AP Top 25 Week 3: How Far Did Ohio State Fall?

College football’s Week 2 slate gave AP Top 25 voters plenty to sort through, and the results reflect just how wild the weekend actually was. Texas jumped all the way to No. 1 after knocking off previously top-ranked Ohio State, Washington and Oklahoma both took significant hits, and a full 16 teams moved up in the poll compared to last week. On the surface, voters mostly got the big picture right.

The problem is Oregon — and that one team’s placement threw the logical consistency of the entire poll out of whack.

Ohio State Falls From No. 1 to No. 6 After Historic Collapse

Ohio State’s fall was the headline move of the week, dropping from the top overall spot all the way to No. 6 following its stunning 24-23 loss to Texas, a game the Buckeyes led 23-3 entering the fourth quarter. What stands out beyond the six-spot drop itself is who Ohio State fell behind: Georgia, Indiana, and Miami all leapfrogged the Buckeyes in this week’s poll, despite none of those three programs having played a single ranked opponent yet this season. Voters clearly chose to punish Ohio State’s result-based collapse more severely than reward Ohio State’s remaining résumé, a decision that’s sure to spark debate given how competitive the Buckeyes were for three full quarters against a top-five opponent on the road.

Washington Drops Out of the Rankings Entirely

Washington’s fall was even steeper in relative terms. The Huskies looked unimpressive to open the season against Washington State and followed that up with a shaky 16-14 win over Utah State in Week 2. That two-week stretch was enough to knock Washington completely out of the Top 25, dropping from No. 19 out of the rankings altogether — though the Huskies still picked up 172 votes, comfortably the most of any team outside the actual poll.

Oklahoma Takes a Massive Hit After Losing to Michigan

Oklahoma was punished nearly as severely as Ohio State, falling 13 spots to No. 24 after its 17-10 loss to Michigan. The Sooners entered Week 2 at No. 11 with high expectations, and the drop reflects just how significant an unranked-adjacent finish can be for a team that was previously viewed as a legitimate playoff contender.

Why Oregon’s No. 21 Ranking Doesn’t Make Logical Sense

Here’s where the poll runs into trouble. Oregon fell 15 spots to No. 21 after its 39-31 loss to Oklahoma State — a defeat that, on its own, is understandable to punish. But the ranking becomes difficult to justify once you look at where the teams involved in that same game, and its ripple effects, actually landed.

Oklahoma State, the team that beat Oregon, isn’t ranked at all — the Cowboys sit outside the Top 25, behind Boise State, a team Oregon themselves narrowly beat earlier this season. Compounding the confusion further, Tulsa — which is 2-0 and beat that same Oklahoma State team — only received 18 votes, placing the Golden Hurricane well behind Oklahoma State, Boise State, and Oregon in the voting, despite arguably having the better remaining résumé of the group. The chain of results simply doesn’t line up with how the teams are actually ordered, which is the exact kind of inconsistency that fuels criticism of the human polls compared to computer-driven ranking systems.

Full AP Top 25 Rankings for Week 3

Here’s the complete Week 3 AP Top 25 poll, along with each team’s point total, previous ranking, and current record:

1. Texas — 1,678 points (Previous: 4) — 2-0
2. Georgia — 1,551 points (Previous: 2) — 2-0
3. Notre Dame — 1,531 points (Previous: 3) — 2-0
4. Indiana — 1,466 points (Previous: 5) — 2-0
5. Miami — 1,452 points (Previous: 7) — 2-0
6. Ohio State — 1,407 points (Previous: 1) — 1-1
7. LSU — 1,334 points (Previous: 8) — 2-0
8. Ole Miss — 1,216 points (Previous: 9) — 2-0
9. Texas A&M — 1,165 points (Previous: 10) — 2-0
10. Alabama — 1,068 points (Previous: 12) — 2-0
11. BYU — 966 points (Previous: 15) — 2-0
12. USC — 944 points (Previous: 14) — 2-0
13. Texas Tech — 910 points (Previous: 13) — 2-0
14. Penn State — 692 points (Previous: 16) — 2-0
15. Tennessee — 676 points (Previous: 18) — 2-0
16. SMU — 636 points (Previous: 17) — 2-0
17. Utah — 558 points (Previous: 20) — 2-0
18. Iowa — 391 points (Previous: 21) — 2-0
19. Michigan — 382 points (Previous: 16) — 2-0
20. Missouri — 344 points (Previous: 23) — 2-0
21. Oregon — 324 points (Previous: 6) — 2-0
22. Houston — 292 points (Previous: 22) — 2-0
23. Louisville — 244 points (Previous: 24) — 1-1
24. Oklahoma — 222 points (Previous: 11) — 1-1
25. Virginia — 182 points (Previous: 25) — 2-0

Also receiving votes: Washington (172), Florida (83), Boise State (57), Oklahoma State (36), Western Michigan (35), Tulsa (18), Mississippi State (17), South Carolina (15), Virginia Tech (11), UCLA (9), James Madison (6), Arizona (5), North Dakota State (3), Kansas State (1), Pittsburgh (1).

What Ohio State’s Drop Means Heading Into Week 3

Falling from No. 1 to No. 6 is a steep tumble, but Ohio State’s underlying résumé — a road loss to the new No. 1 team by a single point, after leading by 20 in the fourth quarter — isn’t nearly as damaging as the ranking alone might suggest. With Kent State on deck before Big Ten play intensifies, Ohio State has a clear opportunity to reset and climb back up the poll with a strong showing, especially if quality wins from Georgia, Indiana, and Miami’s remaining schedules don’t materialize as decisively as this week’s ranking implies they will.

Why This Week’s AP Poll Will Keep Fueling Debate

Between Ohio State’s steep fall, Washington’s complete disappearance from the rankings, and the logically inconsistent treatment of Oregon, Oklahoma State, Boise State, and Tulsa, this week’s AP Top 25 is shaping up to be one of the more heavily scrutinized polls of the early season. As the schedule strength gap between one-loss contenders and undefeated-but-untested teams starts to close in the coming weeks, expect plenty of these placements to shift again — and probably not for the last time this season.