College Football Rankings 2012 Week 2: Teams Ready to Make Leap in Week 3 Polls

The Week 2 college football rankings and polls were just released, and nothing has changed too much.

There weren’t any upsets in the Top 25, meaning voters just re-aligned some teams based on their performances during the first week of games.

Week 2 could change everything, as there are a number of solid matchups that are bound to have an impact on how the polls look from Week 3 until the end of the season.

Let’s take a look at some teams that could be moving up based on their performance this week. 

Tennessee vs. Georgia State

The Volunteers strung together a solid game against N.C. State to open the season and earned a lot of Top 25 votes in the AP and USA Today polls.

If they come out and just destroy Georgia State, they are likely to move into the rankings, assuming some of the other teams near the bottom have a bad performance or outright lose.

This team is looking like yet another SEC powerhouse in a year where it seems every program in the conference is going to be tough to beat. 

Notre Dame vs. Purdue

The Irish made their way up to No. 22 in both polls after being unranked to start the season.

A 50-10 dismantling of the Navy Midshipmen away from American shores certainly helped their cause, and a win against a solid Big Ten team in Purdue will move them up even farther.

Notre Dame’s rushing attack will be great this year, and Everett Golson could provide stability at the QB position if he keeps up his solid play. 

North Carolina at Wake Forest

The Tar Heels are just outside of the Top 25, and a win over an ACC foe will certainly see them inch even closer, if not into the polls in Week 3.

Their offense looked great against Elon and their defense kept a clean sheet for a 62-0 dismantling in the Heels' opening game.

While UNC still has much to prove, a win over the Demon Deacons will answer a lot of questions surrounding this group. 

AP Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Alabama (45)	1-0	1481
2	USC (11)	1-0	1435
3	LSU (4)	1-0	1382
4	Oregon	1-0	1295
5	Oklahoma	1-0	1170
6	Florida State	1-0	1135
7	Georgia	1-0	1083
8	Arkansas	1-0	992
9	South Carolina	1-0	980
9	West Virginia	1-0	980
11	Michigan State	1-0	915
12	Clemson	1-0	788
13	Wisconsin	1-0	664
14	Ohio State	1-0	634
15	Virginia Tech	1-0	604
16	Nebraska	1-0	603
17	Texas	1-0	584
18	Oklahoma State	1-0	558
19	Michigan	0-1	446
20	TCU	0-0	355
21	Kansas State	1-0	339
22	Notre Dame	1-0	198
23	Louisville	1-0	190
24	Florida	1-0	145
25	Stanford	1-0	131

Check back for more on the NCAA Football as it comes, and don’t miss Bleacher Report’s College Football page to get your fill of college football.