16. Louisville Cardinals- Def. Murray State 66-21 (2-0, Last Week’s Position: No. 19)
The Cardinals continue to look like they haven’t missed a beat with Bobby Petrino back at the helm, and after a blowout win at Murray State, they’re another ACC team that could be very good this year.
17. Penn State Nittany Lions- Def. Akron 21-3 (2-0, Last Week’s Position: No. 23)
After struggling in the first half against Akron, this may seem to be an odd jump, but the Nittany Lions are 2-0 and have a quality win against UCF. The best part? We can remove the italics from their ranking because they are now postseason eligible.
18. Stanford Cardinal- Lost to USC 13-10 (1-1, Last Week’s Position: No. 10)
Stanford fans must be sick after thoroughly outplaying USC in every way on Saturday but losing due to crucial mistakes and an easy missed field goal. The Cardinal still control their own destiny for the Pac 12 North title, though, so no reason to panic.
19. Wisconsin Badgers- Def. Western Illinois 37-3 (1-1, Last Week’s Position: No. 16)
The Badgers only dropped this week because other teams move up, and Western Illinois wasn’t a quality win. But this is still a good team whose loss to LSU is nothing to be ashamed of.
20. Kansas State- Def. Iowa State 32-28 (2-0, Last Week’s Position: No. 21)
The Wildcats are lucky to be here after a thrilling comeback against a bad Iowa State team, but a win is a win, so nothing to be upset about right now. And an upcoming match-up against Auburn in a little more than a week gives them a great chance to move up.