The opening weekend of the college football season is a weird one for the usual schedule of rankings and top 25 polls. With games that extend into Sunday and Monday night, the conclusion of the first full Saturday -- usually a spot where we can collect our thoughts on the weekend and make some predictions about the new college football rankings with our signature "Tomorrow's Top 25 Today" story -- is only a partial piece of the picture. There are still three ranked teams left to play, and a couple top 25 hopefuls that would like to get some consideration with a strong performance.
But what we have seen so far on Thursday, Friday and Saturday has reshaped our view of the college football landscape. Voters saw what happened in Austin as Maryland came to town and spoiled Tom Herman's debut, and they saw an equally impressive performance from Michigan against Florida in Arlington, Texas. We'll have a better idea of how the new top 25 polls will shake out once all the action is done, but there's already an idea of teams that will be moving up and down in the new college football polls.
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| The Wolverines were No. 11 in the preseason AP Top 25 and No. 9 in Coaches Poll. Media members who doubted the strength of Michigan's backups hopefully learned that returning starters is not the ultimate metric for experience and saw a hungry group of first-time starters dominating on defense against a talented Florida team in a double-digit win. I doubt they'll break the top five, but Michigan should end up a few spots higher on Tuesday. | |
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| Doubt about No. 3 Florida State's ability to compete at the highest level following a scary injury to Deondre Francois will cloud the view of a team that hung right there with the best team in the country for three quarters. The things that looked good on Saturday night -- the Seminoles defense, a wide receiving corps that made huge plays against the Tide secondary and a ready-made star in freshman running back Cam Akers -- will fade to the background when voters get their ballots and consider what a different team this is without the tough No. 12 under center. | |
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| It was going to be no dream season for No. 23 Texas in 2017, but any fantasy ideas were dashed when Tom Herman took to the microphone on Saturday and started talking about sprinkling fairy dust. Maryland showed up more ready to play than Texas, stayed strong when things didn't go its way and had answers even when the Longhorns did battle back. You won't see Maryland in the top 25 yet, but you're definitely going to see Texas fall from its No. 23 spot in the polls when the new rankings are released on Tuesday. | |
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| If Florida State is going to take a step back and USC is at risk of losing a few spots as well, there are few options that look better to make a move up than No. 5 Clemson . Kelly Bryant and a handful of new skill position players turned the Kent State game into a 7-on-7 showcase, putting the recruiting efforts of Dabo Swinney and his staff on display in a runaway win. The Tigers may not have 2016 Deshaun Watson under center, but they're still as dangerous with Bryant's dual-threat skills. And depending on what happens with Florida State, the Tigers could finish the weekend as the top-ranked team in the ACC. | |
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| Brandon Wimbush was dynamic in his debut as a starter, rushing for 106 yards, scoring three times and leading an offensive attack that totaled more than 600 yards in a 49-16 win against Temple . There were stretches of the game that weren't perfect for the Irish, but the eye-popping stats and strong quarterback play will be enough to give them some attention and enough juice to break through from "receiving votes" to a ranking somewhere in the 20s. | |
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| Lamar Jackson is going to end up knocking on the door and potentially breaking a ton of offensive records, likely because Louisville will need him to do so in order to win games. Last year's Heisman Trophy winner totaled 485 yards of offense (378 passing, 107 rushing) to help Louisville avoid a bad loss to Purdue . Voters will continue to tune in to witness Jackson's playmaking, but the procedural penalties and general sloppiness displayed in the debut will lead to a slight drop in the rankings. | |
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| The inability to score an offensive touchdown -- or even generate any kind of intimidating offensive attack -- after the first drive of the game will cost the Gators several spots in the rankings. The question here is whether they'll fall out completely seeing as they were No. 17 entering the game. Texas' loss and the guarantee of one loser in No. 21 Virginia Tech vs. No. 22 West Virginia helps the math for the voters that use the "win move up, lose move down" mentality, along with the fact that the Gators weren't favored and lost to a higher-ranked team. Anyone who watched the game knows Michigan was playing on another level that Florida couldn't match, but given the uncertainty in college football outside of the top-10, there's no telling how voters will react. | |
