College Football Ratings Week 2 2023
Week 2 was headlined by Texas’ huge win over Alabama but there were lots of fun games elsewhere on the schedule. I was particularly impressed with Miami, who overcame a big early deficit to stomp Texas A&M. The Hurricanes will easily make it to mid-October undefeated and look primed for their best season in half a decade.
Top 25
The betting odds shown next to the top 15 teams indicate their current betting odds to make the playoff.
Georgia -250
Ohio State +190
Michigan -130 (+1)
Florida State +115 (-1)
Notre Dame +390 (+2)
Alabama +500 (-1)
USC +240 (+7)
Texas +120
Oregon +450 (+3)
Tennessee +750 (-4)
Clemson +1000 (-1)
LSU +700 (-3)
Penn State +330
Washington +500 (+3)
Oklahoma +650 (+1)
Auburn (+3)
Ole Miss (+3)
Texas A&M (-7)
Miami (+7)
Utah (-5)
Florida (+1)
Oregon State (+1)
Kansas State (-2)
North Carolina (-6)
UCLA (+13)
Notre Dame looks like a real contender to me. The Irish went on the road and beat a decent NC State by three scores. Ohio State comes to South Bend in two weeks and I make the Buckeyes only a 3 point favorite in that matchup, it would’ve been nearly a double digit spread in the preseason. I was a big seller of USC in the preseason but the Trojans flew up my ratings after their demolition of Stanford and are now my favorites to win the Pac-12. Elsewhere in Los Angeles I have been very impressed by UCLA through two weeks, they’ve gone from the 40s to the 20s in my rankings.
Moving Up
A lot of people thought Dino Babers was on the hot seat at Syracuse but the early returns have been quite impressive, beating Colgate and Western Michigan by a combined 113-7. A toss-up game at Purdue and a home game at Army are next before the always fun Clemson/Syracuse game. I’ve been bullish on FIU all year but they’ve surpassed even my expectations and have a shot at a bowl game. Cincinnati was supposed to be the worst team in the Big 12 but shut down longtime rival Pitt over the weekend and will challenge for a bowl in Scott Satterfield’s first year at the helm.
Moving Down
Nevada is incomprehensibly bad. Jay Norvell took every good player on the roster with him to Colorado State two years ago and they still haven’t recovered, they were trounced 33-6 by FCS Idaho this weekend. The worst team in the Power Five is either Boston College or Stanford. The Eagles squeaked by Holy Cross while the Cardinal got evaporated by Caleb Williams and the USC offense.