UK & Ireland Top 25 College Football Rankings: Week 1
By Simon Carroll
If the AP and the College Football Playoff committee can’t get it right, then perhaps we can!
Each week during the season, a panel of media members from various outlets across the UK & Ireland get together to collate their own set of College Football rankings. With a slate of football that had storylines and shocks from Thursday right through to Monday, here are your rankings for Week 2:
25-21
25
Fresno State (1-0)
24
Texas State (1-0)
23
Tulane (1-0)
22
Wisconsin (1-0)
21
Ole Miss (1-0)
Welcome to ranked life Texas State! The Bobcats, fresh off the back of a program-defining win over P5 opponent Baylor in Waco on Saturday, make the Top 25 for the first time. With another big game against UTSA on Saturday, head coach GJ Kinne will be hoping for more success to fall upon San Marcos.
Wins for Wisconsin and Fresno State saw them catapult into the rankings, whilst Tulane stood pat despite a good win over a strong South Alabama program. Ole Miss, fresh off battering Mercer 73-7, move up just one spot. The Rebels and Green Wave face off against each other this coming weekend.
20-16
20
LSU (0-1)
19
Oregon State (1-0)
18
Kansas State (1-0)
17
Oklahoma (1-0)
16
Colorado (1-0)
Coach Prime, if you haven’t heard, keeps receipts. Well he can put them away when it comes to the UK & Ireland College Football media – the committe well and truly believes in what he’s building down in Boulder. A huge win over last year’s runners up TCU sees them catapult into 16th.
Elsewhere, there’s a big jump for the Sooners on the back of a 73-0 shellacking of Arkansas State, whilst LSU tumble a whopping 15 spots after a humbling defeat to Florida State. The Tigers are obviously still highly regarded by the panel – the only program to have suffered a loss this weekend and remain ranked.
DJ Uiagalelei was almost flawless for Oregon State, whilst Big 12 champs Kansas State also won comprehensively – but victories over San Jose State and South Dakota failed to move the needle for either program.
15-11
15
Duke (1-0)
14
North Carolina (1-0)
13
Oregon (1-0)
12
Texas (1-0)
11
Tennessee (1-0)
Duke’s incredible win over Clemson will obviously remain fresh in the minds of the voters, but there’s no doubting that Mike Elko’s team is deserving of a ranking. This week they host FCS minnows Lafayette – a good game to face if there’s any hangover from Monday night.
North Carolina were impressive in taking down a highly touted Gamecocks team, and have moved up six places as a result. Expected wins for Oregon, Texas and Tennessee see the three powerhouse programs remain roughly as is from their preseason positions.
10-6
10
Notre Dame (2-0)
9
Utah (1-0)
8
USC (2-0)
7
Washington (1-0)
6
Penn State (1-0)
USC & Notre Dame, both with two wins already on their resume, have looked both explosive and comfortable in equal measure – and only the quality of their opponents to date have likely held them back from a top five spot after Week 1. Drew Allar lived up to the billing for Penn State, as the Nittany Lions pulled away from WVU in the second half. All three of these teams have quarterbacks that have the calibre to lead a team to the playoffs – but are the rest of these rosters up to the same standard?
Two big risers from the PAC-12 round this group out; Utah laid down a marker by dispatching Florida without their star QB Cam Rising, whilst Washington looked a complete football team in taking down a dangerous Boise State. In head coach Kaleb DeBoer and quarterback Michael Penix, the Huskies have elite coaching and the talent to learn from it. This team is a not-so dark horse to go all the way in 2023…
5-1
5
Ohio State (1-0)
4
Alabama (1-0)
3
Michigan (1-0)
2
Florida State (1-0)
1
Georgia (1-0)
I said last week that the top five usually picks itelf. Well you can throw that out of the window immediately. Sure, Georgia, Michigan, Alabama and Ohio State still make the cut. Course they do. And all of them won pretty convincingly – well, the Buckeyes made a meal of it, but I digress. This group is going to be hard for any other program to penetrate at the top.
Which goes to show just how big and convincing the win was for Florida State in Tallahassee on Sunday night. The Seminoles have been on the rise under Mike Norvell for more than a year, after FSU gave showed their head coach patience in the early seasons. Norvell has repaid that and then some. Impressive on both sides of the football, Florida State broke the will of a talented LSU team that will be licking their wounds for some time after this one.
Of all the QB’s making statements in Week 1 – Shedeur Sanders, Michael Penix, Bo Nix – it was perhaps Jordan Travis that is surrounded by the most excitement. His connection with transfer receiver Keon Coleman was immediate – and the ‘Noles were ranked second as a result.
Roll on Week 2!
Here is the Top 25 #CollegeFootball Rankings as voted for by UK & Ireland's College Football Media after week 1.
— Owain Jones (@Owain_Jones_) September 6, 2023
🔹Florida State move up to #2! #KeepCLIMBing
🔹#Colorado & #Duke enter the rankings.
🔹Texas State are ranked by the group for the first time ever! #EatEmUp pic.twitter.com/ICZDByYQmp
WEEKLY AWARDS, AS VOTED BY THE PANEL
Offensive Player of the Week:
Defensive Player of the Week:
