Saturday was all about teams inside the Top 25 college football rankings proving themselves against other Top 25 teams. During the mid-afternoon slate, we had three ranked-vs-ranked matchups on deck. One of which was the much-hyped Colorado Buffaloes going on the road to face a No. 10-ranked Oregon Ducks team.
In the end, it was no contest. With a fiery speech from Dan Lanning, Bo Nix and Oregon absolutely pasted Autzen Stadium's turf with the Buffaloes. Colorado's defense didn't have a single answer for anything the Ducks were doing offensively while Shedeur Sanders barely had time to breathe before getting hit on virtualy every single play. The end result? A 42-6 blowout victory for the Ducks at home.
While the Colorado hype train might've died in Eugene on Saturday, Jalen Milroe and the Alabama Crimson Tide looked reborn in Tuscaloosa. After an early dogfight against Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss, the defense tightened up tremendously while Milroe made some clutch plays to give the Crimson Tide a 24-10 win.
This is obviously going to shake up the college football rankings, so let's take a look at our latest projections for the Top 25.
College football rankings: Projected Top 25 after Oregon embarrasses Colorado, Alabama topples Ole Miss
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Michigan Wolverines
- Florida State Seminoles
- Texas Longhorns
- USC Trojans
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Penn State Nittany Lions
- Washington Huskies
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Oregon Ducks
- Utah Utes
- LSU Tigers
- Alabama Crimson Tide
- Oregon State Beavers
- North Carolina Tar Heels
- Oklahoma Sooners
- Duke Blue Devils
- Miami Hurricanes
- Washington State Cougars
- Ole Miss Rebels
- Tennessee Volunteers
- Iowa Hawkeyes
- Florida Gators
- Missouri Tigers
- Fresno State Bulldogs
If Colorado had gone on the road to Eugene and put forth a respectable performance, they would've had a chance to maintain a spot in the Top 25. Getting their doors blown off by the Ducks, though, there's absolutely no chance that the Buffaloes stay ranked after what we saw at Autzen Stadium on Saturday.
On the other side of that, though, I'm inclined to not give Oregon too much credit and have them vault up big time in the college football rankings. They handled their business against a team that was overhyped. And considering they were already a Top 10 team, it's hard to give them too much of a boost for the win, even if was emphatic.
As for Alabama, the Crimson Tide aren't going to move back up too much, but they do solidify themselves as a Top 15 team with clear upside to move ahead. Ole Miss, meanwhile, held its own against a team that simply has more talent than them, but Bama also proved that the Rebels definitely deserve to drop a bit to the outskirts of the Top 20.
And let's not forget about Utah, who moved to 4-0 with a tough, hard-fought win against UCLA despite Cam Rising still not being back. That's going to knock the Bruins out of the Top 25, surely. But Utah is still clearly knocking on the door of the Top 10.
The Top 25 projections are only going to keep changing, though. Ohio State visiting Notre Dame and Iowa visiting Penn State are still on the schedule, in addition to other ranked teams being in action. But after the early and mid-afternoon games, this is where the rankings likely stand.