Week 2 of the 2026 college football season shook up the AP Top 25 in a big way, and it also made the weekly overrating debate a lot easier to sort through.
Oregon and Oklahoma took the kind of losses that usually trigger a tumble, and both deservedly slid in the updated poll. But once you get past those obvious moves, a few other ranked teams still feel a little too comfortable for what they’ve shown so far.
Indiana is the first name that jumps out. Yes, the Hoosiers are undefeated and they’ve rolled through their first two games, beating North Texas 52-16 and Howard 55-0.
But the North Texas game wasn’t as clean as the final score suggests, since the Mean Green actually outgained Indiana in that loss. Meanwhile, teams sitting just below the Hoosiers in the rankings, LSU and Ole Miss, already own more convincing early résumé wins.
Ole Miss knocked off ranked Louisville on a neutral field, and LSU blew out Clemson in primetime earlier this month. Indiana has climbed two spots over the past week, and the schedule stays soft for a bit longer with Western Kentucky coming this weekend before Big Ten play starts against Northwestern on September 25.
Even then, the Hoosiers won’t face a top-25 opponent until they host Ohio State on October 17, and as things stand they’re set for three ranked matchups overall, with two of those at home.
USC is another team that looks better in the record book than it has on the field. The Trojans are 3-0 for the fourth time in five seasons under Lincoln Riley, but the margin between dominant and merely fine has been pretty clear.
They did shut out Fresno State 39-0, but the wins over San Jose State, 42-26, and Louisiana, 49-30, weren’t exactly statement victories. Sure, both of those opponents did most of their damage in garbage time.
Still, those final scores are what matter when the College Football Playoff committee reviews the résumé later. Jayden Maiava has been electric, leading the country with 896 passing yards and 10 passing touchdowns, but USC still has real work to do defensively.
Rutgers is up next to open conference play, and then the schedule gets much tougher with Oregon, Washington, Penn State, Ohio State, and Indiana all looming.
Texas Tech also belongs in this conversation after barely surviving Oregon State last weekend. The Red Raiders needed two touchdowns in the final six minutes to escape with a win, and they still didn’t look sharp for most of the day.
This was also another game where Texas Tech failed to justify a huge point spread, just like its 35-24 win over Oregon State as a 26.5-point favorite and its 33-10 win over Abilene Christian as a 42.5-point favorite. Against the Beavers, the Red Raiders scored on only three of their first 11 drives and never really found a rhythm, averaging just 3.4 yards per carry.
Will Hammond finished 20 of 27 for 189 yards and a touchdown. Right now, Texas Tech doesn’t look like a College Football Playoff contender, though a matchup with No.
22 Houston gives the Red Raiders a chance to change that. It’s also the only ranked team on their regular-season schedule.
Iowa rounds out the list after surviving a rugged rivalry game against Iowa State. The Hawkeyes were one of the teams on upset alert in Week 2 and eventually came away with a 16-3 win, but the offense looked stuck in the mud after a much better showing in a 40-point shutout of Northern Illinois, a team that lost to an FCS program this past weekend.
Against the Cyclones, Iowa managed just 93 rushing yards at 3.2 yards per carry. Hank Brown avoided turnovers, but he also didn’t throw a touchdown pass and finished with 191 passing yards.
The defense remains strong enough to keep this team afloat, but Iowa needs a lot more consistency on offense to be taken seriously as a real threat. The next two games will tell us plenty, with Michigan on September 26 and Ohio State on October 3.
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After the win, Diaz added a little more spice to the week by calling out Iowa State coach Jimmy Rogers for mistakenly referring to him as Nate Diaz. He was quick to acknowledge the Cyclones as a strong opponent, but the moment also underscored how a receiver making noise on the field can create a little edge off it too, especially when an emerging passing game is still trying to establish its identity. [Read more 🡒]
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The bigger picture for the Hawkeyes did not shift much, at least not in ESPNs projections. Iowas outlook still points toward a bowl trip with a 91.4% chance to get there, while the College Football Playoff remains a long shot at 8.1%. For a team that already has one of its biggest rivalry wins in hand, the challenge now is proving the numbers wrong in the weeks ahead. [Read more 🡒]