Last Word on College Football
Top 25 Week 2
It was an incredible Saturday of college football. Three Top-15 match-ups plus another intriguing Top-25 match-up in South Bend.
After two full weekends of college football, we finally have some lingering off-season questions being answered. Alabama slipping? Nope. Is USC for real? Yep. Can Clemson reload instead of rebuild? Sure can. There’s still many more questions to be answered, but that’s for future weekends.
So how did some of these answers shape our Top 25? Let’s take a look at the Last Word on College Football Top 25 for Week 2.
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LAST WORD ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL
TOP 25 WEEK 2
| Rank
|
Team
|
Points
|
Previous
|
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1. |
ALABAMA (2-0) |
448 | 1 | |
| Alabama ran past Fresno State on Saturday. The Tide won’t face another ranked team until the third Saturday in October. No reason to think they’ll trip up in the middle part of their schedule. It’s on cruise control in T-Town.
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2. |
OKLAHOMA (2-0) |
419 | 2 | |
| The Sooners scored 21 consecutive points in the second half en route to a 31-16 upset win over Ohio State. After being held without a touchdown in the first half, Baker Mayfield connected on 16 of 17 with three touchdowns. The Sooners will return home next week to face the Green Wave of Tulane.
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3. |
CLEMSON (2-0) |
416 | 3 | |
| Clemson’s defense held Auburn to 117 total yards with 13 on the ground. QB Kelly Bryant is finding his rhythm this season. He passed for 181 yards and ran for two touchdowns. Up next a business trip to Louisville.
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4. |
USC (2-0)
|
395 | 5 | |
| The Trojans physically manhandled Stanford on both sides of the ball in a 42-24 win over the Cardinal at the Coliseum. USC had 623 yards of total offense, including 316 passing from quarterback Sam Darnold, to go with his four touchdown passes. USC next faces Texas at home Saturday night.
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5. |
PENN STATE (2-0) |
383 | 4 | |
| Penn State raced out to a 14-0 lead on rivals Pitt and never looked back. Trace McSorley tossed three TDs including one to Saquon Barkley. Again the defense was strong in the 33-14 victory, collecting 3 turnovers.
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6. |
MICHIGAN (2-0) |
341 | 7 | |
| The Wolverines were not as dominant as some might have hoped against Cincinnati, but it was more than enough. This defense is elite.
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7. |
OKLAHOMA STATE (2-0) |
310 | 9 | |
| Mason Rudolph to James Washington. That’s a connection that you will continue to hear about as the season unfolds. Rudolph threw for 335 yards and three scores as Oklahoma State defeated South Alabama 44-7 in Mobile.
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8. |
WASHINGTON (2-0) |
307 | 10 | |
| The Huskies rolled again, over an inferior Montana team. Next week, UDub will complete its preseason tuning up against Fresno State at home.
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9. |
OHIO STATE (1-1)
|
305 | 2 | |
| The Ohio State offense continues to look as it did to end 2016, losing 31-16 to Oklahoma on Saturday. Buckeyes quarterback J.T. Barrett had yet another rough outing, completing 18-of-34 passes for only 166 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. Barrett hasn’t thrown for over 200 yards passing in four of his last five games.
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10. |
WISCONSIN (2-0) |
289 | 11 | |
| Scoring early in the game helped the Badgers to a 31-14 win against Florida Atlantic. Freshman RB Jonathan Taylor racked up 223 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries. Chris James had 17 carries for 148 yards and two scores in the opening 30 minutes against FAU.
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11. |
FLORIDA STATE (1-0)
|
283 | 9 | |
| The start of the James Blackman area was put on hold due to Hurricane Irma. With Saturday’s game against Miami being postponed, the Seminoles now have two weeks to focus on September 23rd’s match-up against North Carolina State.
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12. |
LSU (2-0) |
258 | 14 | |
| The Tigers demolished Chattanooga in their home opener in Baton Rouge. Derrius Guice rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver DJ Chark returned a punt 65 yards to the end zone. The Tigers finished with four rushing touchdowns in the 45-10 rout of the Mocs. LSU travels to Mississippi State next to take on the Bulldogs.
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13. |
GEORGIA (2-0)
|
246 | 15 | |
| The Bulldogs first ever trip to South Bend was a winning one, beating Notre Dame 20-19. In the first game without Jacob Eason, Georgia rushed for almost 200 yards and Kirby Smart’s defense made timely stops to preserve the win.
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14. |
AUBURN (1-1) |
195 | 13 | |
| The visiting Tigers fell short in a 14-6 loss. Although the Auburn defense held the reigning National Champs scoreless until the end of the first half, the offense gave an embarrassing performance, as QB Jarrett Stidham was sacked 11 times. In Week 3, Auburn hosts Mercer before heading into SEC play.
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15. |
LOUISVILLE (2-0) |
190 | 16 | |
| Lamar Jackson is once again putting up video game numbers in September accounting for 525 yards and six touchdowns against North Carolina. The cardinals face their first big test Saturday when they host defending national champion, Clemson.
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16. |
MIAMI (1-0) |
173 | 17 | |
| Due to hurricane Irma, Miami’s match-up with Arkansas St was cancelled. Next week’s Florida St. game has been rescheduled to October 7th. With such a layover, Richt will need to keep his team focused and active while they take advantage of the extra time to continue preparing for the remainder of the season.
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17. |
VIRGINIA TECH (2-0)
|
158 | 18 | |
| The Hokies shut out Delaware on Saturday, as Greg Stroman became the first player in VT history to return a punt for a TD in three consecutive seasons. QB Josh Jackson completed 16 of 27 passes for 222 yards and two TDs, but proved that he still has some room for improvement when it comes to decision-making.
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18. |
STANFORD (1-1)
|
139 | 12 | |
| The Cardinal was manhandled all night long by USC in LA. David Shaw’s squad will attempt to recover from Saturday’s thrashing, and will head back to southern California to take on San Diego State in Week 3.
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19. |
KANSAS STATE (2-0) |
110 | 19 | |
| Kansas State didn’t have much competition this week, and it showed. First real test comes against Vanderbilt next week.
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20. |
TCU (2-0)
|
80 | 24 | |
| TCU was out for revenge from last year’s OT loss. Arkansas got caught in TCU’s defensive quagmire and never got out. TCU scored two TDs in 14 seconds to put the game to bed. Next week, they welcome SMU.
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21. |
WASHINGTON STATE (2-0)
|
70 | 21 | |
| The Cougars pulled a win out in triple overtime against Boise State (1-1) in Week 2. It took a stud performance from backup QB Tyler Helinski, but Washington State survived.
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22. |
USF (2-0)
|
65 | 20 | |
| South Florida cancelled their visit to UConn. Although a conference game, it is unlikely the game will be made up. The Bulls now have time to turn their attention to Lovie Smith’s Illini as they are scheduled to visit Tampa Bay next Friday, barring the effects of the aftermath of Irma.
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23. |
UCLA (2-0)
|
59 | 25 | |
| Quarterback Josh Rosen led the Bruins to touchdown drives in their first four possessions in route to a 56-23 win over Hawai’i at the Rose Bowl Saturday afternoon. The Bruins travel to Memphis Saturday for their first road game of the season.
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24. |
FLORIDA (1-0)
|
54 | 22 | |
| The Gators were hoping to redeem themselves in Week 2 after a setback against Michigan last week, but the game against Northern Colorado was canceled due to Hurricane Irma. The Gators are scheduled to host the Tennessee Volunteers at 3:30 p.m. ET next Saturday.
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25. |
TENNESSEE (2-0) |
46 | 23 | |
| The Vols had a short five-day turn after their emotional double-OT win against Georgia Tech. Indiana State provided little resistance in the home opener. This week, Tennessee tries to make it two in a row against the Gators. | ||||
Others Receiving Votes: Utah (29), West Virginia (15), Colorado (13), Oregon (13), South Carolina (12), , Boise State (11), Mississippi State (6), Georgia Tech (6), Maryland (6), Duke (5), Navy (2), Notre Dame (1).
Looking Ahead
After the Miami at FSU game was postponed due to weather, Week 3 only has two Top 25 match-ups: Clemson at Louisville and Tennessee at Florida. Remember when FSU traveled to Louisville last season? Could we see a replay of that scenario? And remember what happened in the Florida-Tennessee match-up in 2016? Tennessee ended an 11-year losing streak to the Gators. And, of course, don’t forget the inevitable upset lurking in another week of college football action.
About the Poll: Eighteen LWOCFB writers rank the Top 25 teams across the nation weekly to determine the best teams from around the country.
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