College football rankings 2023: Projected Week 7 AP Top 25 after Oklahoma stuns Texas, Georgia routs Kentucky
- Oklahoma turned the Horns Down in Texas' dream of perfect season
- Georgia, Michigan showed exceptionally dominant form
- Louisville ended all of Notre Dame's hopes, keep their own alive
Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 6: No. 20-16
20. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
For my money, Notre Dame should not be ranked with two losses, even if the teams that they Irish have lost to are a combined 11-0. It’s just still too early in the season with too many quality squads for my taste. However, given that LSU was still ranked coming into Week 6, the same will likely still be true for Marcus Freeman’s team. There will be no rest for the Irish either as they host USC next week.
19. Tennessee Volunteers
Tennessee showed some real moxie last week in Knoxville by thoroughly taking care of South Carolina before getting this week off. The Vols have still not proven themselves against an upper-tier opponent and the loss to Florida now looks even worse given the Gators dropping off a bit. But we’ll find out a lot about Josh Heupel’s team next week when they host Texas A&M.
18. Duke Blue Devils
There’s a good chance that Duke head coach Mike Elko was thankful that he and his team got the week off after the heartbreaking loss a week ago to Notre Dame. The big concern for the Blue Devils, however, is that Riley Leonard suffered a high-ankle sprain in the loss, which could really send this team into a downward spiral given how critical his presence is to the offense being effective at all.
17. Utah Utes
Kyle Whittingham’s team was off in Week 6 after getting clipped by Oregon State in Corvallis last week, and it’s starting to get too concerning with Cam Rising given that he still hasn’t played this season. Without their star QB, this Utah team just simply isn’t a Top 25 team because of how limited the offense is. If he can return close to full strength, though, this defense is more than good enough for the Utes to play spoiler in the Pac-12.
16. Washington State Cougars
After being in Pat McAfee’s crosshairs throughout this week, Washington State was unable to keep its perfect regular season alive as they went on the road and lost to UCLA. Wazzu held a 17-12 lead after three quarters in a sloppy game for both teams, but the Bruins pulled ahead in the fourth quarter to get the victory at home in a game wherein they were favored. The Cougs might not be a Pac-12 contender, but this shouldn’t make anyone think less of them.