Looking back on another consequential week of action across the country, let’s take a turn predicting what teams will emerge as the biggest movers in the AP top 25 college football rankings in Week 8.
It was another Upset Saturday, for the second-straight weekend with multiple highly-ranked teams losing their games, resulting in another notable shakeup in the updated rankings as we move into the second half of the 2025 season.
What teams will be on the move in the AP top 25 college football rankings this week? Let’s take a crack at predicting who’s moving up, and who’s going down, in the polls.
Rankings reflect AP top 25 poll
Last week’s ranking: Unranked
It would appear the AP top 25 pollsters were a little hasty in dropping the Longhorns out of the rankings following last week’s loss at Florida. And the boo-birds who thought Arch Manning was a flop just might be rethinking their theories.
Texas stunned No. 6 Oklahoma in a 23-6 result in the Red River Shootout on the back of a solid defensive performance, holding their rivals out of the end zone for the third time in four meetings in a massive bounceback victory for the program.
Manning was 21 of 27 passing with a 12-yard touchdown, one of two double-digit play scoring drives led by the embattled quarterback working behind a confident offensive line that pushed back and repelled what had been a dominant Sooners pass rush.
Manning’s numbers may not pop off the page, but he directly impacted the outcome, exploiting his mobility to give his receivers time to work downfield, improving his accuracy and throwing mechanics, and even went on a nice 11 of 13 passing stretch late.
To call the win pivotal is an understatement. Left for dead in the early playoff picture, Texas gained some critical momentum heading into a tough late stretch to end the season, with dates against Texas A&M, Georgia, and Vanderbilt, all currently ranked.
Now comes a difficult question for the AP top 25 voters: where do you put an unranked team that just beat the sixth-ranked team? They overreacted by dropping Texas from 9 to out of the poll last week, and now they’ll feel they have to compensate for it.
Losses by Florida State at 25, Iowa State at 22, Missouri at 14, and Illinois at 17 could allow them to do that, and it’s possible they put the Longhorns back in the rankings, but enough voters could still be put off by the two losses to keep them beneath OU.
—
Last week’s ranking: No. 6
The question naturally arises: did Oklahoma bring John Mateer back too quickly? Although cleared by doctors, what we saw on the field would suggest otherwise.
OU’s star quarterback had been a revelation for this offense, but a surprise hand injury sidelined him for two weeks until his return against Texas. The result? No touchdowns, three interceptions, and five sacks, throwing a monkey wrench into Oklahoma’s season.
Winning this game at this moment was imperative for the Sooners, considering they play arguably the most difficult remaining schedule in college football going forward.
They go to South Carolina next, host Ole Miss, then have two-straight road games at Tennessee and at Alabama, and close out at home against Missouri and LSU, the last five games of the season all coming against teams currently ranked in the top 14.
Brent Venables’ tenure is very much in peril: 6-7, 10-3, 6-7, and now a very fragile 5-1 for a 2025 team that doesn’t have a guaranteed win left on this schedule. Life in the SEC has not gone as hoped.
Expect the Sooners to be among the biggest losers in the new AP poll entering Week 8, with a likely drop down into the top 15. Wins against Michigan and Auburn are not so valuable now.
—
Last week’s ranking: No. 7
Indiana was 16-2 under Curt Cignetti heading into Saturday’s massive test at reigning Big Ten champion Oregon, but still fought against a narrative that it couldn’t win games against quality opponents on the road. Not anymore.
They struck a major blow against their critics after a signature 10-point victory over the No. 3 Ducks, highlighted not just by flashy offense, but more importantly for their playoff staying power, on the back of a physical, disciplined defensive effort. This isn’t a flash in the pan; this is a very good football team.
Indiana now has its most lopsided victory against a top 10 team in program history, its first road win against a top-five opponent ever, and its first win over a top-three team since 1967. And it’s not projected to play another ranked team the rest of the season.
Not bad for a program that was among the worst-performing in college football history, but in less than two years is among the very best. Make that 17-2 for Cignetti, who has pulled off one of the best turnarounds, ever, and in record time.
Their reward? At worst, the No. 3 position in the AP top 25 rankings this week, replacing Oregon and sitting behind only Miami, which will likely stay at 2 with its resume, and reigning champ No. 1 Ohio State. Rarefied air, indeed.
—
Last week’s ranking: No. 3
The longest active win streak and the longest active home win streak, snapped. After 23 and 18 games, respectively, Oregon fell to Indiana in a battle of undefeated Big Ten title contenders after its offense failed to generate much momentum against an inspired IU defense.
Suddenly, the Ducks’ resume doesn’t look so great. The win against Penn State gets them basically nothing, they lost by double digits to the Hoosiers, and the teams they beat are a combined 2-14 against Power Four competition.
But they’re not out of the College Football Playoff conversation, not by a long shot. Their remaining schedule has solid opponents like USC and Washington, but they aren’t projected to play another ranked team that would help them in the committee room.
Now, not unlike the Hoosiers a year ago, the Ducks need to think about style points in those remaining games in an effort to show something a little extra to the skeptical selectors to stay in contention for an at-large bid.
More immediately, the loss means a fall from grace out of that No. 3 position, potentially just outside the top 10 given other highly-ranked teams won their games and No. 6 Oklahoma’s loss gives them room to move up.
—
Last week’s ranking: 8
Arguably no other coach in college football was under as much pressure to start the season than Kalen DeBoer after the loss at Florida State, but his team has responded in the best way possible, winning five-straight games overall and three in a row against ranked SEC opponents, culminating in Saturday’s 27-24 win at No. 14 Missouri.
Coming off victories at Georgia and against Vanderbilt, both then undefeated, the Crimson Tide boast one of the best players in the nation in quarterback Ty Simpson, who threw a game-clinching touchdown on a fourth down late in the game.
But the defense also made an impression, forcing two straight turnovers, an interception and a failed fourth down try, on Missouri’s first two drives of the fourth quarter, putting Simpson and the offense in position to score the fourth-quarter clincher.
Alabama moved to 6-1 against AP top 25 ranked opponents under DeBoer, the second-best mark in the FBS since he took over the program, and Saturday marked the first time in school history it started 3-0 in SEC play with all three of those wins coming against AP ranked teams.
Losses by Oregon at 3 and Oklahoma at 6 provide enough room for the Crimson Tide to advance into the top-six of the new rankings on Sunday.
—
Last week’s ranking: Received votes
A loss at home to Northwestern. Drew Allar carted off the field. His season over. Suddenly, the entire Penn State program went up in smoke in the span of three games and those 97 votes it clung to in last week’s AP poll are history, likely to never return.
Entering last week, the Nittany Lions were 34-0 since 2022 against teams that ranked outside the top 11, but now are 3-3 and have three-straight losses to Oregon, UCLA, and Northwestern. This from a team that was apparently built to win the national championship this year. Strike another blow to the preseason prediction industry.
You could still argue that Penn State was a worthy playoff hopeful after the loss to Oregon, but what has transpired in the 15 days since then simply beggars belief, and may not have a historical parallel. What remained of James Franklin’s reputation in Happy Valley has evaporated.
—
— So long, Seminoles. It was nice while it lasted, but three-straight losses sank Florida State to an 0-3 mark in ACC play, after allowing Pittsburgh’s freshman quarterback to stack up 400 yards on their defense at home. That early-season promise practically evaporated, and finally out of the rankings from its former No. 25 position.
— USC is likely to return to the AP rankings this week after an important 31-13 victory over No. 15 Michigan at home, proving to be the more physical team with a better defensive performance, but a big test at Notre Dame follows next Saturday.
— Michigan is due for a dip in the poll after falling to 4-2 with the loss at Southern Cal, potentially out entirely given AP pollsters’ willingness to punish teams for road losses against unranked opponents, but they may consider USC a more worthy adversary and keep the Wolverines within the top 25.
— Missouri is moving down a couple spots from 14 in this week’s poll following the loss to Alabama, its first in 15 straight home games, but played solid defense in the process, recording 4 sacks and 14 pressures in a closely-fought game.
— No. 4 Ole Miss is likely staying put, but some just might argue that a listless win against an unranked Washington State team that lost by 49 to North Texas warrants a drop.
— Georgia Tech should get a modest jump from 13 after starting 6-0 for the first time since 2011 following a win over Virginia Tech.
— No. 22 Iowa State could fall out of the rankings after its second-straight loss, this time to a Colorado team that hadn’t won a conference game.
— Conversely, the Cincinnati team that beat the Cyclones last week should finally move into the poll this week. It got 129 votes following the Iowa State win, placing 26th nationally, but improved to 5-1 and is just a field goal loss to Nebraska away from being undefeated.
—
Source link
