Two weeks into the college football season, it feels like we know nothing. Ain’t it great?

What do you mean an Oklahoma State team that was manhandled by Tulsa turned around and beat Oregon? What do you mean a Michigan team that arguably shouldn’t have beaten Western Michigan then defeated Oklahoma? What do you mean Texas Tech trailed Oregon State in the fourth quarter?

What do you mean Texas trailed Ohio State by 20 in the fourth quarter and won? It all makes for a very difficult and confusing set of rankings coming out of Week 2.

Texas is your new No. 1 here. The Longhorns have the best win of the season, even if it came by the slimmest of margins. Hopefully, Steve Sarkisian sees the value of playing these big nonconference games. After the Longhorns head coach spent the end of the 2025 season and all offseason complaining about scheduling and hinting that Texas might back out of future marquee games, a win against Ohio State gives his team’s College Football Playoff hopes some breathing room. That’s the reward. That’s the value.

But with a trip to Tennessee just two weeks away, the top of these rankings may continue to change.

Elsewhere, prepare for a lot of teams “dropping” after a win this week. As I repeat often early in the season, the rankings are volatile in the first month. There can be big jumps and falls, and teams may only “drop” because another team got a big win and jumped over a lot of teams. Oklahoma State, Mississippi State and North Texas are among the fast risers this week.

My emphasis on head-to-head results also creates rises from some surprising teams, like Tulsa and Western Michigan. These teams likely won’t finish where they are now, but this isn’t a projection. It’s an attempt to place value on what teams have done, with less emphasis on preseason rankings. Right now, nobody is ranked behind a team they beat, but that will change and work itself out as the year goes on.

Here is this week’s edition of The Athletic 138.

Texas is No. 1 for obvious reasons. Teams No. 2-7 have an argument to be in any order, but I’ll leave them where they were last week for now. Ohio State lost, but by one point, on the road, on a touchdown in the final minute that wouldn’t have mattered if the Buckeyes had made a field goal. That’s as good a loss as a team can have, so I don’t see the point in punishing Ohio State too much compared to teams that haven’t played an opponent of quality yet. The opportunities will come for Georgia and Notre Dame (and Miami and Indiana).

Texas A&M and BYU also move into the top 10 for impressive finishes against Arizona State and Arizona, respectively, even if their games were close for a while.

Alabama moves up after running away from Kentucky 45-17. Texas Tech’s so-so start to the season continued with a 35-24 win at Oregon State in which the Red Raiders trailed in the fourth, so the Red Raiders drop. Meanwhile, Mississippi State jumps way up after a 38-13 domination of Minnesota. An overreaction? Maybe, but for now, that’s a really good win.

The bottom of this group is where things get weird. The Oklahoma State team I had in my preseason top 25 was the one that showed up to beat Oregon. I just didn’t expect a lopsided loss to Tulsa before that. So for now, Oklahoma State moves all the way back into the top 25, ahead of Oregon. Tulsa follows the Cowboys up to No. 20. Yes, Tulsa struggled with Sam Houston on Saturday, and I don’t expect this to hold, but with just two data points, why shouldn’t Tulsa sit here at the moment? Tulsa beat Oklahoma State, which beat Oregon, which beat Boise State. The transitive property doesn’t hold forever, but it’s defensible for now.

The same goes for Michigan. The Wolverines’ 17-10 win over Oklahoma puts Michigan back into the top 25. Western Michigan played Michigan slightly closer than the Sooners and would’ve won if a certain replay protocol had been followed. So the Broncos sit ahead of Oklahoma, for now.

This section is where the impact of the moves at the end of the top 25 creates a bunch of teams moving “down” for losses. Again, don’t worry about it too much. Utah’s blowout of Arkansas and Missouri’s win at Kansas were impressive performances that put both teams on the verge of the top 25.

Iowa drops out of the top 25 for needing a last-second field goal to secure a comeback win against Iowa State. Duke’s 31-27 win against Illinois moves the Blue Devils up to No. 39, and Wake Forest’s double-overtime win at Purdue inches the Demon Deacons up to No. 50.

North Texas’ 44-6 win against UNLV was stunning. Maybe new coach Neal Brown is rebuilding the Mean Green quicker than expected after Eric Morris led a mass exodus to Stillwater. Florida Atlantic held off Navy 38-30 to beat a Midshipmen team in my preseason top 25, launching the Owls up. Elsewhere in the American, South Florida’s late touchdown to beat Army inches the Bulls upward.

Iowa State moves up for an unexpectedly strong effort at Iowa, even though it took the loss in its first FBS game of the season. The same goes for Oregon State, which is 0-2 but up for battling Houston and Texas Tech into the fourth quarter. The Beavers look better than projected, so there’s no need to anchor them to preseason rankings.

Appalachian State also slides up after beating East Carolina, and Ohio leapfrogs Jacksonville State for beating the Gamecocks in four overtimes.

Georgia State beat Kennesaw State to end a 12-game losing streak to FBS opponents and move to 2-0. Liberty stumbles down after escaping 24-23 against a winless FCS Gardner-Webb team that has an interim head coach. Central Michigan similarly needed a fourth-quarter comeback to survive FCS Colgate and slips to No. 113 as a result.

Sam Houston is 0-2, but with one-score losses to Troy and Tulsa, the Bearkats look improved. Utah State followed up a two-score loss to FCS Idaho State with a narrow 16-14 loss at Washington, making the Aggies extremely difficult to place, but they rise up a few spots.

Rutgers also climbs a spot after hitting an all-time low for a Power 4 team in these rankings last week. That’s in part because of the Scarlet Knights’ competitive loss at Boston College, but they also got help from a blowout loss by Sacramento State (to Fresno State) and Northern Illinois’ loss to recent FCS national runner-up Illinois State, which led 21-0 at one point.