New top 25 AP predicted
1. Ohio State (1). Uh ... Buckeyes? Look, we know the focus isn't going to be there week-in and week-out against the dregs of your dreggy schedule. We know Northern Illinois has a habit of playing well vs. Big Ten teams. We know it was just a couple weeks back you were blasting Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. But ... 298 total yards? Under 5 yards a play? Against a MAC defense that gave up 30 points at home to UNLV to start the season? OK, Buckeyes.
2. Michigan State (4). Aaron Burbridge had three career touchdowns entering Saturday's game against Air Force, in which he scored three touchdowns in the Spartans' ho-hum victory. Next up the next three weeks: Central Michigan, Purdue and Rutgers. Wake us up when they go to Ann Arbor.
3. TCU (3). The Battle for the Iron Skillet was a far tougher battle than many expected --Chad Morris's 37-point underdogs from SMU pulled within 42-37 of the Horned Frogs with just over eight minutes remaining in the game. With the polling margin between the Frogs and Spartans already only 12 points heading into this week, the guess here is that voters may pull a switcheroo.
4. Baylor (5). The Bears had a bye to prep for next week's nonconference showdown with -- sigh -- Rice.
5. Ole Miss (15). 10 spots is a heck of a jump, but there's still no SEC victory worth more than beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Add that in with the Rebels' total dominance of their first two opponents, and it's tough to argue they aren't one of the best five teams in the country -- or the best team in the SEC right now. If the projection here is No. 5, it won't be a shock if they're even higher.
6. Georgia (7). There's no team Bulldog fans would rather blow to smithereens than Steve Spurrier's. We've got good news, Bulldog fans: your team blew Steve Spurrier's to smithereens.
7. Notre Dame (
. Georgia Tech's offense has been one of the best in the country dating back to midseason 2014, but the Jackets had no answers for Jaylon Smith and the Irish defense, which currently has a distinct whiff of the 2012 unit about it. The gap in the balloting between the Irish and Georgia was paper-thin entering this week; it's hard to see the Bulldogs slipping a spot after blasting the Gamecocks, but the pollsters might nonetheless find a way to reward a victory as solid as Saturday's.
8. Florida State (9). Who needs offense when you've got the Seminoles' defense?
9. LSU (13). No, Auburn isn't the team pollsters collectively believed deserved to start the season ranked No. 6 in the country. Annihilating them the way Leonard Fournette and Co. did is impressive all the same.
10. UCLA (10). Josh Rosen had easily his toughest game of his young career Saturday night, but the Bruins defense rose up to preserve a one-point victory over BYU -- and as Nebraska and Boise know, beating BYU in a close game isn't easy these days.
11. Clemson (11). If you win a conference road game on a Thursday night after playing the previous Saturday, there's no apologizing for how close that win might have been.
12. Alabama (2). The Crimson Tide might not even slide this far, but it's worth remembering that the Rebels weren't considered a top-10 team entering this week, and that Oregon dropped to No. 12 after losing on the road (not at home) to a team that was. In any case: as 2014 proved, it's not as if the Tide won't have opportunities to move back up.
13. Oregon (12). No Vernon Adams, no problem for the Ducks offense against Georgia State. Of course, it's Georgia State -- which means the 28 points allowed might be a concern. Maybe.
14. Texas A&M (17). The Aggies had more trouble with Nevada than they did Ball State. Which is not to say they had all that much trouble. Arkansas in Arlington next week promises to make the Aggies work harder than they've had to work since the first half of the Arizona State game.
15. Oklahoma (16). Baker Mayfield and the Sooners offense against Tulsa: pretty damn fantastic. Mike Stoops' Sooners defense, especially against Hail Marys: pretty damn unfantastic.
16. Arizona (20). The Wildcats' decidedly uninspiring early-season slate continued with a home date vs. FCS Northern Arizona. With 77 points scored, at least RichRod's team got its payout money's worth.
17. Utah (21). Not having Travis Wilson vs. Fresno State doesn't matter as much when you still have Devontae Booker. And also when you're playing Fresno State.
18. Northwestern (23). No teams has exceeded early-season expectations more than the Wildcats, who have played two Power Five teams in Stanford and Duke and have still allowed a total of 16 points over three games.
19. USC (6). This season, the Trojans didn't have much problem solving the Stanford defense ... and somehow gave up 41 points to a Cardinal offense that had been decidedly lo-fi over the season's first two weeks. And once again the heat will be applied to Steve Sarkisian.
20. Georgia Tech (14). Notre Dame had 215 rushing yards. Georgia Tech had 216. That pretty much sums up the Jackets' day in South Bend.
21. Wisconsin (24). Miami (Ohio) and Troy aren't the strongest of competition these days, but still, holding them to a combined three points over the past two weeks is a sign Dave Aranda's defense is -- once again -- probably ready for Big Ten play.
22. Missouri (22). Missouri is 3-0, though after beating Arkansas State by seven points and averaging 4.1 yards a play, then beating UConn 9-6 while averaging ... wait for it ... 4.1 yards per-play means that's not the shiniest of 3-0 records by a long, long shot.
23. Oklahoma State (25). Well, at least the Cowboys beat UT-San Antonio in far more impressive fashion than Central Michigan or Central Arkansas. (Next week, finally: Texas.)
24. BYU (19). And we've reached the portion of the poll where your guess is as good as mine. With the Cougars playing a highly competitive game against the Bruins in Los Angeles, the last two slots seem likely to be filled by some combination of BYU, Temple, West Virginia, Cal (assuming they hold on vs. Texas) and the one-loss SEC pair of Mississippi State and Tennessee. Of those six teams, only BYU and Cal faced decent opponents in Week 3, meaning that even though Temple (squeaked past Umass by two) and West Virginia (on a bye) came into this week as the top vote-getters outside the poll, they might not be in the best position to take advantage.
The guess here is that with the Cougars coming within a point of overtime, they won't be punished too badly for losing at UCLA, and that they'll be joined by ...
25. Cal (NR). The Bears only drew five points in last week's voting, one of the lowest totals for any team that received a vote at all. Northwestern couldn't quite crack the top 25 after beating Stanford in Week 1 when they entered the week without much in the way of support, so why will things be different for Cal? Because it's still Texas -- and a win in Austin (even one that came with a huge assist from poor Nick Rose) is one that's orders of magnitude more noticeable than any of their competitors' for this final spot.
