Tomorrow’s Top 25 Today projects college football rankings entering Week 9

The College Football Playoff rankings are sure to see one of their biggest shakeups of the season after a Week 8 that threw the entire AP Top 25 poll into a blender.

This was partly inevitable, as all of the AP Top 25 teams were in action this weekend, and the teams that finished No. 26 (Michigan) and No. 27 (Washington) faced each other. In total, Week 8 featured five ranked matchups and nine total losses by ranked teams. So when the new AP Top 25 is released on Sunday, expect a lot of movement in the rankings.

When it comes to headliners, it’s hard to top what Clark Lea did at Vanderbilt — and what the Commodores are set to do Sunday — after their win over LSU. According to our research, Vanderbilt has never been ranked higher than 10th in the AP Top 25 poll, and our projection is that they will land higher than that as one of the best teams with a loss in the poll.

Bowl projections: Miami and Texas Tech lose grip in College Football Playoff picture, Georgia Tech flourishes

Brad Crawford

Here’s what we expect the new AP Top 25 to look like on Sunday after Week 8:

1. Ohio State (last week – 1): If the Buckeyes want to boast about having the best defense in the country, there was certainly more evidence of that in Saturday’s 34-0 win over Wisconsin. Ohio State is allowing 5.9 points per game this season and has yet to allow 17 in a single game, helping to balance what is already a hyper-talented offense that seems to be getting more and more comfortable each week with Julian Sayin at quarterback.

2. Indiana (3): We’re starting to see some seriously award-winning work from Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who threw for 332 yards and four touchdowns in a 25-point win over Michigan State the week after their road win at Oregon. It’s tough to earn first-place votes from a conference rival, but the move to No. 2 alone will go down in program history as the highest AP Top 25 ranking ever for Indiana football.

3. Texas A&M (4): Severely inclement weather preceded a back-and-forth high-scoring game in Arkansas, but the Aggies held on with answers in every round to improve to 7-0 on the year.

4.Alabama (6): It’s only a slight bump in the rankings, but it’s a big hurdle to clear for an Alabama team that’s clearly in the title race here in 2025. The Crimson Tide took care of business against rival Tennessee and now prepare for their home stretch of the season looking to secure the College Football Playoff bid that eluded Kalen DeBoer a year ago.

5. Oregon (8): This was a great response from the Ducks after last week’s loss to Indiana, when Oregon had to bounce back and travel across the country to New Jersey for a quick turnaround against Rutgers. The 56-10 result is a testament to the focus of an Oregon team that won’t let a single loss affect the rest of the season, and it will keep them safely in the top 10 heading into Week 9.

6. Georgia (9): Kirby Smart’s 2025 Bulldogs aren’t winning games like we’re used to seeing from their title-fighting program. Shootout wins over Ole Miss on Saturday and over Tennessee earlier this season show the Dawgs can win in plenty of ways and that could be an advantage in reaching their ultimate goal in the 12-team College Football Playoff era.

7. Vanderbilt (17): As we mentioned earlier, history is about to be made as Vanderbilt will almost certainly set a new school record for highest ranking ever in the AP Top 25. The ceiling for Vanderbilt’s rise will be Alabama, the only team it has lost to this season, but the floor is LSU’s previous ranking just outside the top 10.

8. Ole Miss (5): Losing a close game on the road to Georgia won’t result in too much punishment from the voters, but there will be a downgrade for the Rebels.

9. Georgia Tech (12): Brent Key’s group is poised to break into the top 10 after weathering a slow start in Durham and pulling away for an impressive win over Duke.

10. Miami (2): We expect Miami to remain in the top 10 thanks in part to the head-to-head win over Notre Dame, which continues to hold its value as the Fighting Irish’s surge continues.

11. Notre-Dame (13): Marcus Freeman’s team was ready to take on the elements Saturday night and the Fighting Irish battled through wind and rain to earn a hard-fought victory over USC and improve to 5-2 on the year.

12. Oklahoma (14): The Sooners needed a strong rebound after the Red River Rivalry’s loss to Texas and they got it with a 26-7 victory at South Carolina. It’s a win that affirms, if nothing else, that this year’s Oklahoma team will be led and driven by its defense as it applies relentless pressure to keep South Carolina from threatening an upset at home.

13. BYU (15): The Cougars are poised to advance after a huge rivalry win over Utah.

14.Missouri (16): The Tigers held on in double overtime and escaped with a win at Auburn to improve to 6-1 on the season.

15. Tennessee (11): The Volunteers boast another quality loss resume for voters to consider after a 37-20 loss at Alabama. There are no wins against teams that are close to the top 25, but this is also a team that has only lost to Georgia, by three, and to the Tide, on the road.

16. Virginie (18): Consider it a disaster averted for Virginia, which escaped with a 22-20 victory over Washington State thanks to a game-winning safety. The Wahoos were coming off a bye week hoping to be healthier and ready for a run at the ACC championship, but Washington State continued its recent streak of putting fear into power conference opponents and pushed UVA to the brink. As it stands, Virginia improves to 6-1 overall and maintains its spot in the top 25.

17. South Florida (19): The Bulls showed no signs of a hangover after last week’s key victory in Denton, throttling FAU 48-13 to improve their record to 6-1 overall and remain undefeated in conference play.

18. Texas Tech (7): There’s obviously going to be a drop-off for Texas Tech following the road loss to Arizona State, but the damage might be limited by the fact that it was only the first loss of the season for the Red Raiders. A head-to-head win over Utah provides some cushion in terms of where they’ll land in the fall, as does the confidence voters had in placing them firmly in the top five a week ago.

19.Texas (21): Voters didn’t have much reason to believe in Texas as a top 25 team during their Week 8 performance, as a 13-10 overtime win at Kentucky didn’t match the quality win the Longhorns had against Oklahoma last week. There might be some shuffling in the ballots as all positions are up for grabs, but the consensus is we don’t anticipate much change in the pecking order between the two-loss teams.

20. Cincinnati (24): The Bearcats continued their recent success with no signs of disappointment, handing Oklahoma State a 32-point loss in Stillwater.

21. Louisville (NR): There’s only one loss on Louisville’s resume and it’s against Virginia, so the Cards will break through in the standings and be established by the Wahoos’ status after beating Miami on Friday night.

22. Illinois (NR): The Fighting Illini were absent in Week 8, but after being No. 26 in last week’s poll, they should have a clear path to the top 25 as one of the two losingest teams in the country.

23. Michigan (NR): The Wolverines bounced back from last week’s loss to USC with a win over Washington, who was previously the No. 28 team in voting points in last week’s rankings.

24. Arizona State (NR): On one hand, the Sun Devils are 5-2 with losses to two teams, Utah and Mississippi State, who both lost on Saturday. But on the other hand, this is also a group that has just inflicted Texas Tech with its first defeat of the season. So while not all of the head-to-head matchups line up exactly, the profile is enough quality to bring Arizona State back into the top 25 after beating the Red Raiders.

25. LSU (10): This is a complex resume for voters to parse, because while LSU has lost close games to a few ranked teams (Ole Miss and Vanderbilt) on the road, it also doesn’t have a slew of quality wins to justify a top-25 ranking. Ultimately, our projection is that the quality losses do enough of a job to avoid falling out of the rankings entirely, but this is a team that will be on the chopping block for many voters’ votes.

Planned abandonment: No. 20 USC, No. 22 Memphis, No. 23 Utah, No. 25 Nebraska