Tomorrow’s Top 25 Today projects college football rankings entering Week 9

The College Football Playoff rankings are guaranteed to see one of their biggest shake-ups of the season after a Week 8 that threw the entire AP Top 25 poll into a blender.

Some of it was inevitable, as every AP Top 25 team was in action this weekend, and the teams that finished No. 26 (Michigan) and No. 27 (Washington) faced each other. In total, Week 8 featured five ranked-on-ranked matchups and nine total losses by ranked teams. So when the new AP Top 25 is released on Sunday, expect plenty of movement in the rankings.

As for the headliners, it’s hard to get past what Clark Lea has done at Vanderbilt — and what the Commodores are set to do on Sunday — following their win over LSU. According to our research, Vanderbilt has never been ranked higher than No. 10 in the AP Top 25 poll, and our projection is that they’ll land higher than that as one of the top one-loss teams in the poll.

Here’s how we expect the new AP Top 25 to look on Sunday after Week 8: 

1. Ohio State (Last week — 1): If the Buckeyes want to boast that they have the best defense in the country, there is certainly more evidence for it in Saturday’s 34-0 win at Wisconsin. Ohio State is allowing 5.9 points per game this season and has yet to give up 17 in a single game, helping balance what it already a hyper-talented offense that seems to be getting more comfortable each week with Julian Sayin at quarterback. 

2. Indiana (3): We are starting to see some seriously award-winning work from Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who threw for 332 yards and four touchdowns in a 25-point win against Michigan State the week after winning on the road at Oregon. It’s hard to win over first-place votes from a conference rival, but the move to No. 2 alone will make more program history as the highest-ever AP Top 25 ranking for Indiana football. 

3. Texas A&M (4): Some seriously inclement weather conditions preceded a high-scoring back-and-forth at Arkansas, but the Aggies held strong with answers at every turn to improve to 7-0 on the year.  

4. Alabama (6): It’s just a slight bump in the rankings but it’s a big hurdle to cross for an Alabama team that is clearly in the mix for title contention here in 2025. The Crimson Tide handled business against rival Tennessee and now prepares for its home stretch of the season looking to secure the College Football Playoff bid that eluded Kalen DeBoer a year ago.  

5. Oregon (8): This is a great response from the Ducks after last week’s loss to Indiana, as Oregon had to bounce back and travel across the country to New Jersey for a quick turnaround against Rutgers. The 56-10 result speaks to the focus of an Oregon team that’s not going to let one loss impact the rest of the season, and it will keep them safely inside the top 10 heading into Week 9. 

6. Georgia (9): The 2025 edition of Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs aren’t winning games the way we’re accustomed to seeing from his title-contending program. Shootout victories against Ole Miss on Saturday and Tennessee earlier this season show that the Dawgs can win lots of ways and that could be a benefit to achieving their ultimate goal in the 12-team College Football Playoff era. 

7. Vanderbilt (17): As we mentioned earlier, history is set to be made as Vanderbilt will almost certainly set a new school record for highest-ever AP Top 25 poll ranking. The ceiling for Vanderbilt’s rise will be Alabama, the only team that it’s lost to this season, but the floor is LSU’s previous ranking just on the outside of the top 10.  

8. Ole Miss (5): Losing a close back-and-forth game on the road to Georgia isn’t going to come with too much punishment from the voters, but there will be a downgrade for the Rebels. 

9. Georgia Tech (12): Brent Key’s group is set to break into the top 10 after holding through a slow start in Durham and pulling away for an impressive win against Duke.  

10. Miami (2): We are projecting that Miami hangs on inside the top 10 in part because of the head-to-head win against Notre Dame, which continues to hold value as the Fighting Irish surge continues.  

11. Notre Dame (13): Marcus Freeman’s team was ready for the elements on Saturday night and the Fighting Irish battled through the wind and rain for a hard-fought win against USC to improve to 5-2 on the year. 

12. Oklahoma (14): The Sooners needed a strong bounce back after the Red River Rivalry loss to Texas and they got it with a 26-7 victory at South Carolina. It was a win that affirmed, if nothing else, that this years Oklahoma team will be led and driven by its defense as they applied relentless pressure to help keep South Carolina from ever threatening for an upset at home. 

13. BYU (15): The Cougars are set to move up after a huge rivalry win against Utah. 

14. Missouri (16): at Auburn 

15. Tennessee (11): The Volunteers boast another quality loss resume that voters will have to consider after a 37-20 loss at Alabama. There are no wins against teams that are close to being in the top 25 but it’s also a team that only has lost against Georgia, by three, and the Tide, on the road. 

16. Virginia (18): Consider this an avoided disaster for Virginia, which escaped with a 22-20 win against Washington State thanks to a game-winning safety. The Wahoos were coming out of an off week hoping to be healthier and ready for a run at the ACC Championship, but Washington State continued its recent run of putting a scare in power conference opponents and pushed UVA to the brink. As it is, Virginia improves to 6-1 overall holds on to its spot in the top 25. 

17. South Florida (19): The Bulls showed no signs of a hangover from last week’s key win in Denton, throttling FAU 48-13 to improve to 6-1 overall and remain undefeated in conference play.  

18. Texas Tech (7): There is obviously going to be a drop for Texas Tech following the road loss to Arizona State, but the damage could limited by the fact that it was just the first loss of the season for the Red Raiders. A head-to-head win against Utah provides some cushion in terms of where they land on the fall, as does the confidence that voters had when putting them firmly in the mix for a top-five spot one week ago. 

19. Texas (21): Voters didn’t get much in terms of reasons to believe in Texas as a top 25 team from their Week 8 performance, because a 13-10 overtime win at Kentucky does not line up with the quality win the Longhorns logged against Oklahoma last week. There could be some shuffling on the ballots as all positions are up for grabs, but in the consensus we’re going to guess not much change in the pecking order among two-loss teams. 

20. Cincinnati (24): The Bearcats backed up their recent success with no signs of a letdown, handing Oklahoma State a 32-point defeat in Stillwater. 

21. Louisville (NR): There is only one loss on Louisville’s resume and it’s against Virginia, so the Cards are going to break into the rankings and be set by the Wahoos status after taking down Miami on Friday night. 

22. Illinois (NR): The Fighting Illini were off in Week 8 but after being No. 26 in last week’s balloting should have a clear path into the top 25 as one of the top two loss teams in the country. 

23. Michigan (NR): The Wolverines bounced back from last week’s loss to USC with a win against Washington, which was previously the No. 28 team in voting points in last week’s ranking. 

24. Arizona State (NR): On one hand, the Sun Devils are 5-2 with losses to two teams, Utah and Mississippi State, who both lost on Saturday. But on the other, this is also a group that just handed Texas Tech its first loss of the season. So while all of the head-to-head matchups don’t line up exactly, there’s enough quality to the profile to get Arizona State back into the top 25 after taking down the Red Raiders. 

25. LSU (10): This is a complex resume for voters to parse, because while LSU has lost close games to a couple of ranked teams (Ole Miss and Vanderbilt) on the road, it also doesn’t have a bevy of quality wins to justify a top 25 ranking. Ultimately our projection is that the quality losses do enough work to avoid falling all the way out of the rankings but this is a team that will be on the chopping block for many voters’ ballots.  

Projected to drop out: No. 20 USC, No. 22 Memphis, No. 23 Utah, No. 25 Nebraska