Week Two of the college football season was a mixed bag of blowouts, upsets and renewed rivalries.
College Football Rankings: USF looks like the Group of Five playoff favorite
Ohio State remains No. 1. And seats are getting warmer for Billy Napier and Brent Pry.
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Mitchell Northam is a Senior Writer for SB Nation, covering women’s college sports at Breakaway.
Teams like Ohio State, Miami, Florida State, Utah and Tennessee crushed FCS opponents. Then teams like Texas Tech, Indiana, Alabama, Oregon and Penn State whipped FBS programs — no beat down more impressive than the Ducks’ 69-3 rout of Mike Gundy’s Oklahoma State.
Elsewhere, we had rivalries and in-state clashes writing new chapters. Iowa State won back-to-back games against Iowa for the first time in more than a decade. Missouri got the upper hand against Kansas in the first Border War game in 14 years. Baylor erased a double-digit deficit to defeat SMU in overtime, and Syracuse rallied back to beat UConn in overtime in a throwback matchup featuring two original Big East teams.
And then there’s what happened in the Swamp, where the South Florida Bulls beat the Florida Gators for the first time ever. Nico Gramatica’s field goal in the game’s waning moments sealed an 18-16 victory for USF and marked the first time in program history that the Bulls have beaten AP Top 25 ranked opponents in consecutive weeks. USF now looks like the favorite in not only the American, but to win the bid for the Group of Five slot in the College Football Playoff.
USF has long been billed as one of college football’s sleeping giants, and they might finally be rubbing their eyes and rolling out of bed.
Oh, and Bulls coach Alex Golesh seems to be emerging as one of the top candidates to jump to the Power 4 when the coaching carousel season begins. There might be an opening for him to fill in Gainesville, or perhaps Blacksburg, Virginia, where the Hokies saw a double-digit lead evaporate in the second half against Vanderbilt. For now though, let’s focus on how damn good Golesh has made USF and not what job he might take next.
But, speaking of Virginia Tech, it seems to be getting late early for Brent Pry, whose Hokies are now 0-2 to start the season for the first time since 2010. Virginia Tech also hasn’t beaten a Power Four opponent in its non-conference slate since 2017. If there’s a football brand in the ACC that hasn’t been pulling its weight lately, it’s the program that calls Lane Stadium home.
Elsewhere, Bill Belichick got his first win and explained his pettiness towards Patriots scouts, Illinois looked like a legit playoff contender at Duke while Clemson very much did not at home against Troy, Arch Manning threw four touchdowns against San Jose State with his weird sidearm motion, Mississippi State got a signature win over Arizona State, and John Mateer raised his Heisman stock by powering Oklahoma to a victory over Michigan.
These results and more shook up the AP Top 25 Poll, which was released Sunday afternoon.
Here’s the full AP Top 25 Poll:
25. Missouri
24. Auburn
23. Michigan
22. Indiana
21. Texas Tech
20. Utah
19. Alabama
18. South Florida
17. Ole Miss
16. Texas A&M
15. Tennessee
14. Iowa State
13. Oklahoma
12. Clemson
11. South Carolina
10. Florida State
9. Illinois
8. Notre Dame
7. Texas
6. Georgia
5. Miami
4. Oregon
3. LSU
2. Penn State
1. Ohio State
A few quick takeaways:
- South Florida is ranked for the first time in seven years. USF at Miami could be one of the best and most important games this week — and it’s on The CW. If you don’t have cable, get your antenna out for this one.
- Georgia gets its first real test this week when it travels to Knoxville to face the Vols, who — somewhat oddly — made the biggest leap in the poll this week, improving by seven spots. Both teams are 2-0, but Tennessee is the only one with a win over a Power 4 opponent, which came against Syracuse at a neutral site. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs have beat up on Marshall and Austin Peay.
- Thursday night college football returns this week with N.C. State visiting Wake Forest at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. Both teams are 2-0 as they open ACC play (remember: the Wolfpack’s win over Virginia was a non-conference clash).
- Duke visits Tulane on Saturday, which means Darian Mensah gets to face his old team, and the Blue Devils take on a team coached by the guy who probably would have been hired at North Carolina instead of Belichick had the Board of Trustees and politicians not hijacked the search.
- SMU, Arizona State and Florida all fell out of the Top 25. Joining USF as newcomers this week are Missouri and Auburn.
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