College football rankings 2023: Projected Week 8 AP Top 25 after Notre Dame blasts USC, Washington prevails

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 7: No. 6-5

6. Washington Huskies

Throughout the week and in spite of Washington being favored at home against rival Oregon, we heard about the Ducks just being the better team, particularly on defense. After 60 minutes, though, it was Michael Penix Jr. and the Huskies celebrating the win, still looking at a zero in the loss column, and still looking like the team to beat in the Pac-12 – perhaps even more so on that last part than before. 

Penix, Rome Odunze and the offense gutted through some injuries and miscues for a big game in the 36-33 win, but equally as important was the performance from Braelon Trice in the defense. Against one of the best O-lines in college football, they created pressure and, most importantly, made plays in the clutch. 

The schedule remains tough in the deep Pac-12 for the Huskies, but they proved they are, in fact, the cream of the crop in this league. 

5. Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma had the week off after Red River, but it was a bit surprising to see the Sooners pick up the thrilling win over then No. 3-ranked Texas and only climb to No. 5 in the AP Top 25. In our projections after last Saturday, we had them climbing to No. 3 and, frankly, I still stand by that. Yes, the win over the Longhorns is about the only thing building up their resumé… but it’s a damn good win, one of the best that we’ve seen this season. 

Unfortunately for Brent Venables’ team, the level of competition the rest of the way in the Big 12 isn’t much to write home about. Sure, that probably means the Sooners have a clear path to make it to the conference championship – a potential rematch with Texas – as an undefeated team, but it also means they’ll need help to jump into the Top 4 if the Selection Committee sees the rankings the same way as AP voters.