College football The playoff rankings are guaranteed to see one of the biggest shakeups of the season after Week 8, which turned the entire AP Top 25 poll into a blender.
This was somewhat inevitable, since every team in the AP Top 25 was competing this weekend, as well as the 26th-ranked teams (Michigan) and No. 27 (Washington) facing each other. In total, Week 8 featured five ranked matches and nine complete losses of ranked teams. So when the new AP Top 25 is released on Sunday, expect significant changes in the rankings.
As far as headliners go, it's hard to go past what Clark Lee did on Vanderbilt – and what the Commodores are going to do on Sunday – after beating LSU. According to our research, Vanderbilt has never been ranked higher than 10th in the AP Top 25, and we project them to finish above that as one of the top one-loss teams in the poll.
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Here's what we expect the new AP Top 25 to look like on Sunday after Week 8:
1. Ohio (Last week – 1): If the Buckeyes want to boast that they have the best defense in the country, there's certainly more evidence of that in Saturday's 34-0 win over Wisconsin. Ohio State is allowing 5.9 points per game this season and has yet to score 17 points in a game, which helps balance out an already uber-talented offense that seems to be getting more comfortable with each passing week. Julian Sayin in the defender position.
2. Indiana (3): We're starting to see the Hoosiers' quarterback's work receiving major awards. Fernando Mendozawho threw for 332 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Michigan a week after the away win in Oregon. It's hard to get first-place votes from a conference opponent, but a move to second place itself will go down in program history as the highest-ever AP Top 25 ranking for Indiana football.
3. Texas A&M (4): Seriously adverse weather conditions preceded a high-scoring back-and-forth race. Arkansasbut the Aggies held strong, responding at every turn, and improved to 7–0 on the year.
4. Alabama (6): It's only a small bump in the rankings, but it's a big hurdle for an Alabama team that is clearly poised to compete for a title here in 2025. The Crimson Tide were doing business against their opponent. Tennessee and is now preparing for its home stretch of the season, hoping to earn the College Football Playoff bid that eluded Kalen DeBoer a year ago.
5. Oregon (8): It's a great response from the Ducks after their loss to Indiana last week, as Oregon had to bounce back and head across the country to New Jersey to quickly bounce back from the loss. Rutgers. The 56-10 record speaks to the focus of an Oregon team that won't let one loss affect the rest of the season, keeping them safely in the top 10 heading into Week 9.
6. Georgia (9): Kirby Smart's 2025 Bulldogs aren't winning games the way we're used to seeing from his title-contending program. Shootout wins over Ole Miss Saturday and Tennessee earlier this season show that the Dawgs can win in different ways, and that could be an advantage in achieving their ultimate goal in the 12-team College Football Playoff era.
7. Vanderbilt (17): As we mentioned earlier, history is set to be made as Vanderbilt will almost certainly set a new school record for its highest-ever Top 25 ranking in the AP Poll. Vanderbilt's ceiling would be Alabama, the only team it has lost to this season, but the floor would be LSU's previous ranking just outside the top 10.
8. Ole Miss (5): Losing a close game on the road to Georgia would not penalize voters too much, but the Rebels would be downgraded.
9. Georgia Tech (12): Brent Key's group are aiming to crack the top 10 after enduring a slow start in Durham and pulling away with an impressive win over Duke.
10. Miami (2): We predict Miami will remain in the top 10 thanks in part to a head-to-head win over Our Ladywhich continues to hold its value as the surge in Fighting Irish continues.
11. Notre Dame (13): Marcus Freeman's team was prepared for the elements on Saturday night, and the Fighting Irish battled through wind and rain to claim a hard-fought victory over USC improve to 5-2 on the year.
12. Oklahoma (14): The Sooners needed a strong rebound after their Red River Rivalry loss to Texas and they did it with a 26-7 win at South Carolina. The win confirmed, if nothing else, that this year's Oklahoma team will be led and controlled by its defense as they apply unrelenting pressure to help ensure South Carolina never threatens to sweep at home.
13. BYU (15): The Cougars are looking to move up after a big win over Utah.
14. Missouri (16): The Tigers survived double overtime and escaped with a victory Auburn improve to 6-1 on the season.
15. Tennessee (11): The Volunteers boast another quality loss that voters will have to take into consideration after a 37-20 loss at Alabama. Teams close to the top 25 have no wins, but this is also a team that has only lost to Georgia by three and the Tide on the road.
16. Virginia (18): Consider it a disaster averted for Virginia, which escaped with a 22-20 win over Washington state thanks to game-winning security. The Wahoos came out of the week hoping to be healthier and ready to compete in the ACC Championship, but Washington State continued its recent attempt to scare power conference opponents and pushed UVA over the brink. Virginia now improves to 6-1 overall and maintains its spot in the top 25.
17. South Florida (19): The Bulls showed no signs of a hangover after last week's key win in Denton. FAA 48-13 to improve to 6-1 overall and remain undefeated in conference play.
18. Texas Tech (7): Clearly, Texas Tech is in for a fall after losing on the road. Arizonabut the damage may have been limited by the fact that it was only the Red Raiders' first loss of the season. The head-to-head win over Utah provides some cushion in terms of where they'll end up in the fall, as does the confidence voters had when they were firmly in the top five a week ago.
19. Texas (21): Voters were given little reason to believe Texas was a top 25 team heading into Week 8, with a 13-10 overtime win at Kentucky doesn't match the quality win the Longhorns got over Oklahoma last week. There may be some shuffling on the ballots as all positions are up for grabs, but the general consensus is that we expect there won't be much change in the pecking order of the two-loss teams.
20. Cincinnati (24): The Bearcats confirmed their recent success without any sign of disappointment. Oklahoma State a 32-point loss in Stillwater.
21. Louisville (NR): Louisville only has one loss on its resume, and it's to Virginia, so the Cards are looking to break into the rankings and take Wahoos status with a win over Miami on Friday night.
22. Illinois (NR): The Fighting Illini were eliminated in Week 8, but after finishing 26th in last week's voting, they should have a clear path into the top 25 as one of the top two losing teams in the country.
23. Michigan (North Carolina): The Wolverines bounced back from last week's loss to USC with a win over Washington, which was previously ranked 28th in votes in last week's rankings.
24. Arizona State (NR): On one hand, the Sun Devils are 5-2 with losses to two teams: Utah and Utah. Mississippiwho both lost on Saturday. But on the other hand, this is also the group that just handed Texas Tech its first loss of the season. So while all the head-to-heads don't match up exactly, there's enough quality in the profile to get Arizona State back into the top 25 with a win over the Red Raiders.
25. LSU (10): It's a tough resume for voters to parse because while LSU has lost to a pair of ranked teams (Ole Miss and Vanderbilt) on the road in close games, it also doesn't have a ton of quality wins to justify a top-25 ranking. Ultimately, our prediction is that the quality losses will do enough to avoid falling out of the rankings entirely, but this is a team that will end up on the chopping block for many voters.
Planned to throw away: No. 20 USC, No. 22 MemphisNo. 23 Utah, No. 25 Nebraska
