AP Top 25 college football poll released for week 2

Posted on Sep 7 2016 - 8:01am by Cody Thomason

POLL:

  1. Alabama
  2. Clemson
  3. Florida State
  4. Ohio State
  5. Michigan
  6. Houston
  7. Stanford
  8. Washington
  9. Georgia
  10. Wisconsin
  11. Texas
  12. Michigan State
  13. Louisville
  14. Oklahoma
  15. TCU
  16. Iowa
  17. Tennessee
  18. Notre Dame
  19. Ole Miss
  20. Texas A&M
  21. LSU
  22. Oklahoma State
  23. Baylor
  24. Oregon
  25. Miami

 

There’s always a good bit of turnover in the first few weeks of the AP Top 25 poll, and after the first week there are some pretty significant changes to the college football landscape.

The defending champion Alabama Crimson Tide remains in the top spot after dominating USC this week, who dropped out of the Top 25 after being ranked No. 20 before the game. Meanwhile, the second-ranked Clemson Tigers held on to their No. 2 spot after winning a surprisingly hard fought game against Auburn.

The NCAA does have a new No. 3 team, however, as Oklahoma has dropped all the way to 14 after falling victim to a shocking upset from Houston. Houston’s Greg Ward Jr. threw for 321 yards and two touchdowns in the unexpected victory. In turn, the Cougars have moved up from 15 to the sixth spot in the poll.

The new No. 3 team is Florida State, who moved up one spot after their furious comeback against the No. 11 Ole Miss Rebels. Ohio State takes the No. 4 spot after scoring 77 on Bowling Green, and Michigan rose to the next spot after scoring 63 on Hawaii.

Stanford rose a single spot to number seven, and Washington rose to the eighth spot after being ranked at 14 in week one. Georgia came in at No. 9 after being ranked at 18, as the Bulldogs notched an impressive victory in Head Coach Kirby Smart’s first game against the then-No. 22 North Carolina Tarheels.

The next two spots are the biggest jumps in this week’s poll, as previously unranked Wisconsin rose to 10 after beating Leonard Fournette and the then-fifth ranked LSU Tigers. The Texas Longhorns, meanwhile, came in at 11 after an impressive overtime victory against Notre Dame.

The Michigan State Spartans remained steadfast at No. 12, meanwhile Louisville rose from 19 to 13 after their 70-14 win over Charlotte.  TCU and Iowa saw small jumps in order to be ranked at 15 and 17, respectively.

The much-hyped Tennessee Volunteers saw their stock plummet, as they dropped from nine to 17 after almost becoming the next victims of an Appalachian State upset.

After their losses, Notre Dame and Ole Miss fell to 18 and 19 while Texas A&M broke into the poll at No. 20 after upsetting the then 16th ranked UCLA Bruins in a thrilling overtime matchup.

To round out the poll, Oklahoma State finished at 22, with Baylor at 23, Oregon at 24 and the Miami Hurricanes moving up into the final spot.