Real Top 25 College Football Rankings Week 2

The Real Top 25 College Football Rankings for Week 2 are here.  I don’t trust AP voters and certainly not Coaches Poll voters.  The people voting in both of those polls either don’t watch enough college football, vote against other teams on purpose due to regionalisms or simply have their respective sports information directors or other minions vote for them.

The Sun Belt pulled off three upsets on Saturday, including two against AP Top-10 teams.  The Sun Belt is the first FBS conference since the FBS/FCS split in 1978 to have 3 teams win a game as underdogs of 15+ points on the same day.

App State defeated No. 6 Texas A&M, who was favored by 18 points
Marshall defeated No. 8 Notre Dame, who was favored by 20.5 points
Georgia Southern defeated Nebraska, who was favored by 23.5 points

My real top 25 rankings are not necessarily based on style points.  I take into consideration previous rankings, strength of opponent, home, away or neutral site victories and heart.  You may not always agree with my rankings, however I will be as fair and impartial as possible while basing all my rankings on the previous criteria.

I will be posting my Top 25 College Football Rankings every Monday.  They will be out before noon time.

And just for the record, my pre-season college football playoff final four was:

I have Alabama beating Miami in one semi-final game and Georgia beating Ohio State in the other.  My championship game has Alabama beating Georgia in the final.  This obviously is subject to change should these teams stumble at some point along the way.

A $100 parlay on Georgia Southern (+1250), Marshall (+950), Appalachian State (+700) and Washington State(+650) to win outright would’ve paid $850,400.

This poll is for you, the tremendous fans of the Shemon and Sheppard Show.  I hope you enjoy it.

Yes that's right, the Mountaineers get in and they deserve it after beating Texas A/M on the road 17-14.  Might only be this week but they are in.  Appalachian State improves to 2-7 all-time vs AP Top-10 opponents. Its only win prior to today is its famous upset of No. 5 Michigan back in 2007. Three of their prior 4 games vs AP Top 10 opponents have been decided by one score.  By the way, ESPN's College Gameday will be on App State's campus this Saturday!

The Thundering Herd go into Southbend and get the W! After hanging close with Ohio State last week, Notre Dame suffered a major letdown with a 26-21 loss at home to Marshall. The last time a Top-10 Notre Dame team lost to an unranked non-current-Power 5 opponent was in 1996, when AP-No. 8 Notre Dame lost to unranked Air Force, 20-17.  Marshall’s Khalan Laborn (a Florida State transfer) rushed for 163 yards, the most by a player vs Notre Dame since 2016.  For Marshall, it’s just its 2nd-ever win vs a top-10 team. The Herd beat No. 6 Kansas State in 2003.  I and others said it from the get-go that Notre Dame was way over ranked in the pre-season.  Well guess what, they are out of my "Real Top 25" poll and they are out of this years CFP picture.  Better luck next year Irish.  Oh and Coach Freeman is the first ND coach to begin his career 0-3.  Ouch.

The 2-0 Seminoles had the week off.  They head to Louisville on Friday night to take on the Cardinals.

The Florida Gators fell to Kentucky 26-16 in Gainesville.  This marks the first time Kentucky won consecutive games vs Florida since 1976-77.  They will look to rebound big time when they host South Florida on Saturday night.

The Aggies fell to Appalachian State at home, 17-14. It’s A&M’s first loss against a team that is currently in a Group of 5 conference since 2008, when the Aggies lost to Arkansas State. Texas A&M is the first AP top-10 SEC team to lose to an unranked Group of 5 team since No. 8 Arkansas lost to ULM in 2012.  The Aggies will host a very good Miami Hurricane team this Saturday night.

Welcome to the "Real Top 25 Poll" Nittany Lions!  You beat up on Ohio pretty good on Saturday 46-10.  You will have a big time test at Auburn on Saturday afternoon!

The Rebels clobbered Central Arkansas 59-3.  Lane Kiffen's boys will rack up more offensive numbers when they travel to Georgia Tech on Saturday.

It's tough to win in Provo.  BYU defeated Baylor 26-20 in double OT.  Jaren Hall finished 9-for-14 for 161 yards and a touchdown on throws at least 10 yards downfield. He went 6-for-8 on these throws to Chase Roberts, who also had a touchdown pass to Hall. The Cougars have won consecutive games vs AP Top-10 teams for the first time since 1984-85.

Wake Forest picked up a 45-25 road win over Vanderbilt. Sam Hartman made his season debut for the Demon Deacons, throwing for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns. Hartman is now up to 76 career Pass TD, tying him with Russell Wilson for 8th most in ACC history.

The Vols outlasted Pittsburgh in overtime to its first ever win over the Panthers. The Volunteers now have 14 overtime wins since OT was established in 1996, tied with Texas A&M for the most in FBS. This was Tennessee’s 2nd win vs an AP-ranked opponent in its last 14 tries; in the previous 3 seasons (2019-21), the Volunteers went an SEC-worst 1-12 vs ranked teams.

NC State defeated Charleston Southern 55-3, scoring its most points in a game since 2018 (58 vs ECU).
Devin Leary was responsible for 6 TD (4 Pass, 2 Rush), tying the NC State single-game program record (Mike Glennon in 2011 vs Maryland and Philip Rivers in 2002 vs Navy).

Arkansas recorded 295 rushing yards in a 44-30 win over South Carolina, snapping a 3-game losing streak to the Gamecocks. Arkansas RB Rocket Sanders rushed for a career-high 156 yards. Sanders became the first player to rush for 150 yards and 2 TD vs South Carolina since Travis Etienne did in 2018.

The Wildcats won 26-16 against Florida on the road, its 2nd straight win against the Gators. This marks the first time Kentucky won consecutive games vs Florida since 1976-77.  This is a damn good football team and will give all SEC teams fits during this season.

The Cougars defeated Baylor 26-20 in double OT. Jaren Hall finished 9-for-14 for 161 yards and a touchdown on throws at least 10 yards downfield. He went 6-for-8 on these throws to Chase Roberts, who also had a touchdown pass to Hall. The Cougars have won consecutive games vs AP Top-10 teams for the first time since 1984-85.

I still have a lot of faith in this team.  The Utes bounced back from last week’s loss at Florida with a 73-7 win over Southern Utah. The 73 points scored by the Utes are their most in a game since they scored 82 against UTEP in 1973.

The Cowboys extended its home win streak to 10 games after defeating Arizona State 34-17. That is tied for the longest home win streak in program history.

The Spartans blanked Akron 52-0, its largest shutout win since 1957 (beat Indiana 54-0).  The Spartans defense racked up 5 sacks to give them 12 on the season, their most through 2 games since 2007 (also 12).

Despite a very sloppy first quarter,  the Canes beat Southern Miss 30-7 at Hard Rock improving to 26-3 vs non-conference opponents at home since 2011. The Hurricanes have outscored opponents 100-20 through their first 2 games this season.  They will face their biggest test of the year on Saturday night as they travel to Texas A/M to face what will be a very angry Aggies squad.

The Trojans won 41-28 over Stanford. USC has 107 points in Lincoln Riley’s first 2 games at the helm, the most in a coach’s first 2 games in program history; previous record was held by Howard Jones (106) in 1925.

The Tigers won their 35th straight home game, the longest home win streak in program history and longest
active home win streak in the FBS, with a 35-12 victory over Furman. The Tigers are 3 wins shy of matching
Florida State (1995-2001) for the longest home win streak in ACC history.

The Sooners clobbered Kent State 33-3.  They will head to Nebraska to beat up on the Cornhuskers on Saturday.

The Wolverines won 56-10 over Hawai’i.  I predicted 66-0.  J.J. McCarthy finished 11-12 for 229 passing yards and 3 passing touchdowns. His 92% completion percentage is the highest in a QB’s first career start in Michigan history (min. 10attempts).

The Buckeyes had no problem vs Arkansas State as it won 45-12. C.J. Stroud passed for 351 yards and 4 TD. This is Stroud’s 10th career 300-yard game, setting an Ohio State record that was previously held by Dwayne Haskins. With Jaxon Smith-Njigba out, Marvin Harrison Jr. had 7 receptions on 184 yards and 3 rec TD.  He joined Joey Galloway as the only players in Ohio State history to record multiple games with 3 touchdown catches.

The Bulldogs had no issue with Samford, notching its 9th shutout win under Kirby Smart in a 33-0 win. That’s the most shutouts in the FBS in that span (since 2016).  I know what many of you are saying right now and I'll give you my reasons.  Georgia was favored by 53 in this game.  Great, they blanked in FCS opponent as they should, however there is no way they should have jumped over Alabama.  See below!

In the first meeting between the programs since the 2010 BCS National Championship Game, top-ranked Alabama held on for a 20-19 win over Texas, courtesy of a Will Reichard field goal with 10 seconds remaining. The Tide won despite committing a whopping 15 penalties for 100 yards, their most accepted penalties in a game under Nick Saban (since 2007) and its most since committing 16 against Middle Tennessee in 2002.  The reason I am sticking with Alabama at number 1 is obvious.

They went into one of the most hostile environments and won despite playing sloppy.  That says something to me.  It's a much more impressive victory than Georgia winning 33-0.  I don't see how the AP and Coaches poll can jump the Bulldogs over Alabama.  It's crazy to me.  If Alabama doesn't play the perfect game every week and win by at least 3-4 touchdowns then something is "wrong".  Bull-crap.  The Crimson Tide remain at number one where they should be for now.  SHUT UP CRAIG!!..LOL