Top 25 College Football Rankings Predictions After Opening Week of 2025 NCAA Season

A shakeup of the preseason college football rankings will occur after Week 1's results.

The Ohio State Buckeyes are likely to ascend to the top spot after their defense shut down Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns.

Texas was one of three top-10 teams to lose on Saturday. The Clemson Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide will also experience a tumble in the Week 2 rankings.

The most curious case of a team on the move might be the LSU Tigers. LSU checked in at No. 9 in the preseason AP poll and it opened the season with a road win over Clemson.

Week 2 Top 25 Prediction

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Week 2 Top 25 prediction

1. Ohio State
2. Penn State
3. Georgia
4. Notre Dame
5. LSU
6. Texas
7. Oregon
8. Clemson
9. Arizona State
10. Illinois
11. South Carolina
12. Illinois
13. Alabama
14. Michigan
15. Florida
16. SMU
17. Oklahoma
18. Florida State
19. Texas A&M
20. Iowa State
21. Indiana
22. Ole Miss
23. Texas Tech
24. Tennessee
25. Utah

Ohio State Expected to Be No. 1

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Ohio State's home win over Texas should catapult it from No. 3 to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll.

The Buckeyes stifled the Arch Manning-led Longhorns offense for most of the contest in Columbus.

The win over the preseason No. 1 should be enough to push the Buckeyes over the Penn State Nittany Lions into the top spot. Penn State won at home over the Nevada Wolf Pack.

The Buckeyes could be set for an extended stay at the top of the rankings. The next ranked team on their schedule is the Illinois Fighting Illini on October 11.

If OSU wins the Illinois game, it probably will go into the November 1 clash with Penn State as the No. 1 team. That contest could easily be No. 1-versus-No. 2.

LSU Should Be Top 5 Team

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LSU was arguably the biggest winner of the weekend.

Brian Kelly's team won on the road over fourth-ranked Clemson, and in the process, it delivered a statement to the rest of the country that it could contend for a national championship.

LSU is primed for a jump of at least a few places from No. 9 due to the losses by Clemson and the Alabama Crimson Tide.

How high LSU moves up the rankings depends on how far Texas falls and what LSU's win means compared to the easy wins picked up by the rest of the top programs outside of Ohio State.

A top-five position is deserved due to the type of win LSU produced. Staying there is another issue in itself because the Tigers have six more ranked teams on their schedule, starting with the Florida Gators in two weeks.

Florida State Will Make Season Debut in Top 25

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The Florida State Seminoles earned eight votes in the preseason AP Top 25.

FSU will earn many more votes in the Week 2 poll after its home upset of Alabama.

The Seminoles should easily make the Top 25 with the Boise State Broncos and Kansas State Wildcats expected to fall out of the rankings.

Mike Norvell's team should jump into the middle of the poll. It won't just enter at No. 25. There's a good chance it could be in the top 20.

Florida State might be a top 15 team by the time it finds itself in the spotlight again on October 4 against the Miami Hurricanes.