Projected college football rankings after Notre Dame thumps Louisville, USC, Oklahoma, Texas stave off upsets

There has been no shortage of exciting action in Week 5 of the college football season.

We can start, of course, with Kentucky's shocking defeat of Ole Miss in Oxford. Suddenly, the Rebels go from a dark-horse SEC champion threat to a fringe postseason team. The Wildcats were inches from toppling UGA a couple weeks ago, so Kentucky has established itself as a team to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, a bad 31-6 loss to South Carolina early in the campaign could keep UK out of the AP rankings for now.

Perhaps even more notable was Notre Dame's 31-24 victory over Lousiville in a ranked ACC matchup. That has profound implications for the AP committee, as the Cardinals (No. 15) were ranked neck-and-neck with the Fighting Irish (No. 16) going into the game. Notre Dame now has wins over two quality ranked opponents in Louisville and Texas A&M, which should counterbalance that letdown against Northern Illinois a few weeks ago.

Several postseason contenders around the college football landscape were put on upset alert this week. Speak of the devil, Texas A&M squeaked out a four-point victory over Arkansas to advance to 4-1. Wisconsin played USC tight through the first half, but fell apart down the stretch in a Trojans victory. Oklahoma appeared on the verge of losing to Auburn in a true 'welcome to the SEC' moment, but a late INT turned the tide in the Sooners' favor. Texas only led Mississippi State 14-6 at halftime, but almost tripled that lead by the end of the game. Arch Manning lived up to the hype.

So, as the chaos unfolds before us, here's an updated look at how the AP Top 25 might shake out.

Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Notre Dame beats Louisville, Arch Manning dazzles vs. Mississippi State

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. Michigan Wolverines
12. Ole Miss Rebels
13. USC Trojans
14. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
15. LSU Tigers
16. Clemson Tigers
17. Iowa State Cyclones
18. Illinois Fighting Illini
19. Kansas State Wildcats
20. Oklahoma Sooners
21. BYU Cougars
22. Texas A&M Aggies
23. Boise State Broncos
24. Indiana Hoosiers
25. Louisville Cardinals

There are obviously a few consequential games left on the docket, none more so than Alabama versus Georgia. The outcome of that game could reverberate throughout the SEC. The winner gets the inside track to the conference title game and a postseason berth. The loser, well, the job gets a bit more difficult down the stretch. One team loses its margin for error tonight.

Washington State was right on the Top 25 bubble last weekend and gets a chance to topple Boise State tonight. That outcome of that game could determine which teams are kicking around the tail-end of the AP's final rankings next week.