Tomorrow’s Top 25 Players showcase our college football rankings entering Week 9

the College football The playoff rankings are sure to see one of the biggest changes of the season after Week 8 threw the entire AP Top 25 poll into the blender.

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

As for headlines, it’s hard to go past what Clark Lea did at Vanderbilt — and what the Commodores are scheduled 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 prediction is that they will rank even higher as one of the top one-loss teams in the poll.

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

1. Ohio State (last week – 1): If the Buckeyes want to brag that they have the best defense in the country, there was certainly more evidence of that in Saturday’s 34-0 win over Wisconsin. Ohio State is allowing 5.9 points per game this season and has yet to give up 17 points in a game, which helps balance out what is already a very talented offense that seems to be getting more comfortable each week with Julian Signe at quarterback.

2. Indiana (3): We’re starting to see some serious award-winning work from Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who threw for 332 yards and four touchdowns in a 25-point win over Michigan State the week after a road win at Oregon. It’s tough to win first-place votes from a conference rival, but a move to second place alone would further make program history as the highest-ranked AP Top 25 ever for Indiana football.

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

4. Alabama (6): It’s just a slight bump up in the rankings but it’s a big hurdle to clear for an Alabama team that is clearly in the mix for a title contender here in 2025. The Crimson Tide took on rival Tennessee and is now preparing 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, where Oregon had to come back and travel cross-country to New Jersey for a quick turnaround against Rutgers. The 56-10 result speaks to the focus of an Oregon team that won’t let one loss impact the rest of the season, and will keep them safely inside the top 10 heading into Week 9.

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

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

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

9. Georgia Tech (12): Brent Key’s group are set to break into the top 10 after sustaining a slow start in Durham and recording an impressive win over Duke.

10. Miami (2): We expect Miami to remain inside the top 10 due in part to a head-to-head win over Notre Dame, which still holds its value as the Irish surge continues.

11. Notre Dame (13): Marcus Freeman’s team was ready for the elements Saturday night and the Irish battled through the wind and rain to earn a hard-fought win over 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 win over South Carolina. It was a win that confirmed, if nothing else, that this year’s Oklahoma team would be led and led by its defense as they applied relentless pressure to help keep South Carolina from ever threatening an upset at home.

13. Brigham Young University (15): The Cougars are set to advance after a big win in the competition over Utah.

14. Missouri (16): The Tigers held on in double overtime and escaped with a win over Auburn to improve to 6-1 on the season.

15. Tennessee (11): The Volunteers boast another quality losing resume that voters will have to take into account after the 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 has only lost to Georgia by three, and the Tide, on the road.

16. Virginia (18): Consider this a disaster averted for Virginia, which escaped with a 22-20 win over Washington State thanks to the game-winning safety. The Wahoos were coming off an off week hoping to be healthier and ready for a run in the ACC Championship, but Washington State continued its recent run of terrorizing Power Conference opponents and pushing UVA to the brink. As it stands, Virginia improves to 6-1 overall to maintain 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, stifling FAU 48-13 to improve to 6-1 overall and remain undefeated in conference play.

18. Texas Tech (7): Obviously there will be a downturn for Texas Tech after a road loss to Arizona State, but the damage could be limited by the fact that it was just the first loss of the season for the Red Raiders. A straight-up win over Utah provides some support in terms of where they will go in the fall, as does the confidence voters had when they put them firmly in the mix for the top five one week ago.

19. Texas (21): Voters didn’t get much reason to believe Texas is a top 25 team from their Week 8 performance, because the 13-10 overtime win at Kentucky didn’t match the good win the Longhorns recorded against Oklahoma last week. It’s possible that there will be some confusion on the ballots as all the positions are up for grabs, but in consensus we’d guess there won’t be a major change in the pecking order among the losing teams.

20. Cincinnati (24): The Bearcats built on their recent success with no signs of let down, demolishing Oklahoma State by 32 points in Stillwater.

21. Louisville (NR): There is only one loss on Louisville’s resume and that is against Virginia, so the Cards will break into the seedings and be determined by the status of the Wahoos after beating Miami on Friday night.

22. Illinois (NR): The Fighting Illini were shut out in Week 8 but after finishing 26th in last week’s balloting, they should have a clear path to the top 25 as one of the nation’s two biggest underdog teams.

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

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

25. LSU (10): That’s a complicated resume for voters to parse, because while LSU has lost close games to two ranked teams (Ole Miss and Vanderbilt) on the road, it also doesn’t have the collection of quality wins to justify a top-25 ranking. Ultimately, our expectation is that Quality Losses does enough of a job to avoid falling all the way out of the rankings, but this team will be up for a lot of votes from voters.

Expected withdrawal: No. 20 USC, No. 22 Memphis, No. 23 Utah, No. 25 Nebraska