NCAA Football 2018 Rankings: Trojans Take a Tumble
College football's Week 3 AP Top 25 is out, and the Pac-12 was responsible for what little shake-up transpired.
The biggest upset to last week's apple cart came when unranked Arizona State knocked off No. 15 Michigan State. Not only did the Herm Edwards-led Sun Devils jump into the Top 25 at No. 23, but they also sent the Spartans spiraling 10 spots to No. 25.
The other major development came when No. 10 Stanford took care of business against No. 17 USC. Normally, you wouldn't see a team penalized much for losing a close-ish road game against a Top 10 team, but the Trojans were so underwhelming in the 17-3 loss—and teams previously behind them were so impressive this week—that they fell five spots to No. 22.
And that's it as far as significant changes are concerned. No other team moved up or down more than three spots in a week where the biggest upsets (Purdue, North Carolina, etc.) were well outside the rankings.
At least there were a couple of shifts at the back end of the poll. No. 24 South Carolina and No. 25 Florida also went down in Week 2, helping pave the way for two teams to earn a shiny new number next to their names: Arizona State and Oklahoma State.
Read on for more about the noteworthy changes in the AP Top 25.
Uh-Oh, USC
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The USC Trojans were already on thin ice with the AP voters.
Ranked No. 15 in the preseason poll, the Trojans had one of the least impressive Week 1 performances. It wasn't a loss. Heck, they won by 22 points. But it wasn't until the fourth quarter that they pulled away in a home game against UNLV.
USC's offense looked woefully young. (It is.) And the defense gave up 308 rushing yards to an opponent that has played in just one bowl game since 2000. As a result, the Trojans slipped two spots to No. 17 in advance of the gigantic Week 2 clash with Stanford.
However, it wasn't much of a battle. The Trojans managed just one field goal, finishing the game with an equal number of points scored and turnovers committed. The defense was significantly better, in spite of a couple of big runs from Bryce Love. But the offense never showed up in a 17-3 loss.
Should they bounce back with a convincing road win over Texas next week, the Trojans could climb back into the Top 20 in next Sunday's poll. Until then, though, they'll be on the brink of falling out of the rankings altogether.
Almost Sayonara, Sparty
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Just like USC, Michigan State had already lost favor with the AP voters before its difficult Week 2 road game against a Pac-12 opponent.
The Spartans needed a late score to overcome a one-point deficit at home against Utah State. Though they won 38-31, that scare was enough for them to slip from No. 11 to No. 15. Even Penn State didn't drop four spots after its miraculous win over Appalachian State, so this was a clear vote of no-confidence in Michigan State.
Rather than prove the voters wrong with a statement win, Sparty stalled on offense time and again in a 16-13 loss to Arizona State.
The Spartans only had one three-and-out possession and gained at least 19 yards on eight of 10 drives, but some lot of good it did them on the scoreboard—especially while their defense was allowing the Sun Devils to piece together seven drives of at least 40 yards.
Maybe it was the late start time. Perhaps it was the temperature. Or it's possible this team just isn't that good. Whatever the cause of their demise, the Spartans will enter their bye week in serious danger of being unranked for Week 4. After receiving 684 votes in last week's poll, they slipped to No. 25 with 104 votes this week—only 12 more than Utah and 14 more than Texas A&M.
Howdy, Herm, Sun Devils
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When Arizona State announced in December that it was hiring Herm Edwards as its head coach, the national media lost its collective mind. Edwards hadn't coached in any capacity since 2008 and hadn't coached in college since overseeing San Jose State's defensive backs in 1989.
How in the world was this 64-year-old going to come out of a decade in the NFL studio and run a college program?
Nine months later, it'd be irresponsible to argue that there was a better hiring decision than this one.
Edwards and the Sun Devils smoked UTSA in the season opener behind relentless defensive pressure. They recorded nine sacks and held the Roadrunners to 220 yards.
In case you thought it was just a product of facing a low-level Conference USA opponent, Arizona State flexed its defensive muscles again in a 16-13 win over No. 15 Michigan State. Enough voters took note of the late-night result to get Arizona State into the AP poll at No. 23.
Maintaining that ranking will be quite the challenge. Three of ASU's next six games are against ranked opponents (Washington, Stanford and USC), and two of the other three are difficult road games (at San Diego State and Colorado). But even if the Sun Devils fall on their faces from here, props to Edwards for getting them into the poll for the first time since the 2015 preseason.
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Clemson Slips a Bit After Heart-Stopping Win
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Every team in last week's AP Top 14 won this week—most of them in convincing fashion. As a result, there wasn't much movement in the poll's top half.
One of the exceptions to that rule was No. 2 Clemson, which won 28-26 after barely withstanding Texas A&M's frantic comeback attempt.
Notre Dame's 24-16 close call with Ball State aside, this made Clemson the lone team in the Top 14 that had any difficulty adding to its win column. And the Tigers paid the price for that distinction.
They received 12 first-place votes last week and had a 117-vote cushion over No. 3 Georgia. It's hard to believe they could lose that much of an edge following a win, but the Bulldogs gave No. 24 South Carolina such a thorough beating that it became difficult for voters to justify keeping the Tigers ahead of either of the SEC's playoff contenders.
Six of those 12 first-place votes went to Alabama, and the gap between No. 2 and No. 3 shrank all the way to 23 votes.
Clemson is still No. 2, but it no longer feels like it's Alabama, Clemson and then everyone else. The Tigers slid back to the pack, which could be a noteworthy development, given their lack of opportunities for marquee wins prior to the ACC championship.
SEC Loses Some of Its Luster
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Without question, the SEC is still the conference to beat. The top of the AP poll is littered with teams from the Southeastern Conference, as No. 1 Alabama, No. 3 Georgia, No. 7 Auburn, No. 12 LSU and No. 16 Mississippi State make up 31.3 percent of the Sweet 16, if you will.
But with No. 24 South Carolina and No. 25 Florida both losing at home in unimpressive fashion, the SEC went from a league with seven ranked teams to one with "only" five.
Two voters left the Gamecocks at No. 25 on their ballots for some reason, but the Gators didn't receive a single vote this week. Rather, the SEC's top representation in the "others receiving votes" section of the poll is Texas A&M, whose vote count more than tripled from 29 to 90 after darn near upsetting No. 2 Clemson.
The surprise is that Kentucky didn't get a little more respect for beating Florida for the first time since 1986—and on the road, no less. Had the Wildcats looked a little more impressive in their season opener against Central Michigan, perhaps they would have received more than 19 votes this week.
But with home games against Mississippi State and South Carolina coming up before the end of the month, they'll get plenty more chances to prove they belong.
Oklahoma State Sneaks In
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Despite losing Mason Rudolph, James Washington and Marcell Ateman to the NFL, Oklahoma State has been destroying teams outside the national spotlight.
Between the season-opening win over Missouri State and this past week's blowout of South Alabama, the Cowboys have outgained their opposition by a combined margin of 875 yards.
Senior quarterback Taylor Cornelius is getting a chance to shine, and the early returns are good. He threw for 300 yards and five touchdowns in Week 1 before kicking it up a notch for 428 yards against USA.
And the impressive thing is they've done this without relying much on the guys we expected to be the stars. Justice Hill rushed for 15 touchdowns and 1,467 yards last season, but he has only gotten 19 carries thus far. Top returning receivers Jalen McCleskey and Dillon Stoner have combined for a modest 16 receptions for 160 yards.
Once those players get rolling, this offense could be even more unstoppable.
Thanks to the aforementioned losses by South Carolina and Florida, Oklahoma State makes its 2018 debut in the AP Top 25 at No. 24—just in time for the big Week 3 showdown with No. 17 Boise State. Win that one and Cornelius and Co. would most likely surge into next Sunday's Top 20.
Kerry Miller covers college football and men's college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @kerrancejames.
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