It’s really difficult to tell anything in the first two weeks because so many teams use September as a sort of "preseason," playing their paycheck opponent or taking on a G5 to finetune some things before conference play gets rolling. And then some teams play a marquee matchup and either do extremely well or fall flat on their face. But probably only 15-20% of the teams you see up there right now will still be up there in late November.

This week, 11 teams dropped out of the Top 25. One (Texas St, of course) plummeted out, going from #7-76. This can totally happen in the first month because the sample size is so glaringly small. By November, most teams won’t budge more than a couple of spots up or down. Think of it as being strapped to a gurney with each game adding weight to you until at the end of the season, you’re fat with games and wherever you got strapped on that gurney is wherever you got strapped. Anyway…

#1: Auburn (2-0): I was really hoping a tight game against California (14-10) would drop them, but then I remembered I had California at #17 last week. Sigh…

#2: Florida St (2-0): They beat up on Southern Miss, 66-13.

#3: Washington (2-0) beat Tulsa 43-10

#4: UCLA (2-0) beat #23 San Diego St 35-10

#5: Colorado (2-0) beat Nebraska 36-14

#6: Michigan (2-0) beat UNLV 35-7

#7: Oklahoma (2-0) beat #18 SMU 28-11

#8: Texas (2-0) beat #15 Alabama 34-24

#9: UNC (2-0) beat App St in double overtime 40-34. UNC was previously ranked #6, so this cost them a little.

#10: Miami (2-0) beat Texas A&M 48-33. Not entirely sure why TAMU was ranked in media outlets so high when they rent 5-7 last year.

#11: Duke (2-0) beat FCS Lafayette 42-7. Playing an FCS team will cost you, especially since I have a point difference cap at 40 (from what I can tell, nobody’s ever closed a 40-pt gap to win a game).

#12: Ole Miss (2-0) beat #12 Tulane 37-20

#13: Notre Dame (2-0) beat NC State 45-24

#14: Washington St (2-0) beat Wisconsin 31-22. I actually didn’t have Wisconsin in the Top 25 last week, but I also didn’t have WSU either.

#15: Kansas (2-0) beat Illinois 34-23

#16: Minnesota (2-0) beat Eastern Michigan 25-6

#17: Syracuse (2-0) beat Western Michigan 48-7

#18: USC (3-0) beat Stanford 56-10. I didn’t have USC ranked in the Top 25 last week because their opponents have been hot garbage (current rankings: #84, #115 and #132), but they haven’t shown any weaknesses and a lot of teams have, so here they are.

#19: Kansas St (2-0) beat Troy 42-13

#20: Rutgers (2-0) beat Temple 36-7

#21: Penn St (2-0) beat FCS Delaware 63-7. Again, when you play an FCS opponent, even if you win, you lose. Just ask Georgia. They’re barely ahead of Alabama despite Alabama’s loss (neither are currently in the Top 25).

#22: Cincinnati (2-0) beat Pittsburgh 27-21

#23: Mississippi St (2-0) beat Arizona 31-24 in OT.

#24: Wyoming (2-0), who was ranked #5 last week, beat FCS Portland St 31-17 and now they’re barely hanging on.

#25: Georgia Southern (2-0) beat UAB 49-35.

The rest of the SEC:

#37: Georgia (2-0)

#39: Alabama (1-1)

#41: Tennessee (2-0)

#52: Arkansas (2-0)

#54: Kentucky (2-0)

#55: Missouri (2-0)

#63: Texas A&M (1-1)

#64: Florida (1-1)

#74: LSU (1-1)

#89: Vanderbilt (2-1)

#94: South Carolina (1-1)

Next week’s opponent, South Florida (1-1), is ranked #101. Last week’s opponent, Middle Tennessee St (0-2), is currently ranked #109.