College football rankings: Projected Week 2 AP Top 25 after Florida State gets embarrassed, USC upsets LSU

If you were praying for unmitigated chaos in Week 1 of the 2024 season to absolutely send the AP Top 25 college football rankings into upheaval, then you were probably disappointed with the first full Saturday of action throughout the country. However, that doesn’t mean that we didn’t have plenty of drama, plenty to take away, and plenty to shake up the rankings a bit. 

The big shakeup came in a way you might not expect, namely the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs taking on No. 14 Clemson and absolutely boat-racing the Tigers in Atlanta. It was a drubbing that showed both how good UGA can be and how far Dabo Swinney’s group might have to go. 

Then, we got two upsets on Labor Day eve and the federal holiday itself. First, USC and LSU were locked like two rams in the mountains of... Las Vegas, fighting tooth and nail for survival. But it was the Trojans who came out on top. But that was less shocking than Florida State's awful start continuing, starting out 0-2 with a loss to Boston College on Monday and plummeting out of the rankings.

But let’s not forget near upsets in the night with Michigan and Oregon flirting with disaster, Notre Dame and Texas A&M getting into a rockfight with one another in College Station and much more. 

So where does that leave the AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 1? All we can do is offer our best projections after all this action.

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 1: No. 25-21

25. Boise State Broncos

Boise State can thank Florida State for their spot in the Top 25 but the Broncos will surely take it. Spencer Danielson's defense may have a few issues to work out down the stretch -- but it may not matter too much in most of their games in the Mountain West with Ashton Jeanty carrying the load. The running back nearly hit the 300-yard mark rushing and notched six touchdowns in a dominant effort. He's the straw that stirs the drink and no Group of 5 team may have an answer for him.

24. Texas A&M Aggies

Even at 0-1 on the season, there's no doubt in my mind that Texas A&M is one of the 25 best teams in the country and I fully believe that the AP Top 25 voters will follow suit in making sure they're ranked as so. Conner Weigman and the offense still have a ways to go but the talent was still evident against a good Notre Dame defense while the Aggies own defense is going to be a bear for any team in the SEC to go up against this season.

23. Louisville Cardinals

Sure, it was against Austin Peay but Tyler Shough looked to be picking up where Jack Plummer left off at Louisville in maintaining a strong offense. I'm a big believer in Jeff Brohm at his alma mater and, while I firmly stand in the camp of the Cardinals being worse off than they were a year ago, this team passed the test in Week 1 with flying colors as they beat the Govs by 62.

22. Iowa Hawkeyes

Iowa going into halftime with only a 6-0 lead over Illinois State had everyone wondering if Brian Ferentz with a Bobby Valentine-esque mustache was posing incognito claiming to be Tim Lester. But Cade McNamara and the Hawkeyes got hot in the second half en route to a convincing 40-0 win. Still, the early struggles from the offense do leave you wondering if there will be really much change from what we’ve come to know from Kirk Ferentz’s team. 

21. Clemson Tigers

This honestly might be generous to the Clemson Tigers after what we saw on the field in Atlanta. Dabo Swinney's reluctance to dip into the transfer portal was on full display in this game as the Clemson O-line was dominated and the receivers remained inconsistent. But even more than that, man, Cade Klubnik just doesn't appear to have whatever it factor is necessary to succeed at this level at quarterback and Georgia took full advantage of that.

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 1: No. 20-16

20. Kansas State Wildcats

Anyone expecting Avery Johnson to immediately take over the starting role at Kansas State and show precisely no flaws was always kidding themselves. Chris Klieman is banking on the upside of the dual-threat quarterback and it may take some time for Johnson to realize it. The best sign was that he got better as the eventual 41-6 win over UT Martin went on but there are definitely some kinks to iron out before the Wildcats host Arizona in two weeks.

19. Kansas Jayhawks

I don’t want to lie to you, so I won’t – nothing about the 48-3 Kansas win over Lindenwood had me walking away impressed. Devin Neal remains one of the most underrated players in college football at running back but the offense wasn’t as explosive as it could’ve been while the defense was playing a clearly inferior opponent. Though Illinois isn’t a powerhouse, the Jayhawks’ visit to face the Illini next week will be far more enlightening about how good Lance Leipold’s team can be. 

18. LSU Tigers

Frankly, I'm not going to be too harsh on LSU for the loss on Sunday night. Garrett Nussmeier absolutely looks like the goods, albeit in a different way than now-departed Heisman winner Jayden Daniels. The Tigers will need to work on finishing drives under the new QB but Blake Baker's defense looks improved to some degree from last year's unit, which is a good sign moving forward if the offense can build upon a strong opener, even in a loss, with so many new pieces.

17. Arizona Wildcats

Questions about Arizona's defense after the losses they suffered in the transfer portal rose up quickly against New Mexico but things normalized late as the Lobos simply couldn't keep up with the Noah Fifita-Tetairoa McMillan combo which combined alone for more than 300 yards and all four of Fifita's touchdown throws. Brent Brennan has a powerful offense, without question, but the defense will determine how far they go in the Big 12 this season.

16. Oklahoma State Cowboys

Just when you think that Mike Gundy might zig, there the mullet goes zagging the other way. I foolishly put Oklahoma State on upset alert against FCS power South Dakota State but the Jackrabbits were no match for the Cowboys offense. I still foster some concerns about the Pokes defense (they gave up 20 points in this one), but seeing a big day from Ollie Gordon II bolstered by a strong Alan Bowman performance made Oklahoma State look live to contend in the Big 12. 

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 1: No. 15-11

15. Miami Hurricanes

For perhaps the first time in the Mario Cristobal era, we saw Miami live up to its talent level. What should terrify the rest of the ACC about that – particularly with how the conference struggled at the top in Weeks 0 and 1 – is this might be the most talented Hurricanes roster we’ve seen in a couple decades. The U beat the brakes off of Florida in The Swamp behind a Heisman-caliber performance from Cam Ward and a stalwart defense. If this was more than just getting up for the first game, Miami might run away with the SEC by the end of October.

14. Oklahoma Sooners

Was it a perfect performance against Temple? Definitely not – but Oklahoma was never remotely in danger as Jackson Arnold officially took the reins of the offense. The sophomore only threw for 141 yards but tossed four touchdowns. More importantly, the Sooners defense looked to be the best unit yet under Brent Venables, which is going to be critically important for this team to hold up in the program’s first season in the daunting SEC.

13. Tennessee Volunteers

It was against Chattanooga, so I’ll resist the instinct to overreact – but holy hell, Nico Iamaleava looks like the truth! The redshirt freshman threw for 314 yards on 22-of-28 passing with three touchdowns before resting basically all of the second half. He looked like a perfect fit in Josh Heupel’s offense and, while we need to see it against adequate competition, the Vols appear to have something special, especially with a defense that has improved greatly over the past two years. 

12. USC Trojans

What would USC look like in a post-Caleb Williams world? How would the defense improve (and how quickly) with the arrival of D'Anton Lynn? Those questions were answered in a massive way on Sunday night in Vegas. Miller Moss looked seamless in Lincoln Riley's offense, leading two go-ahead drives in the final quarter and throwing for 378 yards. Meanwhile, the defense gave up plenty but was bend-don't-break while, most importantly, not beating themselves. I was personally getting more bullish by the day on the Trojans coming into the season and, with this small sample size, I feel completely validated in that notion.

11. Utah Utes

Cam Rising, the 15th-year senior (a joke I will not stop making), made a triumphant return to the field for the Utes on Thursday night and he looked like he missed throwing touchdowns because he tossed five on the night. Utah completely dominated Southern Utah top-to-bottom in this game in the 49-0 dog-walking, notably with Rising leaving in the second quarter for the backups and with the defense allowing only 150 total yards. 

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 1: No. 10-9

10. Missouri Tigers

If a 51-0 win over Murray State is any indication, Missouri didn’t need Blake Baker, who left for LSU this offseason, to be a dominant group. Of course, playing the Racers with no Ja Morant (admittedly just about the only Murray State alum that I’m aware of) isn’t exactly what the Tigers will be doing when they get into the heart of SEC play, so maybe we’ll take the defense’s performance with a grain of salt. 

However, Brady Cook bolstered the shutout by putting up 35 points in the first half and then just sleepwalking the rest of the way when the backups took over for Mizzou. Luther Burden III also made his impact early before turning it into neutral. Again, I’m not sure we learned all that much about Eli Drinkwitz’s group but getting the job done in a week where that was harder to do than it may have seemed is worth some credit. 

9. Michigan Wolverines

Nothing that happened in Ann Arbor on Saturday night made me feel any differently about the Michigan Wolverines in their first year under Sherrone Moore. The key part of that, however, is that I had quite a lot of concerns about this team coming into the year. And on the whole, this team looked exactly like what I thought they might in the win over Fresno State. 

Make no mistake, the Michigan defense is back in full force. Fresno and Mikey Keene looked miserable having to deal with that unit throughout the night and Will Johnson sealed the game with a near-full-field pick-six late in the fourth quarter. But the offense was also largely shaky, amassing only 121 passing yards and with Donovan Edwards averaging just 2.5 yards per carry. There’s always room for improvement but, for Michigan to actually be a College Football Playoff team, this offense will need to be far better against far better competition – namely welcoming Texas to town next week. 

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 1: No. 8-7

8. Penn State Nittany Lions

It certainly wasn’t a normal game for the Penn State Nittany Lions as they played their away portion of a home-and-home with West Virginia on Saturday thanks to a multi-hour weather delay. But with essentially one half bookending the storm that passed through Morgantown, Drew Allar and Andy Kotelnicki provided some electricity of their own in how they attacked the Mountaineers defense. 

With stars like Abdul Carter on the field, it’s not all that shocking that WVU had some issues moving the ball consistently. However, after a disappointing debut season, watching Allar come out and throw three touchdowns (for 216 yards on the day) with an offense that simply looked exponentially more explosive is exactly what anyone believing that a leap coming from James Franklin’s team needed to have in their holster.

7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Once Notre Dame starting offensive tackle Charles Jagusa went down with a season-ending injury about a month before the start of the regular season, the Fighting Irish flipped from favorites on the road at Kyle Field against Texas A&M to being slight underdogs. So it's a testament to Marcus Freeman, Riley Leonard and the rest of the Irish roster that they withstood obvious hardship before the season ever kicked off to pick up a huge win.

Make no mistake, it wasn't always pretty from the Irish. There were plenty of sloppy offensive possessions. But this defense is extremely stout, which you'd expect with Freeman at the helm, and Leonard is an absolute gamer. And shouts to Jeremiyah Love for a big game out of the backfield as well. But after picking up this win, Notre Dame looks like it might have a cakewalk into the 12-team College Football Playoff field now when you take a gander at their schedule.

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 1: No. 6-5

6. Oregon Ducks

Full disclosure, we were never going to learn all that much about the Oregon Ducks in Week 1 in a matchup against Idaho. And frankly, I’d be shocked if Will Stein or Dan Lanning gave us anything other than a shell playbook against the Vandals with a sneaky great matchup against the Boise State Broncos in Eugene looming in Week 2. But at the end of the day, the Ducks took care of business and got a win, which is all you can ask for. 

The final score, XX-XX, might not be all that impressive but Dillon Gabriel still put up big numbers at the helm of the offense, just as we all expected. The defense looked stifling at times too, which is a bigger factor for the Ducks moving forward. Lanning and his staff have done a tremendous job building up the trenches for this Oregon team, and that needs to be a calling card. However, a relatively narrow win over the Vandals is going to necessitate a penalty in the rankings. 

5. Ole Miss Rebels

Was there ever a doubt that Lane Kiffin was ready to run up the score against FCS Furman in the first game of Ole Miss’ season when the Rebels are in line for a College Football Playoff berth? Jaxson Dart only played the first half but that was long enough for the Rebs to put 52 points on the board, including six touchdowns from Dart (five passing, one rushing). The punishment didn’t stop there, however, as Ole Miss was up 73-0 entering the fourth quarter. 

Even before all of the additions that Kiffin made in the offseason by way of the transfer portal, this team would’ve likely blown out the Paladins by a similarly dominant score. If we’re looking for any takeaways from this new-look Ole Miss team, though, it may be that they are as good as we expected but we’ll learn the most about the Rebels whenever they get into the heart of SEC competition and need to step up in big games. 

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 1: No. 4-3

4. Alabama Crimson Tide

The box score from Alabama’s blowout win in Tuscaloosa over Western Kentucky in Kalen DeBoer’s debut is truly just hilarious. Jalen Milroe only threw a total of nine passes in the game but completed seven of them for 200 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 79 yards and two scores. Justice Haynes, meanwhile, only had four carries, but that was good enough for 102 yards and a score. And 17-year-old freshman Ryan Williams had just two catches but took them for 139 yards and two scores. 

Frankly, there’s not much we learned about Alabama in this game. Western Kentucky was outclassed at just about every position, even with former Auburn QB T.J. Finley starting at the helm of the offense. But it was a highly successful start for the Crimson Tide in the wake of Nick Saban’s offseason retirement and one that should have anyone who was optimistic about Bama still feeling the same.

3. Texas Longhorns

Perhaps all I need to tell you to inform you of what Texas looked like in the season opener hosting Colorado State is that Arch Manning scored two touchdowns – the first of his collegiate career – in the victory. It was an absolute drubbing in Austin with a 52-0 final score and the Rams really had no chance of being anywhere close in this game, even with Quinn Ewers showing an early wart with a pick. 

But Ewers calmed down after that for a big game overall, going 20-of-27 for 260 yards with three touchdowns. The Texas offensive line looked forceful throughout this game, which is going to be a calling card for this team all year. However, it was perhaps most impressive to see a Longhorns defense that lost so many key pieces from last year’s playoff roster thoroughly manhandle a veteran-laden Colorado State offense – though they may still need to shore some things up against the run. 

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 1: No. 2-1

2. Ohio State Buckeyes

Two things can be true: We didn’t see a ton of reasons to be over the moon about Ohio State on Saturday afternoon’s season opener against Akron, but we also didn’t see anything that would necessitate moving the Buckeyes down from their No. 2 preseason ranking. 

It was certainly an imperfect performance from Ryan Day’s team, specifically from Kansas State transfer quarterback Will Howard, who failed to eclipse the 200-yard threshold passing against one of the worst teams in FBS. But the talent on Ohio State was evident, particularly at wide receiver and on the defensive side of the ball. 

Ohio State will have the rest of September to iron out the kinks, however, with matchups against Western Michigan, Marshall and Michigan State remaining in the month. The talent level suggests there’s no need to worry at all just yet – but there were some signs worth keeping an eye on whether they were season-opener miscues or indications of shortcomings. 

1. Georgia Bulldogs

Them Dawgs is hell don’t they?! After two quarters in Atlanta against Clemson, it seemed like the preseason No. 1-ranked team in the country might be feeling the effects of not having the likes of Brock Bowers and Ladd McConkey in the offense with Carson Beck any longer, in addition to Florida transfer Trevor Etienne being suspended. We quickly found out coming out of the locker room, however, that it might’ve just been nothing more than a slow start.

Georgia’s 6-0 halftime lead ballooned into a 34-3 drubbing of the Tigers over the final two quarters as Beck looked stellar, freshman Nate Frazier broke out in his first college game, and the defense outshined them all in suffocating Cade Klubnik and Co. In one of the biggest matchups of the week, it’s hard to argue anything other than the fact that Kirby Smart’s team only affirmed that they’re the best in the country.