ESPN releases updated Top 25 Power Rankings ahead of Week 3 of college football

ESPN has updated its official College Football Top 25 after a loaded Week 2 Saturday of college football.

The No. 1 team is again the obvious pick, but there was plenty of shakeup elsewhere. Teams like Texas and Miami (FL) made big leaps after they made mincemeat of their SEC opponents, while several other teams participated in quality matchups. But most squads on the list simply eased past another lower-conference opponent to begin the year.

So below, you can see how the ESPN staff ranked the best 25 teams in college football in the aftermath of Week 2.

1. Georgia

ESPN played it safe and kept the Bulldogs No. 1 after they hammered Ball State 45-3 in Athens over the weekend, while Week 1 featured a similar contest as UGA handled UT-Martin 48-7. Clearly, there’s not much to go on yet with this UGA squad, but they’ve yet to give fans any reason not to think they’ll be right back in the SEC title game this November.

The schedule does toughen up as SEC East rival South Carolina comes town. But if you’re using recent history to predict this game, well, then expect a similar score to those wins over Ball State and UT-Martin. Plus, it’s a nice opportunity to see Carson Beck face his first SEC competition.

2. Florida State

After such an exceptional performance and blowout victory in the LSU rematch, you might expect the Seminoles to overlook their lower-level Week 2 opponent. Not the case! With nine touchdowns and a field goal, FSU breezed past Southern Miss 66-13 to advance to 2-0.

This week, it was the running game that stole the show. Starting running back Trey Benson took nine carries for 79 yards and three touchdowns — and he only accounted for roughly 25% of the production on the ground. As a team, the ‘Noles racked up 306 rushing yards with nine different ball carriers. What a day for that offensive line, huh?

3. Michigan

The Wolverines followed up a 30-3 opening day win over East Carolina with a similar 35-7 win over UNLV. With a 65-10 combined score against their two opponents, it’s fair to say the Michigan defense is stout once again while the offense hasn’t quite hit its full stride.

In 2022, against a schedule full of Big Ten clubs and national contenders, the Wolverines averaged north of 40 points a game. They also surpassed 50 points in all three of their early-season wins over lower-conference clubs. So, the offense just isn’t producing like it did a year ago. Perhaps that’s cause for concern, or perhaps the worry is overblown since UM is still taking care of business with ease.

4. Texas

They said it was impossible — going into Tuscaloosa and beating a team coached by Nick Saban — but the Longhorns pulled it off. Quinn Ewers joins the likes of the new richest man in football, Joe Burrow, as the only quarterbacks in the last 54 Alabama home games to go into Bryant-Denny Stadium and come out clean on the other side.

With him under center from start to finish, the Longhorns completely controlled the game, winning 34-24. Ewers was absolutely fantastic with 349 passing yards and three touchdowns, with his favorite target being Ja’Tavion Sanders, who racked up more than 100 receiving yards on the day. Xavier Worthy also had a couple of great grabs as well.

5. USC

How about that Trojan offense? This USC unit may be even stronger than last year’s, which featured a Heisman winner (Caleb Williams) and a former Biletnikoff winner (Jordan Addison). With Williams back in the saddle for one more year, USC opened the year scoring 56 points in the opener, 66 points in game two, and 56 points again Saturday against Stanford.

Sure, the Cardinal aren’t much of a contender in Pac-12 play, but it’s worth noting that USC also put on their best defensive performance of the season. After allowing four touchdowns to San Jose State, then half as many points to Nevada, USC again made a leap and held a Pac-12 foe to just 10 points.

6. Penn State

Following a terrific debut performance from new QB Drew Allar in Week 1 vs. West Virginia, the Nittany Lions pivoted to a ground-base attack this past Saturday that featured superstar sophomore RB tandem Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton. Allen led the way with 109 yards and a score while Singleton contributed 47 yards of his own.

PSU totaled 63 points on the day and held the Blue Hens to just seven points. Against an FCS school, James Franklin expected his boys to dominate from first kick-off to final horn, and they did just that. Onward to a road matchup vs. Illinois for these guys.

7. Ohio State

Ohio State again got out to a rather slow start on Saturday as they triumphed over local lower-conference rival Youngstown State. The Penguins allowed a touchdown on the first possession but battled back to tie it at 7-7 before the end of the first quarter.

That was their last highlight, as the Buckeyes stormed away to a 35-7 victory. And while neither win so far was as dominant as OSU would have liked, they are still 2-0 with wins by a combined 58-10 score, nearly identical to rival Michigan through two contests. Except, ESPN has the Buckeyes slightly further down.

8. Washington

Washington has 99 points scored through just two games — a 56-19 triumph over Boise State and a 43-10 beatdown of Tulsa. In the Tulsa win, QB Michael Penix threw for 409 yards and three touchdowns — a letdown performance compared to his 450 yards and five touchdowns from the week prior.

Meanwhile, star wide receiver tandem Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze both went for 100+ yards. Plus, Penix is now second in the country in pass yards per game behind fellow Pac-12 star Shedeur Sanders.

9. Notre Dame

NC State and Notre Dame could hardly fit their game in between all the lightning strikes and pouring rain in the South Atlantic. Nonetheless, the Fighting Irish took care of business on the road against a solid NC State program and are now one of the rare 3-0 teams in the country, also possessing a quality win after this weekend.

Once again, Sixth-Year QB Sam Hartman was tremendous, zipping passes straight through the downpour for 286 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. Don’t look now, but he is building a pretty strong Heisman case in the early going this season.

10. Tennessee

Tennessee absolutely handled Virginia in their neutral site matchup in Week 1 by a 49-13 score. In Week 2, they didn’t come to play with quite the same intensity early on and found themselves in a 3-3 tie with Austin Peay after one quarter of play.

Of course, they corrected their play as the game progressed and built a 23-6 lead by the end of the third quarter. A touchdown from Austin Peay midway through the fourth made it just a 10-point game but the Vols swiftly marched down the field to put the contest away after that, ultimately winning 30-13. ESPN still has them top-10, though.

Rankings 11-25

11. Alabama
12. Utah
13. Oregon
14. Oregon State
15. Kansas State
16. Colorado
17. LSU
18. North Carolina
19. Ole Miss
20. Oklahoma
21. Duke
22. Miami FL
23. Washington State
24. Iowa
25. UCLA

There you have it. Alabama falls all the way outside the top-10 after losing to Texas, a spot they don’t see very often. Meanwhile, they’re closely followed by a trio of Pac-12 schools as the conference as a whole dominated the list. The Pac-12 put eight teams in the top 25 both in this list and in the official AP Top 25, numbers that lead all other conferences. Give it up for West Coast football!