The first full week of the college football season has officially come to an end. Week Zero included Florida Stats shockingly losing to Georgia Tech in Ireland. Week 1 then ended with Florida State shockingly losing to Boston College and Bill O'Brien. On Tuesday, the Associated Press (AP) college football top 25 poll was released, and as always, there are plenty of things to learn from it. Here are the results of the poll.

  1. Georgia
  2. Ohio State
  3. Texas
  4. Alabama
  5. Notre Dame
  6. Ole Miss
  7. Oregon
  8. Penn State
  9. Missouri
  10. Michigan
  11. Utah
  12. Miami (FL)
  13. USC
  14. Tennessee
  15. Oklahoma
  16. Oklahoma State
  17. Kansas State
  18. LSU
  19. Kansas
  20. Arizona
  21. Iowa
  22. Louisville
  23. Georgia Tech
  24. North Carolina State
  25. Clemson

Florida State dropped out of the rankings after two straight losses.

With Week 2 approaching, let us overreact a little bit to the first AP Poll of the regular season.

The USC Trojans are a College Football Playoff contender after AP poll movement

Southern California Trojans quarterback Miller Moss (7) throws a pass against the LSU Tigers during the fourth quarter at Allegiant Stadium.
Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

If you tuned in on Sunday night to the LSU-USC game in Las Vegas, you got a show. The Trojans survived and watched as Miller Moss engineered a masterpiece of a two-minute drive which ended in a Woody Marks rushing score to get the 27-20 victory over LSU.

The Trojans had one of the best offenses in the league (on paper) in 2023, but they lost Caleb Williams, Tahj Washington, MarShawn Lloyd, and plenty of others. However, Moss looked every bit like a capable starting quarterback, and the offense performed well.

What was even better was the defensive effort by USC. After moving on from Alex Grinch, USC poached D'Anton Lynn away from UCLA, and it is already paying massive dividends.

The defense was the only part of the team holding things back the past two seasons, and now they look much improved on that end. The Trojans have a difficult road in the Big Ten, but if they manage to win 10 games with one or two losses, they could sneak into the College Football Playoff conversation. USC went from No. 23 to No. 13 with just one win, and it was an early statement victory for Lincoln Riley's team. Can they keep it up?

SEC is the best conference in college football

Is this an overreaction? There is certainly a valid argument for the SEC being the best conference in the country. In 2024, they got even better by adding Texas and Oklahoma. The SEC also has a whopping eight teams in the top 25 with five in the top 10.

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On the other hand, besides the Georgia-Clemson game and Notre Dame-Texas A&M clash, the only other worthwhile opponent was Florida taking on Miami (FL). Four SEC teams shut out their opponents, four gave up only a field goal –including Georgia against Clemson. But, the SEC did exactly as they were supposed to in Week 1: Win against inferior opponents.

Week 2 will have some tests with Texas-Michigan, Arkansas-Oklahoma State, South Carolina-Kentucky, Tennessee-NC State, and even Mississippi State-Arizona State.

Notre Dame is locked into the College Football Playoff after top-5 AP poll ranking

Notre Dame Fighting Irish defensive lineman Joshua Burnham (4) celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field.
© Maria Lysaker-USA Today Sports

Is this the year? Notre Dame's time could be here in 2024. Marcus Freeman has brought confidence to the program, and Duke transfer Riley Leonard looked every bit like a top-tier quarterback in his Irish debut against Texas A&M.

Notre Dame is an independent, so their schedule isn't as difficult as others. Still, they have games against Louisville, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Virginia and USC. They defeated Texas A&M in a thrilling showdown in College Station, and it is an early statement.

The Irish are now No. 5 in the AP poll, and they should stay there as long as they don't suffer an upset in the next few weeks. With the newly expanded College Football Playoff, the top four seeds are for the Power Four conference winners. If Notre Dame hangs around, they could be No. 5 in the field.

Again, it is very early, but this is only the beginning. Week 2 should help answer some more questions with some huge showdowns.