College football had a Saturday full of upsets and close calls in Week 2, which caused some excitement in the latest AP Top 25 poll.

Nebraska began the poll ranked No. 23, making its first appearance in the top 25 since Sept. 3, 2019. The Cornhuskers, who dominated Colorado on Saturday, had not been ranked since 2012. Newcomers to the poll besides Nebraska include Iowa State (No. 21), Boston College (No. 24) (ranked for the first time since Nov. 11, 2018) and Northern Illinois (No. 25) (ranked for the first time since Dec. 8, 2013).

NIU surprised Notre Dame, then ranked No. 5, to score the first top-10 win in Huskies history. Notre Dame, on the other hand, dropped 13 spots but still managed to hold on to No. 18. Kansas, Iowa, Georgia Tech and NC State fell out of the rankings after losses.

Georgia remains the clear No. 1 seed with 54 first-place votes, but Texas (four first-place votes) overtook Ohio State (five) for No. 2 after its overwhelming win at Michigan. The Wolverines dropped seven spots to No. 17.

An incredible six of the top seven teams in the new poll come from the 16-team SEC, with a total of eight ranked teams from the conference.

Other votes received: Illinois 101, Boise State 77, Texas A&M 68, Syracuse 63, Memphis 38, Washington 27, Iowa 24, Kansas 22, Vanderbilt 18, South Carolina 10, Liberty 9, Wisconsin 9, UNLV 7, North Carolina 7, California 3, BYU 2, UCF 1, TCU 1

How Week 2 influenced the rankings

On Saturday, six ranked teams lost, including four to unranked opponents: No. 5 Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois, No. 19 Kansas lost to Illinois, No. 21 Iowa lost to Iowa State and No. 23 Georgia Tech lost to Syracuse. In addition, numerous top-25 teams turned in mediocre performances, from Penn State to Bowling Green (34-27) to Alabama to USF (despite the misleading final score of 42-16) to Oklahoma to Houston (16-12).

With so many teams struggling but still winning, it was hard to let some teams fall, and so No. 4 Alabama, No. 8 Penn State and No. 15 Oklahoma were able to hold on.

Otherwise, however, there was plenty of movement. The biggest boost came from No. 7 Tennessee, which jumped seven spots after a dominant 51-10 win over NC State. Miami climbed into the top 10 for the first time since December 2020, and USC is right behind it at No. 11.

A 12-team playoff table based on the AP poll

This week’s SEC-heavy poll would create an SEC-heavy College Football Playoff bracket — but only the top team, Georgia, would get a first-round bye. The rest would go to No. 3 Ohio State (Big Ten), No. 10 Miami (ACC) and No. 12 Utah (Big 12). That would mean all of the first-round games would be hosted by SEC teams: Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss and Missouri.

Northern Illinois of the MAC becomes the fifth conference champion as the only ranked team from the Group of 5.

What happens next?

The college football season enters Week 3 in a lull — at least on paper — despite two matchups between top-25 teams remaining: No. 20 Arizona vs. No. 14 Kansas State on Friday night in a key early game in the newly formed Big 12, and No. 24 Boston College vs. No. 6 Missouri on Saturday in a secretly interesting nonconference showdown.

The main game on Saturday is likely No. 4 Alabama vs. Wisconsin in the first leg of a rare SEC/Big Ten home-and-away matchup. It’s the first road test for Alabama under Kalen DeBoer against a Wisconsin team seeking a decisive win under Luke Fickell.

As for the other top teams, No. 1 Georgia visits Kentucky, No. 2 Texas hosts UTSA and No. 3 Ohio State is off schedule.

Required reading

(Photo: Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)