College football rankings: Projected AP Top 25 after Georgia dethrones Texas, Alabama upset again in Week 8

How can you not love college football after a Saturday like that? Look, a lot of what we saw in high-profile matchups like Georgia-Texas or Alabama-Tennessee were anything but pretty. In fact, you could call them ugly for teams near the top of the AP Top 25 college football rankings. But at the end of the day, it's about clawing out wins, and we saw those happen with plenty of upsets.

Georgia, Tennessee, Illinois and plenty of other ranked teams were underdogs in Week 8. That didn't matter on the field, though, as all won in triumphant fashion. It was a thrilling week but also one that will absolutely shake up the AP Top 25 rankings, including giving us a new No. 1 team in the country.

Here's what our projections tell us the new AP Top 25 college football rankings will look like for Week 9.

No. 25-21

25. Vanderbilt Commodores

Vanderbilt didn’t squander their potential opportunity to crack the AP Top 25 for the first time in recent memory, though it was hardly impressive. The Commodores at their best should’ve steamrolled through Ball State on Saturday but it was clear they were holding some punches in this one and had to claw out a 24-14 victory. However, it’ll be fascinating to see what Clark Lea’s can do with a number next to its name as they face Texas coming off the Georgia game next week. 

24. Navy Midshipmen

As simple as you can put it, the Navy Midshipmen are currently driving a wagon because it doesn’t look like many teams, in the AAC in particular, have an answer for what this team is putting out there. Charlotte was the latest to feel the heat as Navy rod Alex Tecza and a strong defensive effort out to a 38-0 lead in the first half and didn’t look back. It’s now 7-0 for the Midshipmen and they could cause serious chaos next week as they face Notre Dame.

23. Army Black Knights

The future of the United States Army is in good hands based on what we’re seeing on the gridiron. Bryson Daily continued to lead a dominant Black Knights attack on Saturday as they hung another 45 points on East Carolina. While the defense showed some holes late, the game was already out of reach as Army moved to 7-0 and continues to look not just like a fun, good football team but like a potential Group of 5 College Football Playoff threat, just like Navy. That vaunted rivalry game is going to be special. 

22. SMU Mustangs

A trip across the country to play Stanford was hardly an issue for Kevin Jennings and Rhett Lashlee’s Mustangs. SMU jumped all over the Cardinal with three explosive touchdowns in the first quarter before they ran that out to a 31-7 halftime lead and then turned on the cruise control. The quarterback switch has changed everything for SMU’s outlook this season and, if anyone slips up in the ACC among Clemson, Pitt and Miami, the Mustangs are primed to take a spot in Charlotte.

21. Pittsburgh Panthers

It feels a bit unfair to have Pittsburgh drop in the AP Top 25 while the Panthers were on bye but Illinois’ win vaults them up a bit. That’s just how it goes sometimes. However, Pat Narduzzi’s surprise ACC contender will have its chance to make a big move in the next month, starting by hosting Syracuse on Thursday in Week 9 before then visiting SMU and then welcoming Clemson in mid-November. 

No. 20-16

20. Missouri Tigers

First off, tip of the cap to Brady Cook. The Missouri quarterback was injured, had to go to the hospital for an MRI, and then came back to lead the Tigers to a gritty win over Auburn. Does that make me feel better long-term about Mizzou? Not exactly, especially considering that their one game against top competition saw Texas A&M stomp them. However, the fight of Eli Drinkwitz’s team can’t be put into question and they aren’t out of the College Football Playoff equation just yet. 

19. Ole Miss Rebels

Sure, the chances of Ole Miss making the College Football Playoff aren’t dead yet. However, after choking away what looked like a game they had in their pocket last week at LSU, those chances are definitely on life support. This is the most top-to-bottom talented team we’ve seen Lane Kiffin have in Oxford but the Rebels are now facing a situation where they almost have to beat Georgia in order to see the 12-team Playoff.

18. Illinois Fighting Illini

We should send our thank you mail to Bret Bielema for taking Michigan out of the AP Top 25 equation for what will likely be the rest of the season. Illinois didn’t just beat the Wolverines in Champaign on Saturday — they dominated them. It wasn’t an explosive effort for Luke Altmyer and Co. but they did more than enough so that Jack Tuttle and a Michigan offense that had no chance against the Illini defense had little shot of coming back. Meanwhile, Illinois keeps it moving as a sleeper in the Big Ten.

17. Kansas State Wildcats

Leave it to West Virginia to provide Avery Johnson with the defense he needed to see in order to deliver the best passing performance of his young Kansas State career. He came up with 298 yards and three scores through the air while actually not using his legs in this one as the Wildcats went on the road and won in a rout. As the Big 12 starts to look even more wide-open, K-State is back in the mix to take a spot in the conference title game. 

16. Alabama Crimson Tide

The sky might indeed be falling in Tuscaloosa after Alabama took its second loss of the season on Saturday, this time to rival Tennessee at Neyland Stadium. The defense continues to show cracks every week but the more pressing concern is how one-dimensional the offense has become while Jalen Milroe is not playing at his highest form right now. The schedule doesn’t get much easier for the Crimson Tide but their Playoff hopes are now much longer than before after taking a second loss.

No. 15-11

15. Boise State Broncos

Ashton Jeanty was standing like Michael Myers somewhere other than the Boise State backfield this week as the Broncos were on a bye. It’s well positioned for this team as their toughest test on the Mountain West schedule, UNLV, looms large on Friday night in Week 9 as they go on the road to face UNLV. As of now, though, Boise continues to look the part of the Group of 5’s most formidable team and the likeliest contender to earn that CFP bid.

14. Texas A&M Aggies

Of any team in the AP Top 25, Texas A&M might be the most difficult to peg at this point. Since the loss to Notre Dame, they keep winning and have done so dominantly at times. But then there are games like Saturday’s as the Aggies played with their food against Mississippi State, Conner Weigman couldn’t hold onto the ball, and the result was only a 10-point win. They are a CFP contender based on their results but it feels like they also might get burned playing with fire like they seem to do at poor times.

13. BYU Cougars

Oklahoma State coming off their bye under Mike Gundy has always been a bear, which BYU almost found out the hard way. Shouts to Darius Lassiter and Jake Retzlaff for the clutch catch-and-run score with 10 seconds remaining for keeping the Cougars’ season perfect with the come-from-behind win, but it does seem as if the BYU dream run that this team is currently on was only truly tested for the first time of many down the stretch.

12. Indiana Hoosiers

Ain’t played nobody. Fraudulent. Going to get brought back down to earth. We heard all of these things and more about Coach Cig’s Indiana Hoosiers coming into their biggest test yet against Nebraska. Those calls have quieted substantially after a 56-7 shucking of the Huskers on Saturday afternoon in Bloomington, though. Indiana continues to look experienced, disciplined, and dangerous on both sides of the ball. Now, a Nov. 23 date with Ohio State is wildly intriguing for what the Hoosier could pull off.

11. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Since the loss to Northern Illinois, we’ve watched Riley Leonard and Co. just quietly start chipping away to make their move up the AP Top 25 and back into the CFP picture. They did so again, heading to Atlanta and toppling Georgia Tech with ease on Saturday. They were simply the better team in every facet and it now seems like the path to 11-1 and the Playoff is more realistic than ever based on their remaining schedule. 

No. 10-9

10. Clemson Tigers

We’re not reinventing the wheel to say that no team has reversed their early-season fortunes quite as dramatically as the Clemson Tigers. Make no mistake, it’s hard to fully wash out the taste of getting pasted by Georgia in Week 1 that everyone watched happen. But not only has Dabo Swinney’s team not slipped up since then but they also look legitimately like a team that should potentially be the favorite in the ACC. 

This week, it was a dominant 48-31 win over Virginia. While you’d like to see more from the Clemson defense, we know what that unit overall is capable of. It’s been Cade Klubnik and the offense that has truly taken on new life since the loss to the Dawgs, and he continued that with 308 yards and three touchdowns through the air against UVA. The Tigers aren’t out of the woods yet with Louisville, Pitt and even South Carolina still on the schedule but this team is nothing like what we saw in Week 1.

9. Iowa State Cyclones

Sometimes, just coming away with a win is all that you can ask for. And I’m abundantly sure that Matt Campbell is saying as much in the Iowa State locker room on Saturday night after his Cyclones escaped Week 8 with a zero still in the loss column by the skin of their teeth. UCF had this team on the ropes for much of the night but, when it was winning time, it was Iowa State that had the answers. 

Rocco Becht was uneven to say the least, throwing two picks but also totaling three touchdowns, including the game-winning rushing score. The defense, meanwhile, was beaten badly on the ground but did great against a hapless passing attack from the Knights. Iowa State is phenomenal at adjusting and just winning the coaching battle but a game like this makes you wonder just how much you can actually trust that. 

No. 8-7

8. Tennessee Volunteers

Two things are true about Tennessee right now: They are nothing like the team that I thought they would be coming into the season but they are also absolutely still a viable College Football Playoff contender. Saturday afternoon and evening’s win at home against rival Alabama absolutely affirmed that as, even though Nico Iamaleava continued to show some growing pains as a redshirt freshman, the other playmakers were there to get it done. 

The Vols defense is absolutely this team’s calling card right now as one of the best units on that side of the ball in the sport, which Jalen Milroe can certainly attest to after Week 8. More than that, Dylan Sampson is a force for the offense that helped stabilize things in a huge way when Nico and the passing game were sputtering at times. Now, even with the loss to Arkansas, the Vols continue to look like they’re surging toward a Playoff berth.

7. LSU Tigers

Everyone and their mother was putting the LSU Tigers on upset alert this week (myself included) as they made the trip to Fayetteville to face an Arkansas team that already upset Tennessee earlier this year. On the heels of the dramatic home win over Ole Miss, it seemed like destiny that Brian Kelly would take his team on the road and provide an ill-time letdown game. 

That wasn’t remotely what happened. Blake Baker’s defense continues to improve as the season moves on, showing its teeth against Bobby Petrino’s Razorbacks offense and limiting them to only 10 points. And we know what Garrett Nussmeier and this offense are capable of, which they showed to make this emphatic road win happen. Despite the USC loss looking worse by the day, the Tigers still control their CFP destiny with at LSU, vs. Alabama and vs. Oklahoma still left to play this year. 

No. 6-5

6. Miami Hurricanes

At some point, we need to fully consider what we actually know about the Miami Hurricanes. Because another game like Saturday’s narrowly escaped victory over Louisville is yet another example — the third in a row, to be precise — in which the Canes have looked less like a runaway favorite in the ACC and far more like a team destined to flirt with disaster and likely get caught before the end of the regular season. 

Cam Ward might be superhuman, there’s no doubt about that. But Miami’s defense might truly be an issue this season after giving up 34 to Virginia Tech, 38 to Cal and now 45 to Louisville. Those were all wins for Mario Cristobal’s team but history has proven that the longevity of teams who play this brand of football as it pertains to Playoff viability isn’t great. There’s still a zero in the loss column, though, and if they keep that up, then the CFP is almost surely a lock for the Hurricanes.

5. Texas Longhorns

As the week went on leading up to the behemoth clash in Austin on Saturday, it was hard to ignore that Texas simply hadn’t been tested by any team the caliber of Georgia coming into this matchup. And that became even clearer on Saturday right out of the gate when the Longhorns were hit in the mouth, particularly Quinn Ewers and the offense, and they didn’t have nearly enough answers. 

Texas got put behind the 8-ball as they searched for answers (including turning to Arch Manning for a few series) and were down 23-0 at halftime. They tried to fight back but did not have enough to get it done. This clearly knocks Steve Sarkisian’s team out of the No. 1 spot but I can’t justify it being outside of the Top 5 as I don’t think the AP voters will do that. However, Texas is no longer in the driver’s seat in the SEC and they now have some questions about their viability against the best teams in the country. 

No. 4-3

4. Ohio State Buckeyes

Ryan Day and Ohio State got the bye week to go sit in the corner and think about their lives. Nothing that we saw from the Buckeyes in last week’s loss to Oregon should make you believe that this team isn’t a title contender but there are still questions about the coaching that are viable and some tough matchups populate the homestretch of the schedule. 

The talent in Columbus has never been in question as this might be the best roster in the country. That doesn’t always win football games, though, especially at the top level. So how this team responds after its first loss and as they face Nebraska and Penn State in back-to-back weeks will be quite enlightening as to what their DNA actually is.

3. Georgia Bulldogs

Comparing Georgia’s lone loss of the season against Alabama to what we saw on Saturday night in Austin is truly wild to consider. Basically, just how the Tide came in and hit the Dawgs in the mouth, that was exactly what Kirby Smart’s team did to Texas. Georgia’s defense in particular showed up in a massive way, attacking and making life hell for one of the best offensive lines in the country and then doing enough with offensive balance to build a lead and hold on. 

This was the dominance from Georgia that many were expecting to see throughout the season. Frankly, this looked like the best team in college football to me on Saturday night. They won’t move back up to No. 1 with Oregon’s big win last week and Penn State still having a perfect record to this point. But if we’re just talking about vibes, I’d have a hard time picking against the Dawgs at this point. 

No. 2-1

2. Penn State Nittany Lions

There’s a world where you could look at Penn State needing overtime and a comeback to beat a USC team that’s reeling last week that makes you think less of the Nittany Lions. While that’s understandable, that game was actually a massive sign of optimism in my eyes when it comes to James Franklin’s group. 

In years past, that’s a game that Penn State unequivocally drops. They have drowned in quicksand in those moments far too often. So for Drew Allar to overcome a bad start, for the defense to get its head screwed on, and for the Nittany Lions to fight back shows me that this is a different iteration of this team. Now they get a week off before going to Camp Randall and then welcoming Ohio State to Happy Valley for a titanic clash. 

1. Oregon Ducks

So much for a letdown game in sometimes-dangerous West Lafayette for the Oregon Ducks. Granted, this iteration of Purdue looks like a competitor to be the worst Power 4 team in college football this season, but it’s still the credit of Dan Lanning’s group that they weren’t too caught up in the high of upending Ohio State last week — even on a short week going on the road — and emphatically handled their business. 

Dillon Gabriel continued to re-ascend in the Heisman rankings with 290 yards and two scores while getting Evan Stewart more involved but the Ducks defense was really the star. Blanking the Boilermakers is one thing; doing so while allowing just 93 passing yards and 301 total yards is another matter entirely. The Ducks continue to vie to be called college football’s best team but they’ll be tested plenty with Illinois and Michigan next up on the docket, but they’ll do so as the new No. 1 team in the country.