College football rankings: Auburn, Penn State, Wisconsin set to move up in top 25 polls
The Tigers, Nittany Lions and Badgers will all be on the move in the college football rankings release
The opening weekend of the college football season is a weird one for the usual schedule of rankings and top 25 polls. With games that extend into Monday night, the conclusion of the first full Saturday -- usually a spot where we can collect our thoughts on the weekend and make some predictions about the new college football rankings with our signature "Tomorrow's Top 25 Today" story -- is only a partial piece of the picture.
With Sunday's action now over as well, there is still one ranked team left to play this week in No. 9 Notre Dame, which will square off against Louisville. Could the Irish move up with a strong performance? Perhaps. But the Cardinals are upset minded as nearly 19-point underdogs entering Monday's game.
But what we have seen so far has reshaped our view of the college football landscape. For the most part, the top 10 of the AP Top 25 should remain in place. No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia all cruised to comfortable wins against Power Five opponents, while No. 5 Ohio State, No. 6 LSU, No. 7 Michigan and No. 10 Texas took care of business against Group of Five schools. There won't be much shake up from any of those results, and given the long time off since No. 8 Florida outlasted Miami in Week 0, it's likely they will remain in the same pecking order when the ballots are collected from the AP voters following Monday night's Week 1 finale.
Elsewhere, there was plenty of shakeup, starting with the one game featuring top 25 opponents that should affect one another, plus some teams that could see drops in the rankings even after wins. We'll have a better idea of how the new top 25 polls will shake out once all the action is done, but we can definitely make some calls of teams that will be moving up and down in the new college football polls when they are released on Tuesday.
| Bo Nix wasn't perfect, but he showed poise in the moments that mattered most. More importantly, No. 16 Auburn provided the kind of fourth quarter thrills that we have come to expect from this program across the last decade. It's difficult to know where the AP voters will move the Tigers after the 27-21 win against No. 11 Oregon at a neutral site, but it's going to be higher and the rest of the SEC will take note of this result. There might have been some bad losses in the league in Week 1, but Auburn added itself to the list of potential College Football Playoff contenders from the SEC with this quality nonconference win against the Ducks. | |
| The toughness that Mario Cristobal has been working to build in the DNA of the Oregon program was on full display as the No. 11 Ducks went blow for blow with the Tigers in Arlington, Texas. The up-tempo yet low-scoring slugfest required some endurance and hard hitting from the Oregon defense and that group rose to the occasion in a big way. But unfortunately for Oregon, they needed just one more stop from that defense and didn't get it, so there will be an adjustment in the polls after the last-minute loss to the Tigers. | |
| Some scores just pop off the page when voters are scanning the results from around the country in order to prepare their ballots. There's not quite enough big-picture shuffling for Penn State to make a major move following a 79-7 win against Idaho, but such a result is going to leave enough of an impression for the Nittany Lions to see a bump in the positive direction. The good news for Penn State fans is that the raw talent and athleticism that was promised, but not proven, showed up in a big way. James Franklin and his staff have been recruiting well in the last couple cycles, and 2019 is going to be a year we start to see those blue-chippers make a big impact. | |
| If it's later in the season, I think Iowa State might be able to hang on to its spot in the top 25 after escaping with a triple-overtime win against Northern Iowa. But the Cyclones arrived in the rankings based on recent reputation and expectations, and the sloppy back-and-forth with UNI did not live up to either standard set by Matt Campbell's program. Iowa State is definitely a top 40 team right now, but it's probably closer to TCU and Oklahoma State in the Big 12 pecking order than Texas and Oklahoma. | |
| Any team ranked in the last handful of spots in the Preseason AP Top 25 is going to be on the chopping block following Week 1, even if they emerge from the opening weekend 1-0. Nebraska's offense had a clunky start to the 2019 campaign and needed three non-offensive touchdowns to secure a 14-point win against South Alabama at home. Now's not time to write off Adrian Martinez or the Huskers as a threat in the Big Ten West, but it's probably time to drop them from the AP Top 25. | |
| Few performances in Week 1 really felt like a "statement" win in the positive sense quite like Wisconsin's 49-0 victory at South Florida on Friday night. The Badgers were favored to win, but no one expected that kind of total dominance on both sides of the ball. It's possible that Wisconsin was uniquely motivated after starting last season in the top 10 and finishing the year unranked, but if this efficiency and execution continues, then we'll see this team move closer to that top-10 status it held heading into 2018. For now, expect to see Wisconsin around No. 15 in the updated polls on Tuesday. | |
| The Broncos were the eighth team listed out, or No. 33, in the Preseason AP Top 25, but I think beating Florida State in Tallahassee, Florida, was impactful enough for to jump in line and end up in the top 25 of the post-Week 1 rankings. Any questions about quarterback were answered by an impressive performance from Hank Brockmeier and turning a 31-13 first half deficit into a 36-31 road win is the kind of victory that highlights the fabric of a tough team and sturdy program. Bryan Harsin has kept Boise State at a top 25 level for most of his career as the Broncos coach, and through one week, it doesn't look like there should be anything different expected in 2019. | |
















