No two ways about it, the AP Top 25 college football rankings got rocked in Week 1. The No. 1-ranked team in the country, the Texas Longhorns, started off the first full Saturday of the season by getting sat on for 60 minutes by the Ohio State Buckeyes, and it was off to the races from there. Previously No. 8-ranked Alabama got manhandled by unranked Florida State, Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers finally won a season opener against a ranked Clemson team, and Miami proved doubters wrong with its win over Notre Dame.
But the big question coming out of the chaos of Week 1 was what the AP Top 25 would look like thereafter. Would Alabama even still be ranked? How high would Florida State come in? Could TCU crack the rankings after embarrassing Bill Belichick? That and so much more had to wait until Tuesday because of the Labor Day weekend holiday to be answered.
We now have the Week 2 AP Top 25 rankings, though. And as we look at the new poll, it's hard not to think that some teams definitely got snubbed with the short end of the stick.
College football rankings: AP Top 25 poll released for Week 2
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Penn State Nittany Lions
- LSU Tigers
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Miami Hurricanes
- Oregon Ducks
- Texas Longhorns
- Clemson Tigers
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- South Carolina Gamecocks
- Illinois Fighting Illini
- Arizona State Sun Devils
- Florida Gators
- Florida State Seminoles
- Michigan Wolverines
- Iowa State Cyclones
- SMU Mustangs
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Ole Miss Rebels
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Indiana Hoosiers
- Texas Tech Red Raiders
- Utah Utes
Alabama fell 13 spots after their loss to Florida State, but one could argue two things about that. First, perhaps the Crimson Tide should've fallen even further if we're actually only judging what we saw on the field in Week 1. At the same time, though, the fact that the Seminoles went from unranked (and barely in the Others Receiving Votes category) to No. 14 in the country is also a helluva jump. Things will obviously start to sort things out, but that definitely stood out.
I'm also a bit shocked to see LSU jump all the way ahead to No. 3, specifically going ahead of Georgia. Sure, the Bulldogs only played Marshall, which isn't exactly a signature win, but that feels somewhat penal to Kirby Smart's team all things considered, particularly when the only justification is the Tigers' win, not what UGA showed us. Similarly, the voters might've been a bit too harsh on Texas for losing to the new No. 1-ranked team in the country.
Most importantly, though, based on the tepid effort of Indiana against Old Dominion and the aforementioned Alabama, I'm not sure I would've had either team in the AP Top 25 this week if I was a voter. Specifically, one of these four teams deserved to be ranked more than either of those two programs after Week 1.
Biggest snubs from the AP Top 25 college football rankings, Week 2
Auburn Tigers (at Baylor, W 38-24)
I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I was completely and irreversibly blown away by Auburn in Week 1, but dammit if I wasn't impressed. Waco isn't an easy place to play, especially against a Baylor team that many considered a dark horse to win the Big 12 this season, and Hugh Freeze's group got it done.
Jackson Arnold's passing prowess remains a question, but his dual threat ability appeared to get unlocked by the Tigers offense throughout the two-score win. Furthermore, Auburn might just be able to bully a lot of their future opponents this season in the trenches, something that's true on both sides of the ball. There was a lot to be impressed by for a Tigers team that was best described as high potential, but with questions about getting to that mark.
While I don't want to say they showed their ceiling in the Week 1 victory over Baylor, Auburn certainly looked like one of the more impressive teams in college football in the opener.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (at Colorado, W 27-20)
Unlike Auburn going on the road to Waco, I'm not sure that Georgia Tech's trip to face Colorado in Boulder was quite as daunting, if not for the only reason that I don't think Deion Sanders' team is as good as Dave Aranda's. Yet, Folsom Field at night is still a tough place to play and, despite not looking crisp to begin the season, the Yellow Jackets still picked up a big-time Power 4 road win to start the season.
Perhaps the defining way to describe Georgia Tech and particularly quarterback Haynes King came from Cole Thompson of SEC Unfiltered. He might not be the best quarterback in the traditional sense of the positions, but his "DAWG" levels are absolutely off the charts.
Haynes King might not be an NFL caliber QB, but that man is the definition on “God that BLEEPING DAWG in him.”pic.twitter.com/08FBGU7RGJ
— Cole Thompson (@MrColeThompson) August 30, 2025
For whatever reason, AP voters have seemed hesitant for the past year to give Georgia Tech its due. At some point, if they keep reeling off impressive victories such as this one, that's going to have to change. Brent Key and the Jackets aren't a team to be trifled with and had a legitimate case to crack the Top 25 in Week 2's poll.
Tulane Green Wave (vs. Northwestern, W 23-3)
You're forgiven if you didn't subject yourself to Northwestern football on the first full Saturday of the season. Had you done so, though, you would've seen Jon Sumrall's Tulane team look more like they were the Big Ten team than the Wildcats who actually occupy a spot in that conference.
Again, I'm not going to write home about beating Northwestern — that's a straight-up bad football team that is only a quality win because of their Power Four designation. Having said that, the addition of Jake Retzlaff happened late in the offseason, and Tulane still integrated him quickly enough to beat the Wildcats by 20 and limit them to just three points. For a Group of Five program, even one of the best to receive that designation, that's not nothing!
I can understand not wanting to jump the gun on Tulane just yet, but it was an impressive Week 1 and, amid Boise State's brutal loss and other potential G5 contenders looking lesser than expected, Tulane looked the part of the favorite to be the representative to reach the College Football Playoff.
USC Trojans (vs. Missouri State, W 73-13)
If AP voters were simply protecting themselves from Lincoln Riley eventually making them look like idiots, I can understand why USC didn't ultimately crack the Top 25. At the same time, even against a low-level opponent in Missouri State, it was difficult to watch the Trojans and not see what the upside of this team and, specifically, this offense is.
Jayden Maiava looked the part under center, but so too did young Husan Longstreet when he came in for garbage time to go 9-of-9 passing with a touchdown and rush for two more. There are weapons abound in every phase of the game and they all seem entirely bought-in for what Riley is trying to accomplish with the Trojans this season.
In no world should you take a win over Missouri State and think that USC is now a national championship contender. At the same time, the Trojans made a statement against an inferior opponent that they made look exactly like that, and there should be some credence given in terms of rankings to what that might tell us about the improvements made by Riley with this team.