College football rankings: Projecting AP Top 25 after Week 9

Do three-loss teams deserve to be ranked after Week 9? That is the big question for Associated Press Top 25 voters to answer Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Only two top-five teams, No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Notre Dame were in action. Both won easily, so don’t expect any changes there.

The biggest ranked-on-ranked was Georgia-Florida in Jacksonville. The Bulldogs won big, 36-17, but are unlikely to move too far in the rankings with no top-five shakeups. They will at least take No. 6 with Texas losing to Oklahoma State.

The bottom of the poll is a minefield of losses for voters to sort through. Week 9’s No. 18 Iowa, No. 20 Wisconsin, No. 21 USF, No. 22 NC State, No. 24 Stanford and No. 25 App State all lost. No. 19 Oregon appears to be on its way to joining that group.

With that in mind, here’s how we project the AP Top 25 heading into Week 10:

Records reflect completed games.

Alabama (8-0) OFF
Clemson (8-0) def. FSU
Notre Dame (8-0) def. Navy
LSU (7-1) OFF
Michigan (7-1) OFF
Georgia (7-1) def. No. 9 Florida
Oklahoma (7-1) def. Kansas State
UCF (7-0) OFF
Ohio State (7-1) OFF
Kentucky (7-1) def. Missouri
West Virginia (6-1) def. Baylor
Washington State (7-1) def. Stanford
Penn State (6-2) def. No. 18 Iowa
Texas (6-2) lost to Oklahoma State
Florida (6-2) lost to No. 7 Georgia
Utah (6-2) def. UCLA
Houston (7-1) def. No.21 USF
Utah State (7-1) def. New Mexico
Iowa (6-2) lost to No. 17 Penn State
San Diego State (6-1) leading Nevada 14-9 in first quarter
Mississippi State (5-3) def. No. 16 Texas A&M
Texas A&M (5-3) lost to Mississippi State
Washington (6-3) lost to Cal
Virginia (6-2) def. North Carolina
Oregon (5-2) losing to Arizona 16-8 in second quarter

Projected to fall out of AP Top 25: No. 20 Wisconsin lost to Northwestern; No. 21 USF lost to Houston; No. 22 NC State lost to Syracuse; No. 24 Stanford lost to No. 14 Washington State; No. 25 App State lost to Georgia Southern