AP poll reaction: What’s next for each Top 25 team
Well, it only took one week for Deion Sanders to get Colorado into the AP Top 25 college football poll. Fresh off a stunning win over then-No. 17 TCU, the Buffaloes enter the rankings at No. 22.
Florida State convincingly won the week’s only top-10 matchup, routing then-No. 5 LSU 45-24. Meanwhile, the preseason top four of Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and Alabama all won comfortably.
So what does it mean for the new rankings? Here is the full Top 25, along with what’s next and a key stat to know for each team.
Stats courtesy of ESPN Stats & Information.
All times Eastern
Previous ranking: 1
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated UT Martin 48-7
Stat to know: With the victory, Georgia set a record for most consecutive wins in school history with 18.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Ball State, noon, SEC Network
Previous ranking: 2
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated East Carolina 30-3
Stat to know: Blake Corum‘s rushing touchdown — the 32nd of his career — tied him with Oregon‘s Bo Nix for the most among active FBS players.
What’s next: Saturday vs. UNLV, 3:30 p.m., CBS
Previous ranking: 4
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Middle Tennessee 56-7
Stat to know: Jalen Milroe became the first Alabama quarterback to ever throw three touchdowns and rush for two more.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Texas, 7 p.m., ESPN
Previous ranking: 8
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated LSU 45-24
Stat to know: Wide receiver Keon Coleman, a Michigan State transfer, had two contested TD catches (three scores overall), and he now has an FBS-best nine contested-catch touchdowns since the start of last season.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Southern Miss, 8:30 p.m., ACC Network
Previous ranking: 3
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Indiana 23-3
Stat to know: Ohio State has now defeated Indiana 29 times in a row, the longest active streak by one current FBS team over another.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Youngstown State, noon, Big Ten Network
Previous ranking: 6
2023 record: 2-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Nevada 66-14
Stat to know: Caleb Williams became only the third USC quarterback to have three career games of 300 yards passing, five touchdowns and zero interceptions.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Stanford, 10:30 p.m., Fox
Previous ranking: 7
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated West Virginia 38-15
Stat to know: QB Drew Allar finished with 325 yards and three touchdown passes in his first career start.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Delaware, noon, Peacock
Previous ranking: 10
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Boise State 56-19
Stat to know: Michael Penix Jr. became the first Washington QB to throw for more than 400 yards and five touchdowns in a game.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Tulsa, 5 p.m., Pac-12 Network
Previous ranking: 12
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Virginia 49-13
Stat to know: Tennessee has scored 45 points or more 12 times since the start of the 2021 season, when coach Josh Heupel took over. That’s second behind only Ohio State in that span.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Austin Peay, 5 p.m., ESPN+
Previous ranking: 13
2023 record: 2-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Tennessee State 56-3
Stat to know: QB Sam Hartman has now thrown a touchdown pass in 32 consecutive games, the longest such streak in FBS.
What’s next: Saturday at NC State, noon, ABC
Previous ranking: 11
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Rice 37-10
Stat to know: This was the first game Texas forced three or more turnovers since Oct. 2, 2021. That snapped the fourth-longest streak in FBS.
What’s next: Saturday at Alabama, 7 p.m., ESPN
Previous ranking: 14
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Florida 24-11
Stat to know: Utah held the Gators to just 13 rushing yards, the fewest Florida has registered in a game since 2017. Florida’s 11 points were its fewest in an opener since 1987.
What’s next: Saturday at Baylor, noon, ESPN
Previous ranking: 15
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Portland State 81-7
Stat to know: Oregon’s 81 points were the most in a Pac-12 opener since Cal scored 86 in 1991. It was the most the Ducks had scored in a season opener since 1916.
What’s next: Saturday at Texas Tech, 7 p.m., Fox
Previous ranking: 5
2023 record: 0-1
Week 1 result: Lost to Florida State 45-24
Stat to know: With the loss, coach Brian Kelly fell to 3-10 in AP top-10 matchups, giving him the fourth-worst such mark (minimum 10 games) of any coach in the AP poll era.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Grambling, 7:30 p.m., ESPN+
Previous ranking: 16
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Southeast Missouri State 45-0
Stat to know: Will Howard became just the third Big 12 quarterback with a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown in a single half.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Troy, noon, FS1
Previous ranking: 18
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated San Jose State 42-17
Stat to know: With Oregon State’s win Sunday, the Pac-12 improved to 13-0 on the season, with each team winning its opener for the first time since 1932.
What’s next: Saturday vs. UC Davis, 9 p.m., Pac-12 Network.
Previous ranking: 21
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated South Carolina 31-17
Stat to know: Mack Brown became the first coach to win 100 games at two different FBS schools.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Appalachian State, 5:15 p.m., ACC Network
Previous ranking: 20
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Arkansas State 73-0
Stat to know: Oklahoma’s win was the program’s fourth-largest season-opening win and the second-largest win in Big 12 history.
What’s next: Saturday vs. SMU, 6 p.m., ESPN+
Previous ranking: 19
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Buffalo 38-17
Stat to know: Wisconsin’s 501 yards of offense were the Badgers most in a season opener since 2013.
What’s next: Saturday at Washington State, 7:30 p.m., ABC
Previous ranking: 22
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Mercer 73-7
Stat to know: The Rebels’ 66-point victory was their sixth-largest margin of victory in school history.
What’s next: Saturday at Tulane, 3:30 p.m., ESPN2
Previous ranking: NR
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated Clemson 28-7
Stat to know: The Blue Devils’ win over then-No. 9 Clemson was Duke’s first win over a top-10 team since 1989, also against the Tigers.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Lafayette, 9 p.m., ESPN+
Previous ranking: NR
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated No. 17 TCU 45-42
Stat to know: QB Shedeur Sanders had a Colorado-record 510 passing yards, while Travis Hunter became the first FBS player in the past 20 years with more than 100 receiving yards and an interception in a single game.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Nebraska, noon, Fox
Previous ranking: 23
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated New Mexico 52-10
Stat to know: QB Conner Weigman is the first Texas A&M player with five touchdown passes in a season opener.
What’s next: Saturday at Miami, 3:30 p.m., ABC
Previous ranking: 24
2023 record: 1-0
Week 1 result: Defeated South Alabama 37-17
Stat to know: QB Michael Pratt went 14-for-15 passing with four touchdowns, tying Patrick Ramsey’s school mark of 72 career touchdown passes.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Ole Miss, 3:30 p.m., ESPN2
Previous ranking: 9
2023 record: 0-1
Week 1 result: Lost to Duke 28-7
Stat to know: Clemson’s seven points were its fewest against an unranked team in the Dabo Swinney era.
What’s next: Saturday vs. Charleston Southern, 2:15 p.m., ACC Network
Ohio State is finalizing a deal to make veteran NFL coach Matt Patricia the school’s new defensive coordinator, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.
The move to bring in Patricia comes with the corresponding internal promotion of secondary coach Tim Walton to the co-defensive coordinator role, sources said. Ohio State will also be promoting safeties coach Matt Guerrieri to pass-game coordinator, per sources.
Patricia comes to Ohio State to replace Jim Knowles, who left for Penn State‘s defensive coordinator job in the wake of the Buckeyes’ 2024 national title.
In Patricia, the Buckeyes get a veteran defensive playcaller who worked as the New England Patriots‘ defensive coordinator for six seasons from 2012 to 2017. He began calling defensive plays without the official title in 2010, which was a device Bill Belichick used to break in new coordinators and keep pressure off them.
He was the defensive coordinator for two of New England’s Super Bowl wins and was on staff as an offensive assistant for the Patriots’ 2004 Super Bowl title.
Patricia spent three seasons as the head coach of the Detroit Lions from 2018 to 2020, getting fired with a 13-29-1 record in his third season there.
Walton’s promotion comes after coming to Ohio State in 2022 from the NFL, where he coached for four teams from 2009 to 2021. That included a job as the Rams‘ defensive coordinator in 2013.
His new title is a nod to the strong secondary play at Ohio State under his watch, as the Buckeyes finished No. 3 in the country in passing yards allowed in 2024 and No. 1 in that category in 2023.
Guerrieri is a former co-defensive coordinator at Duke from 2018 to 2021 and was the co-defensive coordinator at Indiana in 2023.
They will all be charged with taking over an Ohio State defense that returns just three starters from a unit that finished No. 1 nationally in total defense and scoring defense. The eight departing starters, including the entire defensive line, project to get picked in the NFL draft this spring.
Ohio State does return high-end talent, including safety Caleb Downs, who projects as one of the top players in college football next year. Junior linebacker Sonny Styles will be another top prospect, and senior cornerback Davison Igbinosun earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors.
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