College Football Rankings 2016: Projected AP Top 25 after Week 8

Several high-profile contests and a few upsets helped shake up the rankings yet again in Week 8. What will the AP Top 25 look like on Sunday?

Perhaps the biggest result of the weekend was a game that nobody really anticipated being very exciting. Houston, who looked like a threat to challenge for a College Football Playoff spot through the month of September, will probably fall completely out of the AP Top 25 this week after suffering a second loss in three weeks. The Cougars fell behind 28-7 by halftime against SMU, a 2-4 team that was winless in conference play before Week 8. On a day where Greg Ward Jr. might also have played his way out of the Heisman race, Houston tumbled to the Mustangs and tumbled out of the rankings. For Group of Five teams, there is little margin for error… and no margin when playing sub-.500 opponents.

In addition, there were three contests that matched two Top 25 teams. All pitted SEC opponents against one another. The main event was the battle between undefeated SEC West contenders Alabama and Texas A&M, but there were also a pair of games featuring lower-ranked teams. Auburn’s big win over Arkansas and the showdown between LSU and Ole Miss thinned the number of SEC teams in the rankings. All told, three teams dropped out and three new teams should enter the Top 25 when the AP releases its Week 8 rankings on Sunday. Here is how we project those rankings will look after the results of this weekend’s games.