College football rankings 2023: Projected Week 2 AP Top 25 after Georgia, Ohio State sleepwalk, Colorado upsets TCU

We should've always known that Deion Sanders in his first game with the Colorado Buffaloes would deliver the fireworks we were looking for in Week 1 of the 2023 college football season. On the road in Fort Worth against defending national runner-up TCU, that's exactly what Coach Prime did, knocking off the No. 17 team in the preseason AP Top 25 college football rankings with a 45-42 win.

All told, the first full Saturday of college football in Week 1 wasn't loaded with a ton of drama in terms of ranked teams that were truly in danger of losing outside of the Horned Frogs. However, that didn't stop teams like Georgia and Ohio State, among others, from stumbling far more than they should have against inferior opponents.

Even still, those early stumbles and, in contrast, some impressive performances will shake up the AP Top 25 college football rankings for Week 2, so we're projecting what the poll will look like with Saturday in Week 1 now in the books.

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 1: No. 25-21

25. Colorado Buffaloes

Look, this is projecting the AP Top 25. And while I’m unconvinced that Colorado is a Top 25 team, the Buffs are almost surely going to be ranked in the Week 2 poll after upsetting TCU in such a thrilling fashion. Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter are the real deal, as is Dylan Edwards, and the Buffaloes could very well beat Nebraska next week with a similar performance as the one they put forth on Saturday. Does that make them a true Top 25 team? Maybe not, but again, the AP voters will make sure to react fully to Week 1. 

24. Duke Blue Devils

Riley Leonard and the Duke offense were fine at best on Monday night against Clemson, which you would've thought would be a death knell for the Blue Devils in the high-profile matchup. But Mike Elko's defense was more than up to the challenge of stopping Cade Klubnik and the Tigers offense, particularly in the second half. The Duke defense blanked the Tigers in the second half and, it turns out, the ACC might be far deeper than we considered.

23. Tulane Green Wave

Hand up, I fully overestimated the loss of Tyjae Spears while underrating both Michael Pratt and Willie Fritz. But Tulane showed that they are ready to continue the momentum that they built a season ago as they opened their 2023 campaign with a convincing and dominant win over a South Alabama team that’s one of the favorites to win the Sun Belt. They’ll have the opportunity to further prove their merits next week as they face Ole Miss. 

22. Texas A&M Aggies

If you were looking for an immediate implosion from the Jimbo Fisher-Bobby Petrino offensive marriage at Texas A&M, it was never going to come against New Mexico. But with Conner Weigman throwing for five touchdowns and the Aggies racking up a 52-10 win in the season opener, there might be actually signs of optimism coming from Kyle Field, which is a stark contrast to virtually any and everything that happened in the 2022 season. It can turn on a dime, to be sure, but it was undeniably a promising start in College Station. 

21. Ole Miss Rebels

There was little doubt that, no matter which of the three quarterbacks Lane Kiffin has brought into the Ole Miss program from the portal over the past two years started against Mercer, they would trounce the FCS opponent. Indeed, Jaxson Dart had a career day dicing up the defense in the first half, which Spencer Sanders then continued late. All told, Ole Miss walked away with a 73-7 win, but will get a much stiffer test next weekend in a fantastic matchup against Tulane.