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. 15-11
15. Kansas State Wildcats
If you didn’t hear a single word about Kansas State in Week 1, you aren’t alone. Playing in Manhattan against Southeast Missouri State, there wasn’t a lot of attention paid to the Wildcats. But Will Howard and K-State handled their business thoroughly in a 45-0 beatdown to begin the season. If you thought that the Wildcats once again could be a threat to win the Big 12, nothing about dismantling an FCS opponent in the manner they did on Saturday affects that.
14. Oregon Ducks
There might not be a stronger being in the galaxy than the Oregon mascot who completed a ridiculous 546 pushups on Saturday afternoon as the Ducks hung 81 points on poor Portland State. In truth, there’s not much we’re going to glean from that type of shellacking other than Bo Nix and Oregon did exactly what they should against a team that is so far beneath them in terms of talent.
13. Utah Utes
Beating whatever Billy Napier has done to Florida is not something I’m overly impressed with. But for Kyle Whittingham’s Utah to handily dispatch the Gators on Thursday night in the season opener without the heartbeat of the offense, Cam Rising, under center has me quite impressed. We always seem to underrate and underestimate the Utes, and we might be doing so again, assuming Rising can return sooner rather than later.
12. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Sam Hartman and the Irish have not played a good team yet, but Notre Dame struggled with competition well below them last year. So the fact that this team has now dismantled Navy and Tennessee State by an aggregate score of 98-6 is a good sign for Marcus Freeman’s team. Next week will be the first real test, though (or at least the realest yet) with the Irish going to Raleigh to face NC State.
11. Tennessee Volunteers
Just on the scoreboard alone, Tennessee fans are going to continue pounding their chest after they thrashed an admittedly bad Virginia team on Saturday. But one of the big hopes for the Vols building upon last season’s success was Joe Milton being the next guy. Yes, he accounted for four touchdowns (two passing, two rushing), but the performance was truly not all that impressive. If Tennessee indeed wants to replicate upsetting Alabama and the like from a year ago, Milton has to be a better passer.