One week.
That’s all it took for the AP Top 25 to get completely shaken up.
The Week 2 AP Poll has officially been released, and while Ohio State remains No. 1, there are some massive changes behind the Buckeyes.
The new top 10 is Ohio State, Georgia, Notre Dame, Texas, Indiana, Oregon, Miami, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas A&M.
And there are a few things that immediately stand out.
Notre Dame is now No. 3.
The Fighting Irish jumped Georgia? No — Georgia is No. 2, but Notre Dame climbed into the top three after beating Wisconsin 41-13. The Irish now sit ahead of Texas, Indiana and Oregon and are being treated like one of the clear national championship favorites.
Then there’s LSU.
Lane Kiffin’s Tigers made one of the biggest statements of Week 1 by absolutely destroying Clemson 51-10, and voters rewarded them by moving LSU from No. 11 all the way to No. 8. LSU outgained Clemson 644-145 in a performance that immediately changed the national perception of this team.
At this point, LSU isn’t just a team with playoff potential.
They’re a legitimate national championship contender.
Oregon went the opposite direction.
The Ducks entered the season ranked No. 2 but dropped to No. 6 after barely surviving Boise State 34-27 at home. Oregon is still obviously one of the best teams in America, but voters clearly weren’t impressed by what they saw.
And then we have Michigan.
The Wolverines are completely gone.
Michigan entered Week 1 ranked No. 16 and technically beat Western Michigan 13-12.
But everyone knows how that happened.
Michigan needed officials to restore a controversial second to the clock before Bryce Underwood connected with JJ Buchanan on a second-chance Hail Mary. The performance was so bad that Michigan went from No. 16 to unranked despite winning. AP noted before the poll’s release that such a fall would be extraordinarily rare for a team ranked that highly.
That’s brutal.
Elsewhere, Oklahoma comes in at No. 11, Alabama is No. 12, Texas Tech is No. 13 and USC is No. 14. BYU rounds out the top 15, followed by Penn State, SMU, Tennessee, Washington and Utah.
Iowa, Houston, Missouri, Louisville and Virginia complete the Top 25.
But the biggest takeaway after one week is pretty simple.
LSU is soaring, Oregon and Michigan were punished, and the national championship picture already looks different than it did seven days ago.
