College football rankings 2023: Projected Week 2 AP Top 25 after Georgia, Ohio State sleepwalk, Colorado upsets TCU
- Georgia, Ohio State and Top 10 teams sleepwalking through Week 1
- Colorado upends TCU in Coach Prime's debut for Buffs
- UNC lays down the law on the "real Carolina"
Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 1: No. 20-16
20. Wisconsin Badgers
We definitely saw some stark changes from the Paul Chryst era at Wisconsin, specifically with Phil Longo taking over as offensive coordinator. The results weren’t as promising as Badgers fans would’ve hoped for, however, as Tanner Mordecai committed multiple turnovers and allowed Buffalo to hang around much closer than they should have. It was still a decisive win for Wisconsin, but there’s also still a lot to clean up in the new-look offense.
19. Oklahoma Sooners
The Oklahoma Sooners broke Butch Jones. That’s not a joke as the Arkansas State head coach fell to his knees after Dillon Gabriel and Jackson Arnold combined for a pristine OU offensive performance in a 73-0 win over the Red Wolves on Saturday afternoon. Of course, this is one of several situations where I’m not entirely sure that we learned anything about the Sooners given the level of competition, but handlin’ business is handlin’ business, which is what Oklahoma did.
18. Clemson Tigers
Clemsoning is back and there are some sad fans in South Carolina on Tuesday morning. Make no mistake, Duke is a good football team that probably should've been in the preseason Top 25 to begin with, but to go the full second half without scoring, to crumble in the clutch with multiple late turnovers and to get pasted by the Blue Devils to the tune of 28-7 is not what the high hopes for Garrett Riley and this team were. We have to reassess where we place Clemson after a season opener like that.
17. North Carolina Tar Heels
We knew that Drake Maye was the goods after what he did last season, but it’s hard not to be higher on North Carolina than at the start of the season after Saturday night in Charlotte. The Tar Heels defense was allowing big plays early, but UNC then clamped down and played the best defense we’ve seen from the program in more than a year to get a convincing neutral-site win against an SEC opponent. If that continues – and if Devontez Walker can regain eligibility – the Heels might be a live dark horse in the ACC.
16. Oregon State Beavers
One game in and it seems like the D.J. Uiagalelei era in Corvallis might be quite fruitful. The former Clemson quarterback didn't eclipse the 300-yard passing mark for the Beavers, but he accounted for five touchdowns (three passing, two rushing) in a rout of San Jose State. Obviously, you have to take the level of competition into consideration, but Jonathan Smith's Oregon State looked very much capable of living up to the hype that they built with last year's campaign.