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Mike's top 25 college football teams heading into Week 2 of the 2025 season. His complete top 25 rankings, including Ohio State State, LSU, and more.
Week 2 College Football Power Rankings
This was one of the more enjoyable “official” opening weekends in college football history. After all, no No. 1 team has faced a No. 2 team in the first week of the season. That should have told us all that we needed to know about this week. Every team was in action this week, so we will have some big moves up and down the rankings. I go by what happened on the field, not by what I think should happen going forward.
Due to this process, my rankings are going to be different than many you will see, especially early in the season. I caught a bunch of smoke from Ohio State fans in September last year because I didn’t rank the Buckeyes in the Top 10 for beating on MAC teams. It all worked itself out. Going into the CFP, Ohio State was in my top 10, where everyone thought they belonged.
25. Nebraska (1-0)
Last week: NR
Result: W 20-17 vs. Cincinnati
Those Nebraska fans complaining about this game are missing the point. The defense held Brendan Sorsby to just 69 passing yards. Dylan Raiola threw two touchdowns and didn’t turn the ball over. And most importantly, Nebraska won a one-score game. The Cornhuskers scored their final touchdown with more than 10 minutes left and held on to win. That’s something that hasn’t happened much in the last five years. Take the win!
24. TCU (1-0)
Last week: NR
Result: W 48-14 vs. North Carolina
It’s my rankings, and I can do what I want to. I’m ranking TCU solely because they derailed the Bill Belichick hype train. Thanks, guys. I owe you one!
23. Illinois (1-0)
Last week: 20 ⇓3
Result: W 52-3 vs. Western Illinois
Hank Beatty broke Red Grange’s 102-year-old record for punt return yards in a game with 133. See? Glorified scrimmage.
22. Florida (1-0)
Last week: 5 ⇓17
Result: W 55-0 vs. Long Island
I’m not impressed by the demolition of an FCS team. Florida’s schedule is once again extremely difficult, so they’ll move back up the rankings soon enough. This is more to protest the glorified scrimmages against low-level FCS teams.
21. Oklahoma (1-0)
Last week: 19 ⇓2
Result: W 35-3 vs. Illinois State
The Redbirds are ranked sixth in the FCS rankings, so it was still a solid showing for Oklahoma. This was everything that I wanted to see out of John Mateer and more.
20. South Florida (1-0)
Last week: NR
Result: W 34-7 vs. Boise State
The Bulls smacked Boise, who was only ranked in the polls because no one did any research. Ashton Jeanty was a generational talent with loyalty that is all too rare in college football nowadays. This isn’t a knock on Sire Gaines — he was one of the few bright spots for Boise — it just highlights how hard it is for a small school to replace a player like Jeanty.
It’s only fitting that the torch should be passed to another player loyal to a small school (South Florida QB Byrum Brown). Brown had a strong game, but the story of this one was the South Florida defense. If this defense holds up, USF might make the College Football Playoff.
19. Indiana (1-0)
Last week: 7 ⇓12
Result: W 27-14 vs. Old Dominion
Old Dominion quarterback Colton Joseph shredded this defense for 179 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns. Indiana did intercept three passes, but running quarterbacks are going to be a problem this year. Joseph ran for a 75-yard touchdown on the first play of the game and still averaged over 10 yards per carry after that.
18. Oregon (1-0)
Last week: 14 ⇓4
Result: W 59-13 vs. Montana State
This is another highly-ranked FCS team (second nationally), so this is perhaps a better win than Nevada or Old Dominion. Dante Moore looked really good in his first start since 2023.
17. Michigan (1-0)
Last week: 22 ⇑5
Result: W 34-17 vs. New Mexico
The final score doesn’t tell the whole story. Michigan dominated this game. Bryce Underwood had a strong first career start. Justice Haynes shone in an offense that went out of its way to highlight his skills. It was a predictably vanilla game for Michigan, but who cares? The W in the standings is all that matters.
16. Utah (1-0)
Last week: NR
Result: W 43-10 vs. UCLA
All of the buzz about Utah was true. I followed Devon Dampier at New Mexico last year and was excited to see him in this offense. He was better than advertised (22-for-25, 206 yards, TD; 87 rush yards, TD). Utah finally has an offense to complement its elite defense.
15. Notre Dame (0-1)
Last week: 15 ⇔
Result: L 24-27 at (21) Miami (FL)
It was a road loss against a ranked team, so I’m not moving the Irish down. CJ Carr did a solid job running the offense, but the Miami defense did a great job on the run game. Jeremiyah Love only ran for 33 yards on 10 carries. That’s more concerning than the interception that Carr threw.
14. Georgia Tech (1-0)
Last week: 24 ⇑10
Result: W 27-20 at Colorado
It’s not easy to walk into Folsom Field and win. This was a weird game for Tech. Haynes King had more yards rushing than passing. Colorado was able to limit Jamal Haynes and did a good job in coverage. Somehow, Colorado’s defense might be better than last year when they had Shilo Sanders and Travis Hunter.
13. Mississippi (1-0)
Last week: 13 ⇔
Result: W 63-7 vs. Georgia State
Austin Simmons threw for 341 yards. He was picked off twice, but one of those wasn’t his fault. Kewan Lacy is going to be a good back in this offense, and it was a defensive clinic by the Rebels. 43 of Christian Veilleux’s 52 passing yards came on one play. This is about what we expected out of Ole Miss.
12. Georgia (1-0)
Last week: 8 ⇓4
Result: W 45-7 vs. Marshall
Marshall was one of the most gutted FBS teams in the offseason. They canceled their bowl game in 2024 since so many people left with former coach Charles Huff. This was to be expected.
It was a good warm-up for Gunner Stockton, and Georgia fans got to see the wheels that this guy has. The Georgia offense looked better than most in the first week, which has to be settling for some Georgia fans who were unimpressed with Stockton in the CFP loss.
11. Penn State (1-0)
Last week: 2 ⇓9
Result: W 46-11 vs. Nevada
Nevada isn’t an FCS school, but they’re close. This was a big win against a bad team, which is exactly how this was supposed to go.
10. Texas A&M (1-0)
Last week: 17 ⇑7
Result: W 42-24 vs. UTSA
This was The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly for the Aggies in this one. The good was Marcel Reed. He threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns. The bad was the inability to run the ball and allowing 177 rushing yards to UTSA’s Robert Henry Jr. The ugly is the win itself. The Roadrunners led this game about halfway through the third quarter.
It was a good showing to bear down and come away with the win. You know my thoughts on UTSA, so this is still a solid win. Le’Veon Moss only played 15 snaps, so it feels like the Aggies were trying to work on some things more than pound the ball. That may be all that this was.
9. Tennessee (1-0)
Last week: 18 ⇑9
Result: W 45-26 vs. Syracuse
The Orange are a power team, so the orange team that beat them moves up in the rankings. Joey Aguilar played a better game than Nico Iamaleava ever did in Knoxville. The running game is a two-headed monster, but those two heads (Star Thomas and DeSean Bishop) both looked strong.
Whatever reservations Tennessee fans had coming into the season should be gone now. Syracuse is likely still a top-five team in the ACC. This is a quality win.
8. Clemson (0-1)
Last week: 3 ⇓5
Result: L 10-17 vs. (4) LSU
Clemson had their chances to not let this game get to the point that it did. LSU’s offense got moving in the second half. Much is being made of Cade Klubnik’s pedestrian day, but Clemson could not run at all on that LSU front. This offense had no chance.
7. Texas (0-1)
Last week: 1 ⇓6
Result: L 7-14 at (6) Ohio State
Spare me the “Texas would still be favored on a neutral field” rhetoric. This was a dominant performance by the Ohio State defense. Texas didn’t solve them until 55 minutes into the game. Yeah, Arch Manning struggled, but that Buckeye defense is a major reason why. I know the sky is falling in Austin right now, but it’s likely not as bad as you think, Texas fans.
6. South Carolina (1-0)
Last week: 10 ⇑4
Result: W 24-11 vs. Virginia Tech
Hey, it was a neutral-site win against a Power 4 team. Those get some juice in Week 1. The South Carolina defense was the story of this game. They were all over Kyron Drones. LaNorris Sellers had a pedestrian day, but the big takeaway is that he didn’t turn the ball over.
5. Iowa State (2-0)
Last week: 9 ⇑4
Result: W 55-7 vs. South Dakota
This wasn’t just a thrashing of an FCS team. South Dakota is ranked fourth in the FCS polls. This is a solid team that the Cyclones blew away this week. The road to the Big 12 (16) may run through Ames.
4. Florida State (1-0)
Last week: NR
Result: W 31-17 vs. (12) Alabama)
This was the most unlikely outcome of Week 1. You can’t blame this loss for Alabama on Ty Simpson. He had a good day aside from a lost fumble. It has been a very long time since I’ve seen Alabama get run on like that.
Florida State reloaded through the portal again, and they were amped up for this one. Thomas Castellanos brought some swagger to this team from Boston College. I don’t know how long FSU stays up here, but they are going to be an interesting team to watch this year.
3. Miami (FL) (1-0)
Last week: 21 ⇑18
Result: W 27-24 vs. (15) Notre Dame
Carson Beck still has it. The veteran from Georgia threw for 205 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Most importantly, he didn’t turn it over. That’s a common theme among the quarterbacks of the top teams in the rankings this week. It is worth noting that their opponents didn’t play a clean game. Sometimes football really is that simple.
2. LSU (1-0)
Last week: 4 ⇑2
Result: W 17-10 at (3) Clemson
Clemson is lucky this wasn’t worse. LSU had a touchdown called back that clearly shouldn’t have been. Garrett Nussmeier’s 230 passing yards didn’t set the world afire, but he didn’t make mistakes and made some tough throws in key spots. The LSU defense came up big in this one.
1. Ohio State (1-0)
Last week: 6 ⇑5
Result: W 14-7 vs. (1) Texas
This was an impressive performance by the Ohio State defense. The Texas defense looked good as well, but key stops on fourth down by the Buckeye defense saved this game. Julian Sayin’s first career start was solid. He wasn’t flashy, wasn’t particularly great, but he didn’t make a mistake. That is the single most important thing in a game like this. Sayin didn’t put his team in a position to lose. He made great decisions all game long.
