Before the season, Saturday, Oct. 12, was pointed to as one of the biggest turning points in the 2024 college football season. As expected, the sport had a truly exciting day from the beginning to the night’s action. Oregon State defeated Ohio State in the final minutes to win its first game against a top-ranked opponent, while multiple top-ranked prospects escaped with overtime wins. Now, voters in the Associated Press Top 25 must sort through the debris to assemble a new college football ranking.
And while Oregon State has been in a very strong position to be the No. 1 team in the nation, we predict that Texas will retain its title after a dominant victory over Oklahoma State in the Red River Rivalry. are. Last week’s poll showed the Longhorns receiving 52 of 61 first-place votes, making it unlikely the Ducks would receive a significant portion of Ohio State’s nine votes (and perhaps a few others). High, but unlikely that enough voters will change their minds. Texas is seeing changes at the top.
Of course, now that the Buckeyes have suffered their first loss of the season, voters will have to consider what to make of Ohio State. How will they stack up against Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee after all three teams won by much closer margins than anyone expected?
Here’s what the new AP Top 25 polls will look like after Week 7:
1. Texas (Last week — 1): The Longhorns have had a great performance through a 6-0 start, and action elsewhere will open up the No. 1 discussion, but they beat Oklahoma outright in 34. No one will be able to replace the top team that dominated in the -3 Red River Rivalry revenge win.
2. Oregon (3): The stage was set for a breakout moment for Oregon in the Big Ten era, with the Ducks showing off the gutsy play of Dillon Gabriel and plenty of defensive stops without a star pass rusher in the lineup. After a win, Oregon would receive the first-place vote and there would be a healthy debate over the top spot, but in the end, Texas has too much existing support to jump to first place. .
3. Penn State (4): Shaking off a slow start, Drew Aller and Penn State rallied hard in the second half at USC and eventually escaped with a 33-30 overtime victory. Although it wasn’t a perfect performance, his resilience was impressive and I don’t expect this result to change his top five position too much.
4. Ohio State (2): When the AP Top 25 poll resets after Week 7, the Buckeyes will be the top team in the nation with one loss. There’s no reason to think Ohio State doesn’t already have one of the best teams in the state. However, their ranking will drop as they were unable to capitalize on their chances in the final stages when Eugene lost by one point.
5. Georgia (5): In a slightly more even game than most Athens fans expected, quarterback Carson Beck passed for 459 yards and three touchdowns against Mississippi State. and won 41-31. It was the second time in the past three weeks that the Bulldogs gave up 30 or more points, despite not allowing a touchdown in the first three games of the season.
6. Miami (6): The Hurricanes had Week 7 off, but return to action next Saturday at Louisville.
7. Iowa State (11): This was a really strong win for Iowa State, which advances to Morgantown and improves to 6-0 on the year with a double-digit win over West Virginia. Given how some one-loss teams have struggled, the Cyclones could move into the top 10.
8. Clemson (10): The Tigers’ five-game winning streak sets the stage for a slow climb into the top 10 of the rankings, with room for further gains following Saturday’s 49-14 win at Clemson. There may be. Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons took the lead, but any hopes of an upset were quickly dashed as Clemson’s defense made multiple interceptions and a 28-point onslaught in the second quarter.
9. LSU (13): The Tigers earned a thrilling 29-26 overtime victory over Ole Miss at home in Death Valley. Brian Kelly’s team avoided two losses to stay alive in the College Football Playoff race, and a win would be enough to see LSU return to the top 10.
10. Notre Dame (11): The Fighting Irish defense was absolutely stifling, holding Stanford’s offense to just 137 yards in a 49-7 win, with Riley Leonard scoring four total touchdowns (three passing). , one rush).
11. Alabama (7): There’s a lot going wrong for Alabama right now, but the Crimson Tide posted a 27-25 win over South Carolina and a potentially devastating 2. We were able to avoid consecutive losses. As the top 10 positions on ballots change around the country, there will be many voters who will drop Alabama to the bottom for the second week in a row, even though the Tide holds on to win.
12. Tennessee (8): It’s hard to be overly encouraged after beating Florida in overtime at home, but at least the Vols found an answer after being down 10-0 early in the game. Tennessee has a chance to reverse this recent stock decline and welcome Alabama to Knoxville next week.
13. BYU (14): The Cougars are now 6-0 after defeating Arizona 41-19 behind a defense that forced four turnovers and scored a touchdown on a pick-six.
14. Texas A&M (15): The Aggies had Week 7 off, but are scheduled to return to action next Saturday at Mississippi State.
15. Boise State (17): The game against Hawaii was a little too close for comfort, but the Broncos did a good job of shutting down the Warriors in the fourth quarter and leaving the island with an undefeated conference record. I did.
16. Indiana (18): The Hoosiers had Week 7 off, but are scheduled to return to action next Saturday against Nebraska.
17. Kansas State (18): It wasn’t without adversity and challenges, but the Wildcats’ 31-28 win over Colorado puts this group on pace to contend for the Big 12 title and a spot in the College Football Playoff. is maintained.
18. Missouri State (21): The Tigers responded to last week’s disappointing road loss to Texas A&M with a blowout 45-3 win at Massachusetts State.
19. Pitt (22): At 6-0 for the first time since Dan Marino played under center, Pitt has established itself as a dark horse in the ACC title picture. And while much of the Panthers’ success this season has been due to a revamped offense, it was Pat Narduzzi’s defense that led to the game-winning play in the 17-15 win over California.
20. Illinois (23): Illinois’ standings were in jeopardy after nearly blowing a 24-point lead in the third quarter, but clutch plays from Luke Altmaier and a final stand from the Illinois defense paid off. They performed well and achieved a 50-49 overtime victory over Purdue.
21. Ole Miss (9): Given the expected drop in the standings following Saturday night’s overtime loss at LSU, we’ll place two-loss Michigan at the lower end of Ole Miss’ rankings. A narrow loss to a top-15 team in Baton Rouge will earn some forgiveness from voters, but Ole Miss, a two-loss team, will be in most voters’ brackets if it tries to sort out its second-half team. will be removed from the Ballot paper.
22. Michigan State (24): The Wolverines had Week 7 off, but are scheduled to return to action next Saturday against Illinois.
23. SMU (25): The Mustangs were off Week 7 but will be back in action next Saturday
24. Army (NR): The Black Knights improved to 6-0 with a 44-10 win over UAB and are poised to enter the rankings for the first time since 2020. Army owns the nation’s longest active winning streak (10 games) and hasn’t lost a game all season, which should be plenty for voters looking to fill that last spot on their ballot. .
25. Vanderbilt (NR): With last week’s win over Alabama, the Commodores jumped to No. 30 in voting points and are projected to climb back into the top 25 after defeating Kentucky in Lexington.
Prediction to drop: 16th Utah, 18th Oklahoma
