College Football Rankings: AP Top 25 Teams Moving Up, Down in Week 2

You could be forgiven for thinking that most of college football’s Week 1 action was confined to cupcakes and the big favorites who devoured them, and while that was true for many contenders, there was no shortage of consequential action on the field.

Not least in the SEC, where Lane Kiffin made the most of his anticipated first time on the Tigers’ sideline, and in the Big Ten, where one national championship hopeful put a scare into the AP top 25 voters who gave them the No. 2 place in their first poll.

Rankings reflect AP top 25 poll

Moving Up: LSU

College Football Rankings: AP Top 25 Teams Moving Up, Down in Week 2 — IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

This week’s ranking: No. 11

Regardless of what happened, all the talk around college football was going to be about Lane Kiffin and his first night at LSU. And after smashing Clemson by a humiliating 51-10 count, that talk now centers around his having an SEC title contender and a playoff hopeful on his hands.

AP voters were a little cautious about LSU in the preseason ballot, clearly wanting to give it respect given Kiffin’s roster building effort, but still skeptical enough to keep it outside the top ten. Not anymore, after watching it completely dominate Clemson, but there will be a limit to that upward mobility given the top of the rankings should basically stay as is.

Moving Down: Oregon

This week’s ranking: No. 2

Not that they really should, but they could, given how close the previous votes were at the top. Oregon was a more than three touchdown favorite against Group of Six challenger Boise State, but you wouldn’t have known that watching what turned out to be a much closer game than was anticipated, one in which the Broncos led or tied more often than not.

Coming into this season, the Ducks’ projected team strength was said to be along both lines of scrimmage, areas where Dan Lanning’s teams have been relative weaknesses against quality competition, and against Boise they struggled to build their rushing attack with consistency, while defensively, failed to properly dominate the Broncos’ offense.

But would AP voters drop a No. 2 team that won its game? There’s recent precedent, especially for teams who looked unconvincing against a perceived much weaker opponent, and Oregon had to climb out of a 10-point deficit, trailed at halftime, and needed a long touchdown to survive in the fourth quarter. It will give some pollsters pause.

Moving Up: Alabama

This week’s ranking: No. 13

The jury is still very much out on the Crimson Tide after the various ups and downs of the Kalen DeBoer experience, particularly the down of how last season ended, but the first impressions in 2026 were extremely promising.

New quarterback Keelon Russell looks very comfortable in, and out of, the pocket after leading the team in rushing, and Bama’s backs accounted for 227 total yards after ranking among the nation’s worst ground offenses a year ago. That has to continue if this team is to match SEC opponents in physicality in the trenches going forward.

Moving Down: Michigan

This week’s ranking: No. 16

Michigan may have won the game on the scoreboard, however controversially, but a dismal 59 minute, 59 second showing the rest of the time against MAC visitor Western Michigan will definitely give some AP voters pause.

This offense frankly failed to move with any momentum under Bryce Underwood’s leadership and even the defense, new coach Kyle Whittingham’s calling card, let Western Michigan stay on the field longer than they should have. Eye test voters will not be impressed.

Moving Up: Ole Miss

This week’s ranking: No. 9

Trinidad Chambliss had 336 yards passing and another 50 on the ground with 4 all purpose touchdowns, including two 62-yard bombs for Deuce Alexander, paving the way for a Rebels win over 24th ranked Louisville in an instant classic from Nashville.

A spirited win in a test against a ranked Power Four opponent should be enough for most AP voters to jump Ole Miss over No. 8 Texas A&M, which had an easier time in its 50-0 win over Missouri State.

Moving Down: Clemson

This week’s ranking: Unranked

No, Clemson wasn’t actually ranked coming into the season, but it did get 112 votes in the initial poll, the most among unranked teams. Expect most if not all of those to vanish into thin air after its inexcusable 41-point loss at LSU, the school’s worst result in any venue since 1996.

Dabo Swinney looks like he’s in for another tough season, and coming off a 7-6 outing last fall, that could once again raise the specter of an eventual separation.

That still seems unlikely – it’s very early in the season, he has a massive legacy, and it would be exorbitantly expensive – but you have to wonder if those whispers behind the scenes are becoming a little more audible now.

Clemson lost 18 games total from 2011 to 2020. Since 2021, it’s lost 21 more times.

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