Projected CFB rankings after Ole Miss loses to Kentucky, Michigan survives Minnesota

While it wasn't the most robust 12:00 p.m. ET slate of games in Week 5 of the 2024 college football season, we did get an upset, two close calls, and essentially a College Football Playoff elimination. No. 6 Ole Miss fell at home to unranked Kentucky. Michigan held on vs. Minnesota. BYU nearly let Baylor get back into their game. And Kansas State handed Oklahoma its second loss of the season.

With the results of those four games being final, all of which will impact how the Associated Press feels about the 25 best teams in the country heading into next week. We know for a fact that Ole Miss is going to fall. Michigan could fall, and so could BYU. While it remains to be seen if Kansas State moves up the poll, we also know that Oklahoma State is not going to be ranked and out of the picture.

So what I am going to do today is assess those four games of note in the early-afternoon window and see how the AP could vote. Again, we still have a bunch of games left to be played. We will not know those outcomes until late, only what we have seen up to this point. Over the course of the day, we will get a better sense of how the Associated Press is going to formalize its top 25 teams for next week.

Here us a glimpse of what the voters could be thinking heading into the late-afternoon window.

Projected AP Top 25 after Kentucky stuns Ole Miss at Vaught-Hemingway

This is how the four games we just watched could impact the next AP Top 25 Poll for the time being.

1. Texas Longhorns
2. Georgia Bulldogs
3. Ohio State Buckeyes
4. Alabama Crimson Tide
5. Tennessee Volunteers
6. Miami Hurricanes
7. Oregon Ducks
8. Penn State Nittany Lions
9. Utah Utes
10. Missouri Tigers
11. Ole Miss Rebels
12. Michigan Wolverines
13. USC Trojans
14. LSU Tigers
15. Louisville Cardinals
16. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
17. Clemson Tigers
18. Iowa State Cyclones
19. Illinois Fighting Illini
20. Oklahoma Sooners
21. BYU Cougars
22. Kansas State Wildcats
23. Texas A&M Aggies
24. Boise State Broncos
25. Washington State Cougars

Ole Miss is going to fall, but I cannot put the Rebels further back of Michigan. Even though their one loss is worse than Michigan's to Texas, the Wolverines have not been as impressive in their victories, outside of beating USC last weekend, of course. So with that the Wolverines maintain the No. 12 spot for the time being. With Oklahoma State losing, BYU and Kansas State both move up a spot as well.

And while they have a tough game later tonight vs. Boise State, you would have to move Washington State up a spot and into the top 25 for the time being. Of course, there is going to be so much more movement ahead of us with Alabama hosting Georgia, Notre Dame hosting Louisville and Penn State hosting Illinois. There will be three winners from those games and three losers who will be downtick.

Ultimately, the big thing with the Ole Miss loss is the Rebels go from a College Football Playoff lock to being incredibly borderline. I don't know if they are going to make the top-12 this week in my playoff projections. They might, but the Rebels may need to go 11-1 to ensure themselves of that. If they lose to Georgia, they must win out. Even then, how good of a win will it be should they beat LSU later?

Ole Miss could fall as far as into the teens with this shocking home defeat to Kentucky on Saturday.