The college football rankings will have a new look when they update Sunday after more than a handful of ranked teams lost during Week 8. When all the points and scores settle, we should expect some top-10 moves and a return to the AP Top 25 for a surging LSU team that easily defeated previously undefeated Ole Miss in the SEC Game of the Week on CBS.
The Tigers’ 45-20 win in the Magnolia Bowl was the program’s sixth win in the last seven meetings in this historic rivalry; it also extended their Death Valley winning streak to seven games. Just like in 2014, Ole Miss showed up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, undefeated with hopes of competing for the SEC West only to leave with a loss. The Rebels will take a step back in the rankings and fall into the new AP Top 25 as LSU — now 6-2 overall and in first place in the SEC West — will return to the national rankings in the first tie since the first -week on display earlier this month.
Ole Miss wasn’t the only team to start the day undefeated, but they will no longer have the advantage in the standings and zero in the loss column. Of the nine teams that entered Week 8 undefeated, six played FBS opponents (Georgia and Michigan were shut out, Tennessee played UT-Martin). Three of the remaining six lost. UCLA suffered its first loss of the season at Oregon, Ole Miss fell at LSU, and Clemson beat Syracuse. Of course, the matchup between the Tigers and the Orange guaranteed that one undefeated team would lose, but it was an example of how difficult it is to stay undefeated with the ugly games that are bound to happen along the way.
AP Top 25 voters have a habit of slowly moving up teams that avoid that first loss, resulting in a high ranking later in the year. But with a loss, those teams become less special and more subject to scrutiny in terms of quality wins. In this case, the big shakeup in the college football rankings after Week 8 will be as much jumps by teams like LSU and Oregon as seeing where previously undefeated teams fall in their rankings.
Here’s how we think the new AP Top 25 will look on Sunday:
1. Georgia (Last Week — 1): The Bulldogs were shutout in Week 8 and will be back in action next week in their annual rivalry game against Florida.
2. Ohio State (2): Despite a sloppy start, the Buckeyes rallied and scored 38 unanswered points in a 54-10 win against Iowa. C.J. Stroud threw four touchdowns to increase his season total to 28, which leads all FBS quarterbacks.
3. Tennessee (3): The ability to simply outplay any threat remains Tennessee’s biggest strength. Any threat of an Alabama hangover against UT-Martin was cured with points as the Volunteers raced to a 52-7 halftime lead and cruised to a 65-24 victory.
4. Michigan (4): The Wolverines were shut out in Week 8 and will be back in action next week against rival Michigan State.
5. Clemson (5): While DJ Uiagalelei benching Cade Klubnik is generating a lot of conversation, I’m wary of the idea that DJU’s struggles against Syracuse will lead to Alabama leapfrogging the Tigers for No. 5. Clemson was closer to Michigan than Alabama. in last week’s voting points, and while the Tigers fell short of expectations in terms of two goals, they still won against a previously undefeated top 15 opponent.
6. Alabama (6): After giving up 52 points, Alabama held Mississippi State to just six points. And after committing a career-high 17 penalties, the Crimson Tide had just three for 20 yards in the 24-point victory.
7. TCU (8): While the move up the rankings may only be a spot or two, the Horned Frogs have something special this season that should shift our focus to what they can accomplish at the end of the year. Kansas State is its fourth straight ranked opponent at the time of the TCU loss, and now this 7-0 team is staring down the bottom of the schedule with mostly unranked opponents. Sonny Dykes’ side proved a resilient bunch, overcoming a double-digit deficit for the second week in a row, and now the challenge becomes to maintain that lead without the week-to-week fanfare it provided last month.
8. Oregon (10): Bo Nix was one of the big winners in Week 8 as he scored five touchdowns as the Ducks beat UCLA in a 45-30 win. After putting up good numbers against some of the weaker opponents in the Pac-12, this was a group that needed a quality win on its profile, and now there’s a win to back up what Oregon fans have been saying for weeks: Nix, and the Ducks aren’t a team blown out by Georgia in Week 1. Oregon has improved (as have teams) and suddenly, going 6-1 with its only loss coming at No. 1 stands out as one of the best one-loss profiles in the country.
9. Oklahoma State (11): A week after TCU was forced into double overtime by not being able to score enough points late in the game, the Cowboys got a fourth quarter win in a 41-34 win over Texas. Oklahoma State outscored Texas 17-0 over the final 16 minutes of the game, and the defense came to the fore when it tallied an interception for the key game.
10. USC (12): The Trojans were shutout in Week 8 and will be back in action next week in Arizona.
11. Wake Forest (13): Sam Hartman was electric as the Demon Deacons bounced back from the bye week in style with a 43-15 home win against Boston College in which the star quarterback accounted for six total touchdowns and threw for 314 yards in the game. win.
12. UCLA (9): Utah’s win sets the stage for the Bruins to fall, and since AP Top 25 voters named Utah a top-15 team with two losses, there’s no expectation UCLA will fall too far down the rankings.
13. LSU (NR): There was already a significant amount of voter support for the Tigers in last week’s poll as LSU checked in at No. 27 behind a Purdue team that lost at Wisconsin and less than 30 voting points behind No. 25 Tulane. . So after not only beating Ole Miss, but imposing their will after halftime in a 45-20 win, LSU is poised to be the top-ranked two-loss team in the country.
14. Ole Miss (7): Now going against one- and two-loss teams, the Rebels could see a steep drop in the rankings. The best win on the profile is a 22-19 home win against Kentucky, and the next best win is the debate between Troy and Auburn.
15. Penn State (16): AP voters sometimes have “sticker shock” movements as a result of wins that seem out of line with pregame expectations. Penn State was nearly upset as the home favorite by less than a touchdown against Minnesota, but the Nittany Lions put on just the kind of performance needed to banish memories of last week’s loss at Michigan and build anticipation for next week’s showdown with Ohio State. Will a 45-17 win be enough to jump ahead of one-loss teams (like UCLA, Ole Miss) coming off Week 8 losses? We’re predicting no, but it’s close to making the top 12.
16. Utah (15): The Utes were shut out in Week 8 and will return to action Thursday night at Washington State.
17. Illinois (18): The Fighting Illini are off in Week 8 and will be back in action next week at Nebraska.
18. Kentucky (19): The Wildcats played in Week 8 and will be back in action next week at Tennessee.
19. Syracuse (14): AP voters have been slow to pay attention to Syracuse during its undefeated start, and that usually results in a quick knockdown after a loss. Two things should help provide a foundation for Syracuse from a ranking perspective, the first being how close the Orange came to pulling off the road after the Death Valley setback, and the second being a back-to-back win against NC State, which is in danger of being skipped in some polls, but would should still remain in the top 25 on Sunday.
20. Kansas State (17): Injuries at quarterback — Wildcats down to third signal-caller in loss at TCU — voters will take into account to keep from falling off the rankings … just not enough to avoid falling a few spots.
21. Cincinnati (21): Teams like South Carolina and Liberty were hoping that SMU’s late scoring spree and 2-point attempt would result in the Bearcats losing and opening up a spot in the top 25. However, the Bearcats’ defense, which overall had strong performance in a 29-27 win at SMU, came up with the game-winning 2-point attempt to keep the Bearcats at 7-1.
22. North Carolina (22): The Tar Heels were eliminated in Week 8 and will be back in action next week against Pittsburgh.
23. NC State (23): The Wolfpack were shutout in Week 8 and will return to action Thursday night against Virginia Tech.
24. Tulane (25): Like Cincinnati, Tulane had to give up a late charge, but unlike the Bearcats, the lead built by the Green Wave (35-0) left most of Memphis’ hits unofficially recorded as fouls. .
25. South Carolina (NR): The Gamecocks faced a wide margin of votes against the top 25, but in terms of standings, they are tied for 28th with UCF, which lost handily at ECU on Saturday night. But it wasn’t just the Purdue and UCF losses that opened the door to South Carolina’s first appearance in the AP Top 25 since 2018, it was the way South Carolina jumped on Texas A&M early and held off the Aggies late 30-24. to win.
Projected Drop: Texas (20), Mississippi State (24)
