Let's dissect the winners and losers from college football's first AP Top 25 Poll of the season.
With the AP Top 25 Poll being released on Monday afternoon, there were some college football teams that were ecstatic about their ranking, while there were others who felt less than stellar…
Admittedly, it was not all that dissimilar from the initial Coaches Poll, to be honest. I mean, yeah, there were some discrepancies, but nothing to blow one's gasket over. Trust me, that will happen so many times this fall because that's the way she goes in major college football. However, there are a few teams that got the benefit of the doubt from the AP and others who got unfairly hosed.
Here are the biggest winners and losers from the first AP Top 25 Poll of the 2023 college season.
College football rankings 2023: Winners and losers from first AP Top 25 Poll
Winner: No. 6 USC Trojans
You could honestly rank teams No. 6 to 12 in pretty much any order and it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference. However, the AP voters clearly believe in the USC Trojans in year two under Lincoln Riley with last year's Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams back for one more season. For ratings and optics purposes, I understand why USC is being so artificially inflated here.
The good news for the Trojans is that while I view them as the ninth-best team in the country, four other Pac-12 schools are ranked, UCLA is just outside of the top 25 and Notre Dame comes in at No. 13. They also get Ohio State in South Bend this year. Simply put, if USC goes 11-1 or wins out, the Trojans will be making the College Football Playoff should they win the Pac-12 one final time.
Starting out at No. 6 gives the Trojans a terrific runway to finish as high as possible in the top four.
Loser: No. 11 Texas Longhorns
Texas feels like a top-10 team, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. If the Longhorns beat Alabama in September, you better believe they will catapult up into the top five. Unfortunately, even reasonable expectations have been Hook Em's undoing for the better part of two decades now. Even worse, they are the highest-ranked Big 12 team and they are only No. 11…
Sure, they have Alabama on the schedule, as well as three other conference foes inside the top 25 and Texas Tech just outside at "No. 26." However, what the initial AP Poll suggests is that while there are a handful of teams worthy of being ranked and getting to Arlington, there are no guarantees that the Big 12 champion will be getting in. Just ask last year's K-State team about it.
Not to say Texas has to go undefeated to make the playoff, but an 11-1 mark is not a guarantee.
College football rankings 2023: Winners and losers from first AP Top 25 Poll
Winner: No. 10 Washington Huskies
The Pac-12 may have a terminal disease as a dying conference, but its final football season as we know it could be going out with a bang. Although USC might be overrated heading into the campaign, look at Washington rounding out the top 10 under second-year head coach Kalen DeBoer. With my favorite to win the Heisman Trophy in Michael Penix Jr. back, look out for U-Dub!
The reason why seeing the Huskies ranked inside the top 10 is so significant is that the Pac-12 is actually in a tremendous spot to get one final team into the College Football Playoff before the league bites the dust. Other quality teams in-conference are ranked in the teens, but the Associated Press seems to suggest the winner of USC vs. Washington in Las Vegas is getting in.
The Pac-12 could do what it usually does and cannibalize itself, but this season might be different.
Loser: No. 16 Kansas State Wildcats
Would it shock you if Chris Klieman's Kansas State Wildcats repeated as Big 12 champions? Not really. They are incredibly well-coached. Will Howard should be even better at quarterback behind an incredibly experienced offensive line. Losing Deuce Vaughn to the NFL Draft stinks, but that's life. What stinks even more is that K-State only starts the season out ranked No. 16. What gives?
The Wildcats may be the second highest-ranked team in the initial AP Poll out of the Big 12, but K-State may not play in as good of a league as everyone thinks it does. TCU is pulling back this year, as the Horned Frogs came in at No. 17. The fourth-best team is thought to be Oklahoma, but do you honestly trust Brent Venables? Me neither, and that is why the Big 12 could be in rough shape.
The Big 12 being the only Power Five conference without a team ranked inside the top 10 matters.
College football rankings 2023: Winners and losers from first AP Top 25 Poll
Winner: Winner from No. 8 Florida State vs. No. 5 LSU's neutral-site game in Orlando
Without question, the best game during Labor Day Weekend will be the one in Orlando between two top-10 contenders from the Power Five in No. 8 Florida State taking on No. 5 LSU at Camping World. Oh, it will be a hoot and a half, alright. No doubt about it, these teams deserve to be ranked inside the top 10. The rematch of last year's amazing game in New Orleans could be even sweeter.
See, whoever wins this game immediately becomes a serious College Football Playoff contender overnight. The loser will drop down in the rankings, but as long as the victor keeps on winning, they are still alive to make the four-team field. It is a shame that college athletic directors do not have the stones to put someone of note onto the schedule in the non-conference often enough.
Let's just say the winner of this game could find itself ranked as high as No. 3 in the country.
Loser: No. 14 Utah Utes
In a similar boat as defending Big 12 champion Kansas State, two-time defending Pac-12 champion Utah finds itself between a rock and a hard place in the initial AP Poll. Not only are the Utes ranked eight spots back of a team they beat twice last year in USC, but they are four spots back of Washington. They are just one spot ahead of Oregon and four ahead of … Oregon State.
While I expect the Pac-12 to go out with a bang this season, it is abundantly clear that the AP voters are not all that high on Kyle Whittingham's team this year. It may have more to do with quarterback Cam Rising working his way back from a torn ACL suffered in another Rose Bowl loss to a Big Ten East team, but maybe they don't have the upward trajectory of other conference foes?
Fortunately, the Utes might have the runway to potentially make the playoff for the first time ever.
