In fact, the Noles had a 14-7 lead at one point in the first half. The game, however, did not stop there and it seemed like it was going to be one-sided in favor of the Tigers from there on.

After Clemson scored 27 unanswered points, though, the Tigers seemed to take their foot off of the gas in way too major of a way. The defense let up and allowed two touchdowns while the offense lost all momentum. At the end of the day, they held onto the win, but it’s hard to think that this team isn’t going to get jumped by a couple of teams in the new rankings.