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AP Top 25 Poll - Week Two

With week one in the books, find out who made the cut for this week’s top 25

By Brandon Anderson
NCAA Football: California at North Carolina Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

If you are reading this, congratulations! You made it through the first weekend of college football. It was a joyous weekend for some and a rough weekend for others, but either way let’s remember: the season is just getting started. With that said, let’s take a look at the new top 25 list for week two:

  1. Alabama (60)
  2. Ohio State (1)
  3. Clemson
  4. Penn State
  5. Oklahoma
  6. USC
  7. Washington
  8. Michigan
  9. Wisconsin
  10. FSU
  11. Oklahoma St.
  12. LSU
  13. Auburn
  14. Stanford
  15. Georgia
  16. Miami
  17. Louisville
  18. Virginia Tech
  19. Kansas St.
  20. Washington St.
  21. South Florida
  22. Florida
  23. TCU
  24. Notre Dame
  25. Tennessee

*()=First Place Votes

Where is UNC?

  • For the second week in a row, UNC did not receive any votes from the Associated Press. UNC is coming off of a 30-35 loss to Cal, and will face No. 17 Louisville this coming Saturday. An upset against the Cardinals would go a long way in getting votes for next week’s poll. As of right now, Louisville is currently a -9.5 point favorite to win.

Biggest Losers

  • Florida State fell from No. 3 to No. 10 in the AP Poll following the first week of action. The Seminoles suffered a 24-7 defeat to Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide. This however did not end up being their biggest loss Saturday night, as FSU also lost their starting quarterback Deondre Francois for the rest of the season. It is very likely that the loss of Francois caused more of a drastic drop than it normally would, as they will turn to true freshman James Blackman to lead the offense the rest of the way.
  • Florida’s 27-game winning streak in season openers came to an end this weekend after losing to Michigan 33-17. The Gators went into halftime with a 17-13 lead only for everything to fall apart for them in the second half. The offense managed to only score 3 points, with the other 14 points coming from two interception returns.
  • Texas was knocked out of the AP Poll altogether following a 51-41 loss to Maryland. The Longhorns were -18.5 point favorites in this game, but they were unable to find an answer to the Terrapins’ running game resulting in 263 yards and 4 rushing touchdowns scored by four different players.

Biggest Winners

  • TCU and Notre Dame both managed to benefit from the losses that Texas and West Virginia suffered this past weekend. Despite the WVU keeping things really close for just about the entire game against Virginia Tech, they found themselves on the outside looking in on this week’s poll. TCU is coming off of a 63-0 victory against Jackson State, while Notre Dame defeated Temple 49-16. Both teams will be tested this weekend, as #24 Notre Dame plays #15 Georgia and #23 TCU will travel to Stillwater to face #11 Oklahoma State.

On the Outside Looking In

  • Utah is the first team on the outside looking in this week following a 37-16 victory over the University of North Dakota. Utes quarterback Tyler Huntley threw for 227 yards, rushed for 70 and accounted for three touchdowns. Next up they will travel to Provo, UT to face BYU. Utah is currently listed as a -1.5 favorite.
  • UCLA is on the cusp of breaking through to the top 25 after what was a wild victory against Texas A&M. After being down 44-10, the Bruins managed to score 35 unanswered points before calling a fake spike play that resulted in a game winning TD throw to Jordan Lasley. UCLA will face off against Hawai’i Saturday evening in Pasadena.
  • West Virginia found themselves outside of the top 25 this week after losing to Virginia Tech Sunday night. They will attempt to avoid starting the season 0-2 when they face off against Eastern Carolina, who also suffered a loss this past weekend against James Madison.

Top 25 Conference Breakdown

  • ACC: 5 teams
  • American: 1 team
  • Big Ten: 4 teams
  • Big 12: 4 teams
  • Pac-12: 4 teams
  • SEC: 6 teams
  • Division I FBS Independents: 1 team

Top 25 Games this Week

  • #13 Auburn will make their way to Death Valley to take on #3 Clemson. The game will be at 7:00pm ET on ESPN.
  • #15 Georgia will head up to South Bend to take on #24 Notre Dame. This game will be at 7:30pm ET on NBC.
  • #14 Stanford will face in-state foe #6 USC at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum @ 8:30pm ET on FOX

Upset Alert

  • #23 TCU will travel to Fayetteville, AR to take on Arkansas, where the Horned Frogs will be the -3.5 favorites.
  • #3 Clemson is only a -4.5 point favorite as they get set to take on #13 Auburn.
  • #24 Notre Dame is a -4.5 favorite to take down #15 Georgia in South Bend.
  • A couple other games to keep an eye on are #5 Oklahoma vs. #2 Ohio State, and #14 Stanford vs. #6 USC. Both of the highest ranked teams in these match-ups are only favored by one touchdown.

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