Campus Sports Top 25 rankings: Week 2

Week 1 is in the books and, while there weren’t too many upsets to be seen, a few unranked teams surely made a lot of noise and gave a few teams more fits than they would have liked to get.

Week 2 is full of potential cupcake games, but you have to wonder about what team is going to step up and grab the proverbial brass ring.

As we prepare for the upcoming week, Campus Sports has compiled an updated Top 25 list with last week’s ranking for each team in parenthesis.

Check it out.

1. Ohio State (1)

It was a tale of two halves for the Buckeyes’ first game after winning the National Championship. They were looking to avenge their only loss from 2014 and they did just that. The game with the Hokies looked bleak in the beginning, but starting quarterback Cardale Jones and the dynamic Braxton Miller led their team to victory

2. Michigan State (3)

The Spartans looked very impressive in their Week 1 win over Western Michigan. Granted, it was a MAC team, but that is still more than many people can say for their opening week games. Connor Cook looked like the top NFL Draft prospect people have made him out to be and he will have to be just as good in the Spartans’ game with Oregon this week.

3. TCU (2)

Gary Patterson’s club looked nothing like the offensive juggernaut they were last season, but that could have had a lot to do with them playing Minnesota. The Gophers have rapidly been getting better in years past, but the Horned Frogs and Trevone Boykin proved to be too much in the end.

4. Alabama (8)

I didn’t believe in the Crimson Tide’s hype Week 1, but boy did they live up to it. They absolutely dominated Wisconsin in one of the few Top 25 match-ups last week. The quarterback situation has been solved and Jacob Coker played well when Derrick Henry wasn’t running
over dudes in the secondary.

5. Baylor (5)

The Bears don’t move at all, but that is because of them playing SMU. Their defense looked very impressive without Shawn Oakman and they are going to be even better with him back on the field this week.

6. Auburn (4)

The Tigers looked miserable for most of their game against Louisville outside of a bright spot in a fumble return for a touchdown by Justin Garrett. Outside of that, Jeremy Johnson couldn’t get anything going as he threw for three interceptions and the defense couldn’t stop a mobile quarterback in Lamar Jackson.

7. Oregon (6)

Vernon Adams looked impressive in his team’s dominant win over his former team. He went down with an injury after an Eastern Washington player took a cheap shot on him, but he says he will be fine for their Week 2 match-up with Michigan State in East Lansing.

8. Georgia (7)

This move down was just a matter of other teams playing bigger games and performing even better. The Bulldogs had a terrific opening game and they couldn’t have asked for much more from Geryson Lambert. Their defense proved many people wrong, despite their youth.

9. USC (9)

Cody Kessler impressed in a Week 1 drubbing of Arkansas State. He is going to have to continue playing like that if he wants to lead his team into the College Football Playoff and they have a very good shot of doing so.

10. Clemson (10)

The Tigers could be missing Mike Williams in Week 2 after he went down with a scary neck injury, but the Tigers can take away a lot from their opening dominant win over Wofford. Deshaun Watson looked like the Preseason ACC Player of the Year he was listed as. The Tigers are dangerous this year and they can only get better.

11. Notre Dame (13)

Impressive is the only word I can use to describe the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Malik Zaire hasn’t missed a beat from his bowl performance in December and his defense was even better. It also helped that the Texas offense was lackluster to say the least.

12. UCLA (14)

Josh Rosen is something special. He is the first true freshman quarterback to lead the Bruins in program history and he certainly looks worthy to play the part. He absolutely shredded the Virginia defense and he will have to continue doing just that if they want to compete for a PAC-12 championship.

13. Florida State (11)

The Seminoles were good in their win over Texas State, but, like Georgia, this was just a matter of who they played. Everett Golson played very well in his first game with the team and Jalen Ramsey, who resurrected number 17 from its retirement, was absolutely lights out.

14. LSU (12)

It’s unfair that the Tigers weren’t able to showcase what they could do in Week 1 due to inclement weather, but that means this team is just going to be even hungrier when they take the field against Mississippi State. Look for the Tigers to be amped for their first game of the 2015 season Saturday.

15. Georgia Tech (15)

The Yellow Jackets dominated in their opening game, but that was expected playing a team like Alcorn State. The team is just happy they didn’t have any major injuries and will be looking to the future. This team can score at will and it’s going to be exciting the rest of the year.

16. Arkansas (16)

Brandon Allen was absolutely dominant in the Razorbacks’ win over UTEP. He seemed laser-focused on the task at hand and that was to go out and get a win. With his passing ability and the way the defense played, there’s no doubt that Arkansas can make some noise in the SEC West.

17. Ole Miss (18)

The Rebels were good and I mean VERY good when they played against Tennessee-Martin on Saturday. Chad Kelly threw all over the field and the team’s running back corps was very strong. Just imagine what they can do with a complete offensive line on the field.

18. Texas A&M (21)

The Aggies were as dominant on defense as everyone believed they could be. Myles Garrett showed why he should be considered one of the top Draft prospects and wide receiver Christian Kirk came out of nowhere to have a terrific showing in his first game of the 2015 season.

19. Oklahoma (20)

The Sooners dominated and “danced” their way to a huge opening victory over Akron. Can they continue their dominant play? For the sake of seeing Baker Mayfield dance again, we surely hope so.

20. Arizona (19)

Scooby Wright is going to be missed over the next few weeks after he went down with a knee injury. The Wildcats are going to have to adjust without him and they will need to play much better on both sides of the ball if they want to be successful.

21. Arizona State (17)

The Sun Devils looked bad in the opening game against Texas A&M and they will need to get Mike Bercovici to perform much better than he did on Saturday. This is going to be big week for Todd Graham’s crew.

22. Boise State (22)

The Broncos looked dangerous in their opening game against the Washington Huskies. Ryan Finley was electric behind center and he is going to have to continue that terrific play if the Broncos want to compete for a spot in the CFP.

23. Tennessee (NR)

The Volunteers sneak into the Top 25 after an impressive victory over Bowling Green. Joshua Dobs had a terrific opening week and he will need to have an even bigger week if they want to pull off the upset against Oklahoma this week.

24. Northwestern (NR)

It was easily the biggest upset in Week 1. The Wildcats pulled off the shocking 16-6 over a haphazardly playing Stanford Cardinal. The defense looked strong for the Wildcats and they are looking to make some noise in the Big Ten this year.

25. Wisconsin (24)

The Badgers sure are missing Melvin Gordon aren’t they? Their running game couldn’t get going at all against Alabama and their defense is probably going to miss Michael Caputo after he went down with a scary head injury.

Fell out of rankings: Mississippi State (23), Virginia Tech (25)

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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports

Braxton Miller got emotional after win over Virginia Tech
Braxton Miller got emotional after win over Virginia Tech