After the first full week of the 2025 season that featured several marquee matchups and some notable upsets, the new Coaches Poll reflects all that happened from a busy slate of college football.
Ohio State moved into the top spot after a 14-7 victory over previously No. 1- ranked Texas on Saturday in Columbus. The Longhorns fell to sixth in the rankings.
The other big change in the top five saw LSU jump five spots to No. 4 after a marquee win over Clemson.
2025 Coaches Poll – Week 2
Six of the top 10 teams in the preseason poll played each other in Week 1. The only team top-10 team that played an unranked opponent and lost was Alabama in a 31-17 defeat at Florida State.
The Crimson Tide were eighth in the preseason top 25. It was the program’s lowest preseason ranking since 2008, which was Nick Saban’s second season in Tuscaloosa.
After losing a season opener for the first time since 2001, Alabama dropped all the way down to No. 20 in the rankings for Week 2. Second-year head coach Kalen DeBoer is 6-4 against unranked opponents with the Crimson Tide.
By comparison, Saban lost four times in 128 games to unranked opponents during his tenure at Alabama. The Crismon Tide’s next two games are at home against unranked teams (Louisiana-Monroe, Wisconsin) before a showdown at Georgia on Sept. 27.
Notre Dame and Clemson were the other top-10 teams that suffered season-opening losses over the weekend, but they weren’t hurt as much given the quality of their opponents.
The Fighting Irish, who fell three spots to ninth, were playing on the road in Miami against a Hurricanes team that opened the year No. 10 in the preseason poll. Notre Dame overcame a slow start with 17 points in the fourth quarter to tie the game before Miami won 27-24 on Carter Davis’ go-ahead field goal with 1:04 remaining.
Notre Dame will have a week off before taking on another ranked opponent when Texas A&M visits South Bend on Sept. 13. Miami will play its second of four consecutive home games to start the season on Saturday when it hosts Bethune-Cookman.
Clemson dropped just two spots from sixth to eighth after losing at home to LSU. Dabo Swinney’s team took a 10-3 lead into halftime, but LSU got touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters to steal a 17-10 win in Death Valley.
The reigning ACC champions don’t play another team currently ranked in the top 25 until Oct. 18 against SMU in a rematch of the 2024 conference title game.