College football rankings 2023: Projected Week 3 AP Top 25 after Texas upsets Alabama, Colorado rolls again
- Texas is back, and Alabama is probably not
- UNC, Oregon, Utah and surprisngly Tennessee all held on for dear life
- Colorado rolled to another big-time win
Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 2: No. 8-7
8. Washington Huskies
Michael Penix Jr. and the Washington offense weren’t quite as explosive against Tulsa as they were in the Week 1 blowout over Boise State, but the Huskies still left zero doubt about the better team on Saturday afternoon.
Penix led the way, though he did throw a pick, with 409 yards on 28-of-38 passing along with three scores. The end result as the defense limited the Golden Hurricane to only 150 yards passing on the day was a 43-10 victory for Washington.
It was actually a bit of a sloppy game for a highly potent Huskies team as they did let Tulsa find some success on the ground, committed 93 yards worth of penalties, and turned the ball over twice. But it speaks to how explosive Kalen DeBoer’s team is that they had that type of performance and still secured a 33-point win.
7. Penn State Nittany Lions
Playing against FCS Delaware in Happy Valley, you would’ve expected Penn State to pour it on with ease. The Nittany Lions did exactly that. Drew Allar was efficient and as good as he needed to be in his second start, throwing for 204 yards and a score on 22-of-26 passing. But it was the Penn State run game that really controlled the offensive side of the ball.
Kaytron Allen tallied 103 yards and a touchdown on the day, Trey Potts added 59 yards on just seven carries, and Nicholas Singleton – though he only averaged 3.9 yards per carry – notched three touchdowns on the day. Meanwhile, the defense was suffocating outside of a 66-yard touchdown run, giving up just 16 rushing yards outside of that and forcing the Blue Hens quarterbacks into a 6-of-17 for 58 yards with an interception performance.
There’s not a ton to glean from this type of game for Penn State, but they rolled in the manner a Top 10 team should.