Ranking College Football Teams After Week 2
It’s very early in the season and it is fair to say that there have been some incredible and interesting results already. Though there have been some upsets, we’re taking the step of ranking a number of the teams in the whole of college football, because it’s fun to speculate sometimes!
Nobody really knows what to expect at this time – if you can call the gambling right then you’re bound to have a good time, leaving plenty of people to look for free college football picks to try and second-guess what will happen on the field.
Let’s dive into some of the rankings and explanations for them.
Like all of the power rankings, teams can move up even when they’ve lost, or they could move down in spite of a win. There are quite a few factors in the rankings, and we’ve considered head-to-head results as a big part of the rankings. This early on in the season, it is important to use the tools we’ve got to rank teams, such as their head-to-head records.
The top 10 looks something like this:
1-10
Georgia – 2-0
Alabama – 2-0
Ohio State – 2-0
Michigan – 2-0
Clemson 2-0
Kentucky – 2-0
Arkansas – 2-0
USC – 2-0
Oklahoma 2-0
Oklahoma State – 2-0
Georgia is deservedly at the top, with their convincing form so far, and while there will be some debate, we agree with the rankings that have been published at The Athletic. This means that the USC offense has helped to push them up, and Oklahoma State have just crept into the top 10.
Let’s dive into some of the rest of the top teams, within the top 25 of our rankings. Remember that you may well disagree with some of these – at this stage of the season, everyone uses their own ways of ranking teams, and their own unique methods and perception of which teams look like they will finish higher up the leagues. The ESPN power rankings and the coverage on The Athletic are some of the most insightful, but people will always disagree when we are ranking teams across different leagues like this.
11. Michigan State Spartans
12. LSU Tigers
13. Penn State Nittany Lions
14. Baylor Bears
15. Texas Longhorns
16. Ole Miss Rebels
17. Miami Hurricanes
18. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
19. Cincinnati Bearcats
20. Tennessee Volunteers
21. Mississippi State Bulldogs
22. Kentucky Wildcats
23. Minnesota Golden Gophers
24. BYU Cougars
25. Washington Huskies
Georgia and Alabama: the standout two
Georgia faced the Dawgs with backup quarterback Stetson Bennett starting, and though people predicted that they might not be the best in this scenario, they were convincing in their victory against UAB. Bennett was 10-for-12 with 288 yards and an incredible five touchdowns, and the Georgia defense was on top form too, preventing too many yards and cementing the win, with Georgia winning 56-7 and solidifying their place at the top. Some rankings have them in second place but with such a convincing win, it is hard to rank them anywhere but right at the top.
Alabama
Alabama are the closest thing to a competitor, and some have them at the top of the rankings. In fact, they are top of the ESPN power rankings.
Nick Saban spoke in detail about the struggle they would have to play the full match against Miami. He clearly played some mind games among his ranks, and it looked like this might have misfired. When the teams kicked off, Alabama started badly. They punted on the first two offensive drives.
It took a while, but they got into gear eventually, with the incredible Bryce Young (already a star of the sport before he’s been drafted to the bigs, signing sponsorship deals all over the place) throwing touchdown passes and Alabama winning 48-14. People will be very excited to see them in action against Florida.
Summary
The rest of the power rankings on ESPN and The Athletic rankings show just how differently people can interpret things at this very early stage.
Over time, there will be a more uniform look to the ranking of the 131 teams, as we start to get more of an understanding of which teams are going to smash it and which are going to struggle. Without one unified league, it is hard to have a league table after a couple of games, but that doesn’t stop us from speculating with some college rankings, even at this early stage of the college football season.
