When I went to bed on Saturday night, I felt quite confident that most AP poll voters would view the day’s college football results the same way I did.
I figured we’d all vote for Ohio State as the new No. 1 team in the country because the third-ranked Buckeyes beat the then top-ranked Texas Longhorns, 14-7, in Columbus. Preseason polls are flawed, sure, but I was one of the 25 voters who had put Texas in the top spot heading into the season — and I’ll own that. It’s clear now that that is not the best team in the country; new starting quarterback Arch Manning and his Longhorns have a lot of work to do.
But by lunchtime on Sunday, I saw a few of my peers in the national media making the case for LSU to be No. 1 after the Tigers’ 17-10 win over No. 4 Clemson at (Clemson’s) Death Valley. I understand the argument — it’s arguably the best win in the country to date because of LSU’s dominant second half and the win coming on the road. A secondary point that supports the LSU case: Ohio State was outgained by Texas by 133 yards in its loss, averaged just 3.76 yards per play and created fewer scoring opportunities than the Longhorns did. Texas going 0-for-2 in red zone trips essentially decided the game, which means the metrics don’t necessarily show a dominant win for Ohio State. Defensively, of course, the Buckeyes were sensational (especially in goal-to-go situations). But the offense left a lot to be desired.
I’d argue that Texas might very well be the best defense that Ohio State will face all year. And even Ryan Day admitted after the game that the coaching staff could probably have opened up the offense a bit more than it did for new starting quarterback Julian Sayin (who looked a good deal more comfortable in the game than Arch Manning did, FWIW). I don’t think we need to retroactively diminish Ohio State’s impressive win over Texas simply because now we, collectively, think Manning is not anywhere close to being the best quarterback in the country at this point. I’m going to give the Buckeyes a ton of credit for their sensational defensive effort, and I am going to be consistent in my thinking that, if a week ago I thought Texas was going to be very good, beating Texas means that you are a very, very good team yourself.
Vaughn Dalzell breaks down his Week 2 Top 25 Poll after the disastrous Week 1 that was, plus his biggest winner, loser, and bold predictions for Week 3.
Thankfully, most of my peers agreed with me. Ohio State is the new No. 1 team in the country, with the Buckeyes receiving 55 first-place votes. Penn State remained No. 2 overall in the official AP poll (with seven first-place votes), and LSU checking in at No. 3 (with three first-place votes). I do respect those three voters for zigging where others zagged, but I’m glad the right team is atop the rankings this week.
As you can see from my ballot, I gave the teams that picked up top- 10 wins a lot of credit. I had LSU above Penn State because of the quality of the win at Clemson, and I slid Miami all the way up to No. 4 because of the ‘Canes win over Notre Dame. I’m not quite ready to say Miami is “back,” but that program is getting close with the way it played in the trenches against Notre Dame — and a version of Carson Beck that is more reminiscent of 2023 than last year.
I also put Florida State in my top 10 on the heels of the Seminoles’ dominant win over Alabama. Theirs was the actual only dominant win over a top-10 team; the other three wins were in rather tight games largely dominated by defenses. FSU looked like a completely different team from a season ago, one that plays with a great sense of urgency and physicality. Tommy Castellanos backed up his big talk about beating Alabama by leading a rushing attack that ran for 230 yards vs. the Tide’s defense. Between new OC Gus Malzahn (who posted a spicy tweet after the game!) and new DC Tony White, there’s a ton to like with these Seminoles. I know it’s hard to evaluate an unranked team beating a preseason top-10 squad, but the lopsided nature of the final result made me feel comfortable jumping FSU up so high.
Felt like old times tonight!! 🍢
— Coach Gus Malzahn (@CoachGusMalzahn) August 30, 2025
I will say, it was incredibly difficult to rank Alabama. My fellow voters and I seemed to come to the same conclusion that the Tide deserved to stay ranked — but barely. It’s Alabama’s first time out of the top-20 of the AP poll since the 2008 preseason poll, but it feels deserved. There was a clear lack of preparation, effort and toughness in that performance, and that’s what gives me great cause for concern with the Tide moving forward as well.
A couple of stray notes/observations:
- Iowa State took a big jump up this week in large part because it played twice since the last vote. A really nice win over Kansas State in Ireland + a dominant win over a good FCS program back in the United States = a very deserving top-20 ranking.
- I feel like my fellow voters did not stay up to watch Utah-UCLA, which is disappointing. The Utes were one of the most impressive teams of Week 1 to me, and the new offense (imported from New Mexico) with quarterback Devon Dampier and OC Jason Beck looked fabulous. Utah should be a top Big 12 contender.
- I’m glad to see South Carolina get bumped up a few spots after a nice win over Virginia Tech. LaNorris Sellers is a special player.
