Projected college football rankings after Georgia embarrasses Clemson

Offense was at a premium on Saturday in Atlanta through the first half as the Georgia Bulldogs held just a marginal 6-0 lead over the Clemson Tigers. As both teams came out of the locker room to finish their first games of the 2024 college football season, it seemed like anything could happen to shake up the rankings with the No. 1 team only leading the No. 14 team by less than a score.

Then the second half came to pass -- and we got a front-row seat to just how far apart these two teams actually are.

Cade Klubnik and the Clemson offense remained completely stagnant trying to attack this stacked Georgia defense while the same wasn't true for Kirby Smart's team. Carson Beck came out with new energy that was infectious for the rest of the offense around him. The Dawgs poured on 28 points in the second half behind Beck's near 300-yard performance and true freshman Nate Frazier sparking the run game.

The end result was a dominant 34-3 victory for Georgia. And while there's no shame, necessarily, when it comes to losing to the No. 1 team in the preseason college football rankings, losing like that is going to see Clemson tumble down in the next AP Top 25 poll.

Projected college football rankings after Clemson gets blown out by Georgia

How far will Clemson fall? Here's what the projected AP Top 25 rankings will look like after this marquee matchup and Georgia's dominant win.

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

I can't quite get to the point where I'm dropping Clemson behind Florida State, a conference foe that lost to Georgia Tech (not Georgia) in Ireland to open the year in Week 0. However, the Tigers are certainly in danger of falling out of the Top 20, especially this early in the season.

Georgia only further affirmed their place as the No. 1 team in the country, though. Ohio State was knocking on the door according to preseason projections but, after an inauspicious start in the first half, they looked like the Death Star we expected them to be against a Top 15 team in the country.