College Football Rankings 2020: Projected AP Top 25 for Week 7

The defending College Football Playoff champions fall out of the Top 25 this week after dropping to 1-2 on the year. Read on for more AP Top 25 projections.

When LSU lost to Mississippi State in their home opener, the AP voters gave the Tigers the benefit of the doubt. Ranked at No. 6 in the preseason after losing a lot of talent from their College Football Playoff championship roster, the Bayou Bengals dropped more than a dozen spots in the AP Top 25 to No. 20 in the wake of that defeat.

A rebound win against Vanderbilt on the road allowed them to bump up three spots in the poll last week, but heading into Week 7 the Tigers will become the first defending national champion since 2011 Auburn to fall completely out of the AP Top 25 in the season following their title. That is because LSU dropped their second game in three weeks, falling to 0-2 at home and 1-2 overall against a Missouri team that entered the weekend without a win to its name.

It was hardly the only shocker of the weekend. In College Station, the No. 4 Gators and No. 21 Aggies traded the lead back and forth. Texas A&M had the ball last, and the hosts won on a last-second field goal. In the process, kicker Seth Small became the biggest hero of the day at Kyle Field and Jimbo Fisher’s team claimed a major win in interdivisional play to bolster their Top 25 credentials.

That doesn’t even account for a Red River Shootout that went four overtimes and saw Oklahoma prevail 53-45 as the Longhorns fell out of the polls to 2-2 and the Sooners improved to 2-2 on the year. The big question is whether the rivalry win is enough to propel Lincoln Riley’s squad back into the AP Top 25.

All of this took place before the biggest games of the day even kicked off, with No. 3 Georgia hosting No. 14 Tennessee in a game that took on even bigger SEC East implications after the Gators loss in Texas. In the prime-time slot, top-ranked Clemson squared off in a top-10 ACC showdown against No. 7 Miami. Both had their own major implications for the balance of power in the FBS ranks this year.

Where will everyone end up in the AP Top 25 when the dust settles on Week 6 play and the numbers by each team’s name get set on Sunday? Read ahead for our projection of the AP Top 25 rankings in advance of Week 7 play.