What will the college football rankings for the AP Top 25 look like after Week 5 with Notre Dame and Oregon losing while Alabama and Georgia dominated ranked teams?
Another week in the 2021 season, another Saturday in which the college football rankings look like they don’t mean a darn thing. After six ranked teams lost last week, they were dropping like flies again in Week 5, most notably with No. 3 Oregon falling on the road against Stanford and No. 9 Notre Dame losing at home to a Group of 5 team in Cincinnati.
At the top of the college football rankings, though, there was no wavering. Even though Alabama and Georgia faced two of the tougher matchups on Saturday in Ole Miss and Arkansas, respectively, the outcome was never in doubt for either team. They continued their tour of dominance this year.
But how did the rest of the chaos shake things up? We’re trying to figure that out as we have our projection for the AP Top 25 college football rankings in the Week 6 poll.
Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 5: No. 25-21
25. LSU Tigers
With how they were beaten up by UCLA in the season-opener, it’s been a bit shocking to see LSU over the past few weeks. They aren’t perfect on either side of the ball but the Tigers are making enough plays to win games, which makes them worthy of this spot as a one-loss team.
24. San Diego Aztecs
Talk about a good week if you’re the Aztecs; San Diego State wasn’t even in action in Week 5 and they have a good chance to crack the AP Top 25 after a 4-0 start that looks more impressive by the day as more teams keep dropping games.
23. Clemson Tigers
It’s still hard to have total faith in Clemson after they played another single-score game against a team they are far more talented them, this time barely beating Boston College in Death Valley. But a win is a win and the team that was ranked No. 25 moves up slightly in the ranks.
22. SMU Mustangs
Led by Tanner Mordecai slinging it all over the yard, SMU is quietly one of the undefeated teams remaining in college football after they beat the brakes off of South Florida on Saturday. The Mustangs have one of the most prolific offenses in the country and, if nothing else, are always entertaining.
21. Kentucky Wildcats
Kentucky pulled off one of the biggest upsets that we’re likely to see in the SEC East this season as their defense stonewalled Florida, holding the Gators to 13 points. This might be a flawed Wildcats team but you can’t argue with an undefeated start to the year.