Tomorrow's Top 25 Today: Indiana replaces Oregon, Texas returns to college football rankings

The debate at the top of the college football rankings gained another worthy contender on Saturday when Indiana marched in Oregon and handed the Ducks a stunning double-digit loss. Oregon has previously been in the mix -- with No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Miami -- as a team worthy of consideration for the "best team in the country" moniker. The voting points in the AP Top 25 poll last week reflected that with a small margin between Ohio State at No. 1 and Oregon at No. 3 and then a relatively much larger gap before getting to Ole Miss at No. 4. 

Well, that top tier changed in Week 7, and the new college football rankings should reflect that as Oregon falls out but Indiana joins the new debate for "best team in the country." 

While Indiana faces the same uphill battle from a perception standpoint that it has since Curt Cignetti began this amazing run, the win in Autzen Stadium was perception-changing. The Hoosiers looked the part at the line of scrimmage, a place that had been a game-deciding weakness in losses to Ohio State and Notre Dame last year, and dictated the game for much of the afternoon. 

The win was also historic. It marked the first time in 46 tries that Indiana had recorded a win against a AP top-five opponent on the road, and it should land a rare program appearance in the top five for this team after the victory. 

Bowl projections: Alabama becomes SEC frontrunner in College Football Playoff race, Indiana spikes

Brad Crawford

Further down in the rankings we are expecting a drop for Oklahoma outside the top 10 and a bump back into the rankings for Arch Manning and Texas after taking down the Sooners in Dallas. That, plus plenty of shake up near the end of the ballots, will highlight the key shake ups for Sunday's new rankings release. 

Here's how we project the new AP Top 25 to look after Week 7:

1. Ohio State (Last week — 1): The Buckeyes handled business at Illinois, winning the the program's eighth consecutive game against an AP-ranked team.  

2. Miami (2): The Hurricanes were off in Week 7 and will be back in action Friday night against Louisville. 

3. Indiana (7): Last season, the Hoosiers peaked at No. 5 in the AP poll, and prior to that, the high point was No. 4 in the final rankings of 1967 and 1945. If Indiana does surge to No. 3 and make program history, it will be yet another marker of success for one of the best power conference turnarounds in the 21st Century.   

4. Texas A&M (5): Mike Elko is now 7-3 in his first 10 conference games as coach of the Aggies, who are now 6-0 on the year and once again pacing to be in the mix for the SEC championship. The margin between Texas A&M and Ole Miss was minimal last week, so there's room to make a move up after a double-digit win against Florida. 

5. Ole Miss (4): A sluggish start and inconsistent play had Ole Miss in a dogfight with Washington State, which was not anything close to the expectation. Next weekend's game at Georgia will be one that will get a bigger response, but some voters will start to slide the Rebels down a spot or two.  

6. Alabama (8): A monumental effort to secure a tough road win at Missouri is met with only a slight bump up in the rankings, mostly thanks to other teams losing. Alabama remains weighted down by the season-opening loss to Florida State but will continue to rise as long as they are leading the way in the SEC title race. 

7. Texas Tech (9): The Red Raiders have a dominant gear that can leave teams in the dust, and it doesn't seem to matter the opponent or the setting. Texas Tech hit a couple spurts against Kansas that left a feisty Jayhawks squad chasing the game all night.

8. Oregon (3): The fall for the Ducks is ultimately set by the pecking order for one-loss teams. Unfortunately, for those comparing resumes, the "big win" at Penn State is losing some value. Still, the losses by other top 25 teams provide a cushion for how far Oregon will fall.   

9. Georgia (10): The Dawgs were trailing Auburn 10-0 and on the verge of going down 17-0 when Raylen Wilson punched the ball out from Jackson Arnold right at the goal line. The 20-0 run that followed allowed Georgia to improve to 5-1 on the year and remain inside the top 10.  

10. LSU (11): Another SEC title hopeful who found itself in a tight game late, LSU moved to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play with a low-scoring win against South Carolina.  

11. Tennessee (12): As the first opponents for interim coach Bobby Petrino, Tennessee unsurprisingly had its hands full with Arkansas on Saturday. It was a tough sandwich spot with Alabama on deck in Week 8, but the Vols held off the Hogs for another one-score SEC win. 

12.Georgia Tech (13): One of the better rushing attacks in the country rolled up 268 yards on the ground and Georgia Tech went wire-to-wire in a 15-point win against Virginia Tech. 

13. Oklahoma (6): If voters were being really picky, they'd note that Oklahoma's resume took a hit with both Michigan and Auburn losing on Saturday. But, ultimately, this is a matter of preference as to whether to judge the Sooners by their impressive 5-1 profile or knock them for the loss to a team that was previously unranked. 

14. Notre Dame (16): The Fighting Irish logged their 23rd straight home win against an ACC opponent, a streak that goes back to 2016, in a 36-7 victory against NC State. It's the fourth straight win after an 0-2 start to the season and second straight game the defense has been a star in the winning effort.  

15. BYU (18): What an escape for the Cougars against Arizona. in a weird game that was delayed by weather and ultimately needed two overtimes to be settled. BYU trailed by 10 early in the fourth quarter but stormed back to force extra time then walked it off with a Bear Bachmeier game-winning touchdown in the second overtime period to improve to 6-0 on the season. 

16. Virginia (19): The Cavaliers were off in Week 7 and will be back in action next week against Washington State.  

17. Vanderbilt (20): The Commodores were off in Week 7 and will be back action next week against LSU. 

18. Missouri (14): The Tigers will be buoyed by their 5-1 record and a performance against Alabama that proved this group worthy of top-tier consideration. With a profile similar to SEC foe Vanderbilt (both have wins against South Carolina, a loss to Alabama and a Power Four nonconference win), somewhere in the Commodores range makes the most sense for a landing spot. 

19. Texas (NR): The Longhorns beat Oklahoma, and there was no asterisk about whether their rival had their star quarterback. Texas, as a team, dug deep and won an ugly, low-scoring edition of the Red Rival Rivalry. Last week, the Longhorns were 27th in voting points even without a power conference win, so I'm bullish on where they could land after notching a top-10 win. 

20. South Florida (24): Friday's much-hyped showdown between USF and North Texas delivered on the fireworks (99 points) but was not quite as competitive as expected. The fact that the Bulls took a big stage and put 63 points on the board against a peer will provide some momentum for voters reconsidering their standing among the nation's best.  

21. Memphis (23): The Tigers were off in Week 7 and will be back in action next week at UAB. 

22. Nebraska (NR): Last week, the Cornhuskers were noticeably behind Cincinnati, but I think some of that will get adjusted on ballots now that Nebraska is going to garner more top 25 attention overall at 5-1. Some voters weren't even considering Nebraska last week that will after Week 7, and that's where the head-to-head win against the Bearcats could slot their arrival to the top 25.  

23. Cincinnati (NR): Last week the voters had the Bearcats 26th in voting points with a very small margin separating No. 26 from No. 23, where Memphis was last week. Given some of the shakeup at the end of the rankings, a bump into the top 25 is likely as Cincinnati improved to 3-0 in Big 12 play with a win against UCF. 

24. USC (NR): The Trojans looked good on a big stage against a quality opponent, enduring even more injuries yet still landing punches deep into what became a 31-13 win against Michigan. The loss to Illinois complicates some head-to-head debates at the end of the ballot, but a 5-1 record with a win against the Wolverines should spark a move up in voting points for sure.  

25. Utah (NR): Now at 5-1, the Utes have a solid resume with the only loss coming to a Texas Tech team that continues to be undefeated and looking worthy of a top-10 ranking. A 42-10 thrashing of Arizona State (even without the Sun Devils starting quarterback in the lineup) is going to give Utah enough attention to make the jump ahead of some other teams into the top 25.   

Projected to drop out: No. 15 Michigan, No. 17 Illinois, No. 21 Arizona State, No. 22 Iowa State, No. 25 Florida State