Josh’s College Football Rankings 2026–Week 2

A crazy weekend of football! Big upsets, major collapses. Rankings are hard during these first few weeks. Teams play is up and down, Every team is trying to figure out their identity, and there are concerning things with just about every team, but one of the things I look for week-to-week is are those teams cleaning up those little issues. Is a poor game just a one-off, or is it a season-long issue? Those are the big questions you have to ask yourself when doing rankings.

1. Texas (2-0)–#2–W 24-23 #1 Ohio State. Things started off as badly as they could for the Longhorns, but they fought back, and we saw what makes Arch Manning special in the 4th quarter. That second half team is the one everyone should be afraid of, but the question is can they play like that for an entire game?
2. Ohio State (1-1)–#1–L 24-23 #2 Texas. I am not going to punish the Buckeyes after letting that game get away from them. This team is still deadly.
3. Georgia (2-0)–#3–W 70-20 Western Kentucky
4. Notre Dame (2-0)–#4–W 52-0 Rice
5. Miami (2-0)–#5–W 77-7 Florida A&M
6. Indiana (2-0)–#7–W 55-0 Howard
7. Alabama (2-0)–#8–W 45-17 Kentucky. The Tide were just too much for Kentucky, who came out ready to play in the first half and kept it close, but then the second half happened.
8. LSU (2-0)–#9–W 45-14 Louisiana Tech
9. Ole Miss (2-0)–#10–W 41-9 Charlotte
10. Texas A&M (2-0)–#12–W 48-20 #35 Arizona State. I thought the Sun Devils could give the Aggies a game. I was very wrong.
11. BYU (2-0)–#15–W 28-17 #29 Arizona. I am shaking things up a little bit here. BYU battled hard against a good Arizona team. I bumped them up because of that second half defensive improvement.
12. Utah (2-0)–#17–W 43-10 Arkansas. I sometimes sleep on the Utes (literally, they play late), but I watched them against Arkansas, and geez…this team has some weapons, and a very good defense.
13. Texas Tech (2-0)–#13–W 35-24 Oregon State. Yeah, the defense is nowhere near as good as last year. That could be a problem for the Red Raiders.
14. SMU (2-0)–#18–W 56-10 UC Davis
15. USC (3-0)–#14–W 49-30 Louisiana. Yep, the defense is questionable. Typical Trojans.
16. Washington (2-0)–#16–W 16-14 Utah State. Soooo wait, Utah State lost last week to Idaho State, and then almost beats the Huskies. Need to keep an eye on this Washington team, definitely some concerns.
17. Penn State (2-0)–#19–W 27-9 Temple. The Nittany Lions played well. They had some opportunities for points, but give credit to the Owls for keeping them off the board.
18. Tennessee (2-0)–#20–W 45-24 Georgia Tech. Good win for the Vols.
19. Houston (2-0)–#21–W 77-6 Southern University
20. Louisville (1-1)–#22–W 59-13 Villanova
21. Missouri (2-0)–#23–W 38-21 Kansas. A big win in the Border War for the Tigers, especially after Kansas released a hype video that was…interesting.
22. Virginia (2-0)–#24–W 59-3 Norfolk State
23. Oregon (1-1)–#6–L 39-31 Oklahoma State. I am dropping the Ducks pretty far after that loss. Especially since they struggled with Boise State last week. I honestly thought about keeping them out of the Top 25, but they are too good to be down for long.
24. Michigan (2-0)–#27–W 17-10 #11 Oklahoma. The Wolverines beat the Sooners at home, and honestly it should not surprise people. These two teams are very similar and if they played 10 times, it would probably be split 5-5, and each game a low-scoring battle. Yes, I get that it is unfair that Michigan should have been 0-1, but that is not the case, they are 2-0, and they beat a top ranked team.
25. Oklahoma (1-1)–#11–L 17-10 #27 Michigan. The Sooners will need to rebound quickly because their schedule does not get easy.
26. Iowa (2-0)–#25–W 16-13 Iowa State. This was the same score as last year, but this time the Hawkeyes came out on top.
27. Pittsburgh (2-0)–#26–W 12-7 UCF. An ugly game in some ugly weather. Hard to judge a team after that one.
28. South Carolina (2-0)–#28–W 45-9 Towson
29. Florida (2-0)–#30–W 52-3 Campbell
30. Auburn (2-0)–#31–W 43-8 Southern Miss
31. Kansas State (2-0)–#33–W 34-7 Washington State
32. Nebraska (2-0)–#34–W 56-7 Bowling Green
33. Virginia Tech (2-0)–#36–W 44-21 Old Dominion. The Hokies avenged last year’s loss to the Monarchs, plus James Franklin was able to beat his former protege.
34. Duke (2-0)–#38–W 31-27 #32 Illinois. Solid win for the Blue Devils.
35. Vanderbilt (2-0)–#37–W 35-26 Delaware. It looked like Vandy might lose to Delaware for a bit, but they managed to pull ahead and secure the win. Not a pretty win, but it was a win.
36. Boise State (1-1)–#40–W 38-20 Memphis. The Broncos shutout the Tigers in the second half. Dylan Riley rushed for over 200 yards. Another dominant running back for Boise State…
37. Arizona (1-1)–#29–L 28-17 #15 BYU
38. Illinois (1-1)–#32–L 31-27 #38 Duke
39. Mississippi State (2-0)–NR–W 38-13 Minnesota. This team has played well to start the season, plus Kamario Taylor looks like a legit top-tier SEC QB.
40. Tulsa (2-0)–HM–W 23-17 Sam Houston. It was not a pretty win against a bad team, but it was a win. And seeing how they handled Drew Mestemaker in week one, yeah this team is solid.

Honorable Mentions
Baylor (1-1)–HM–W 44-3 Prairie View A&M
Colorado (2-0)–HM–W 52-21 Weber State
Western Michigan (1-1)–HM–W 49-14 Monmouth
Florida State (1-1)–HM–BYE
UCLA (2-0)–NR–W 28-10 San Diego State

Not too much high quality action in week three. One game that I am intrigued by is New Mexico at #25 Oklahoma. The Lobos have a good defense, and the Sooners could find themselves struggling early on against them. Especially if they are looking down the road at those SEC opponents coming up. Another intriguing game is Florida State at #7 Alabama. I do not expect the Seminoles to win, but I think they give the Crimson Tide some problems before it gets out of hand. 

We do have some ranked action as well. #39 Mississippi State travels to #28 South Carolina. #14 SMU heads to #20 Louisville, and #19 Houston faces off with #13 Texas Tech in Lubbock on Friday night. But the one that I am most interested in checking out is #29 Florida at #30 Auburn. Sumrall vs. Golesh. The last time these coaches faced each other, Sumrall and Tulane came out on top in 2024…

The big game this week is #8 LSU at #9 Ole Miss. This should be a good one. I expect the Rebels will want to embarrass their former coach, and I would guess that Lane would love to put up 50 on his old team. Should be an exciting game. 

Tiny But Mighty
Two more FCS wins over FBS teams. That puts us at five for the season, while there were only four last year. There were six back in 2024…could this year have more? I hope so, I love when those schools win games.
Illinois State over Northern Illinois 28-24
Montana State over Nevada 20-7

Not shocking that the two teams that were in the FCS Championship game last year were able to beat some of the worst FBS teams.

Coaching Hot Seat
We have a new contender for the top spot!
Greg Schiano (Rutgers)–he lost to UMass in Week 1, then followed that up with a loss to Boston College. They face USC this week, then they have Howard. 
Everyone else on my list stays the same. And I think we should probably add Thomas Hammock (Northern Illinois).

Heisman Watch
Right now I would probably go:
Darian Mensah-QB-Miami
Malachi Toney-WR-Miami
Jeremiah Smith-WR-Ohio State
CJ Carr-QB-Notre Dame
Kamario Taylor-QB-Mississippi State (I would toss him at the bottom as a wild card).