College football rankings: Ohio State, Florida State set for big moves as Texas, Alabama drop in top 25 polls
Projecting some of the rankings changes after Week 1 results in college football
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6 min read
Week 1 is nearly in the books, but the college football rankings will not be updated for the first time in a month until the entire slate officially concludes Monday night. With most of the results decided, some early projections can be made for changes to the AP Top 25 poll, which will be released Tuesday.
Once college football settles into its regular routine, our weekly AP Top 25 projections -- "Tomorrow's Top 25 Today" -- will be found on CBS Sports every Saturday night. For Week 1, that will run on Monday night in advance of the poll refresh Tuesday ... but who wants to wait another 48 hours to project poll movements when so many significant rankings-related results already transpired Thursday, Friday and Saturday?
After all, there have already been handful of top 25 teams that have taken losses since the preseason polls were released, and we have plenty more information to use for ranking these teams against one another. Ohio State's win against Texas will bring about a new debate regarding the No. 1 team in the country, and Alabama's loss at Florida State opens up relevant questions about how both teams stack up against their peers in the rankings.
So with three games left on the Week 1 schedule and three ranked teams left to play, here's how we believe teams will be moving up and down in the new college football rankings.
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| Will the No. 3 Buckeyes take over the top spot after beating the No. 1 team in the country? They will certainly have some competition in the debate from Big Ten rival Penn State, which handled business as expected in a 35-point win against Nevada. Ohio State already received 11 first-place votes in the preseason poll compared to Penn State's 23 first-place votes, so the question is whether the 25 first-place votes that Texas received will go mostly to the Buckeyes or the Nittany Lions. We will save our official prediction for "Tomorrow's Top 25 Today," but at a minimum, we can project that Ohio State is moving up to No. 2 and will be ahead of Texas in the new top 25. | |
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| The Longhorns are obviously going to fall from the No. 1 spot in the rankings, but how far they tumble is likely to be mitigated by the fact that the defeat was on the road, close in nature (14-7 final score) and to an opponent that a majority of AP voters already had as a top-three team in the country. So while the conversation and narratives around Arch Manning and Texas' inability to live up to the preseason hype, the reality of comparing these teams still has Texas as a squad deserving of a top-10 ranking. | |
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| A burning question for the pollsters is whether No. 8 Alabama deserves to fall all the way out of the top 25 after losing as a two-touchdown favorite at unranked Florida State. Much like Texas, we are probably dealing with stronger reactions in the discussion around the defeat than actual rankings ramifications, but the adjustment will be drastic. Look for Alabama to fall somewhere between No. 20 and No. 25 in the updated AP Top 25 poll as voters will give the Tide a mulligan for the stunning loss but put them on the chopping block should Alabama stumble again. | |
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| The Seminoles were already on the radar of the AP Top 25 voters, as they received enough votes to be 40th in the preseason balloting. After beating Alabama 31-17, Florida State will undoubtedly be ranked in the refreshed rankings and could find themselves somewhere in the mid-teens or higher. Ultimately, this will be a team that has one of the largest ranges in terms of the highest ranking and lowest ranking across the 65 voters, but the consensus could fall between No. 10 and No. 20. There's an argument to place FSU as high as No. 11 for voters who the program ranked in the preseason top 25, but for others who had the Seminoles off the ballot, it'll take a few more wins to slot them that high. | |
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| The streak of LSU and Brian Kelly (respectively and together) losing season openers has been snapped in emphatic fashion as the No. 9 Tigers walked into that other Death Valley and came out with a top-five win against Clemson. With so much focus on the two quarterbacks, the primary storyline proved to be how Blake Baker's defense kept Cade Klubnik and the home team offense in check during a 17-10 win. Harold Perkins and the Tigers defense delivered the winning plays during a second-half shutout while Garrett Nussmeier bounced back from a tough start to find some rhythm and lead two key touchdown drives after halftime. Now, LSU has stepped into the space that Alabama leaves as one of the top contenders in the SEC, and with this road win, it will have a great argument for the College Football Playoff debates that will come in November. | |
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| This is a tough loss for Cade Klubnik and No. 4 Clemson, which is now 0-4 against the SEC since the start of the 2024 season. Everything is ahead of the Tigers in terms of competing for another ACC championship, but with Florida State's win against Alabama, even that path looks more daunting than it did before the start of the season. Since Clemson lost to a top-10 team there's a pretty high floor for how far the Tigers will fall, but the narrative that Dabo Swinney's program is "back" has hit a major speed bump here with a rare home loss under the lights. | |
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| Count your present company among the college football media that did not buy into the idea that Matt Campbell and the No. 22 Cyclones could carry over the success from an 11-win campaign into being a top team in the Big 12 again in 2025. Well not only was I wrong, even the believers undersold what Iowa State could be this season. This looks like another Big 12 title contender, even after losing two 1,000-yard receivers to the NFL. Quarterback Rocco Becht had moxie in the win over Kansas State in Ireland and was crisp in a 55-7 win against South Dakota, going 19 of 20 for 278 yards and three touchdowns in his first game back stateside. | |
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| Not only did the No. 17 Wildcats lose to Iowa State in Dublin during Week 0, Saturday's encore against FCS North Dakota did not deliver a result that is going to convince voters they deserve a spot in the refreshed top 25. Kansas State trailed 35-31 in a back-and-forth game before Avery Johnson led a touchdown drive in the final minutes to win 38-35 and avoid an 0-2 start to the season. | |
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| This is a fairly easy adjustment for voters, who weren't all the way sold on Boise State as a top 25 team in the preseason balloting. The No. 25 Broncos fell way short of expectations and looked all out of sorts in a 27-point loss at South Florida on Thursday night. The Broncos will have another opportunity to get the voters' attention in early October with a visit to Notre Dame, but at this point, should turn their attention to winning the Mountain West if the 2025 season is going to include a return to playoff contention. | |
CBS Sports will release a complete projected AP Top 25 on Monday night following the conclusion of Week 1 play.
