College Football Rankings 2020: Projected AP Top 25 for Week 5

In the preseason, USC was ranked at No. 17 in the AP Top 25. It will be hard for voters to justify such a lofty ranking a month later, now that the SEC has started play and several teams have bolstered their claims to a spot in the polls. Clay Helton’s crew will still land somewhere among the last few teams that make the cut this week, thanks to the AP’s decision to allow voters to add Pac-12 teams back into the mix.

While we don’t yet know what USC’s new schedule will look like after the Pac-12 announced a seven-game season that includes a full divisional slate and one interdivisional game, the Trojans are due to get the benefit of the doubt. That stems largely from the fact that USC boasts one of the five most experienced returning rosters in the FBS ranks.

Trojans fans will be able to celebrate this weekend as their team returns to the polls, but the real question is whether they will remain ranked by the time they return to the field in early November.

Next teams up among the others receiving votes:

BYU, Minnesota, Louisiana, Virginia Tech, Baylor