College football rankings: Penn State, Iowa, UCLA to move up as LSU, Oklahoma drop in top 25 polls
The Nittany Lions and Hawkeyes will be on the move when new college football rankings are released
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5 min read
The college football rankings won't get released on Sunday as usual because Week 1 of the 2021 season extends all the way through Labor Day on Monday night when Ole Miss and Louisville will face off in Atlanta. So while we won't be able to make our usual AP Top 25 projections in our normal "Tomorrow's Top 25 Today" column, we can certainly identify movement that is sure to occur once the new rankings are released Tuesday.
While No. 5 Georgia's 10-3 win over No. 3 Clemson is one of the biggest stories of the college football weekend, the effect that decision will have on the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll is limited. The Bulldogs could rise to the No. 2 spot (more on that below), but there is no way they'll beat Alabama for No. 1 after the Crimson Tide's impressive 44-13 win over No. 14 Miami. The Tigers also have somewhat of a floor for their fall with the opponent in their loss being a team that now is in the debate for best in the country.
The week did feature five matchups between top 25 teams in a slate that delivered results that will shake up the rest of the poll outside the top five, giving us plenty to consider as these teams are reset in the eyes of voters with at least one game of action to their name.
Let's take a look at which teams we expect to move when the new college football rankings are released in a few days.
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| The ups and downs of a busy week in the Big Ten were highlighted by No. 18 Iowa emerging as the most impressive team from the Big Ten West, seemingly set up well as one of the top contenders to challenge No. 4 Ohio State for the conference championship. Iowa's defense has played at an extraordinarily high level for a couple seasons in a row now, and even though the Hawkeyes lost multiple stars along the defensive line, they still showed that same swarming style that powered previous units in a dominant 34-6 win over No. 17 Indiana. | |
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| No. 10 North Carolina has a good shot to still be ranked after the conclusion of Week 1, but it is not a guarantee after the team's dismal performance in a 17-10 loss at Virginia Tech on Friday night. If the Tar Heels are ranked, it will likely be in the final five spots of the poll after the offense struggled to protect quarterback Sam Howell, wide receivers struggled to get separation from the Hokies secondary, and Howell himself turned the ball over in pivotal situations. Mack Brown got ahead of this narrative calling his team "overrated". Now the voters must decide where they fall among those better teams outside the top 20. | |
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| No. 16 LSU was dealt a tough hand being displaced out of Louisiana due to the hurricane only to then travel to the West Coast to face a UCLA team growing in confidence after a blowout over Hawaii last week. Still, the Tigers' talent level and refreshed coaching staff provided reasons for optimism. Instead, they were straight up beaten from post to post and could wind up either at the bottom of the top 25 or out of the rankings altogether. LSU didn't win a single quarter Saturday. It was held to 53 yards on the ground and outgained by nearly 100 yards by the Bruins, which ... | |
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| ... are likely to find themselves in the top 25 come Tuesday. Following UCLA's 44-10 domination over Hawaii last week, it has now outscored its two opponents this season by a combined 45 points. The 11-point victory over LSU was UCLA's biggest ranked win since it took down No. 13 Utah in 2015. And this one came prominently in a national showcase game. That should be enough to boost the Bruins from unranked into the bottom of the 25 -- at least. No teams get hyped up as quickly as Chip Kelly teams. | |
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| There won't be a major drop, but the No. 2 spot behind Alabama is up for grabs after the Sooners let Tulane climb back into the game and threaten to pull off the upset late. QB Spencer Rattler struggled with turnovers, and the offense in general seemed more sluggish as the game neared its conclusion instead of pulling away with aggression. Oklahoma might only drop to No. 3 (No. 4 is probably the floor), but there will be less confidence in the Sooners than there was heading into the weekend. | |
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| Beating No. 12 Wisconsin 16-10 on the road is going to lead to a significant jump in the rankings, potentially one of the biggest leaps we'll see among ranked teams after Week 1. Jahan Dotson shows up big and gave No. 19 Penn State an explosive element on the outside that proved to be among the most important factors in the game, and the Nittany Lions defense answered the call on multiple occasions in the final quarter to get stops against the Badgers as they were knocking on the door of a game-tying or game-winning score. | |
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| The drop for the Badgers is unlikely to be too significant given the quality of the opponent, but dropping a game at home that was winnable in several spots will break some ties among lower ranked teams that did notch a victory in Week 1. Wisconsin will be able to beat most opponents with the game that played out on Saturday, but Penn State just had a few more plays than most opponents will be able to muster. This is still a top-20 team, but it won't be in the top dozen after the loss. | |
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| Like North Carolina, Indiana may be on watch to fall from the top 25 entirely. Unlike Indiana, the Hoosiers weren't favored to win. However, in their case, there was never even much of a hope following an early Iowa offensive touchdown and then a pick six right on its heels. Michael Penix Jr. had an off game against one of the top defenses in the country, but Indiana still needed a little more competitiveness if it was going to hold its position in the eyes of the pollsters. | |
