College Football Rankings Predictions for 2026 Week 2 AP and Coaches Polls

The Week 2 college football polls shouldn't look too much different from the preseason polls released in August.

There were no surprise losses by Top 25 teams, although the Michigan Wolverines needed a last-chance Hail Mary to win their season opener.

The LSU Tigers and Ole Miss Rebels have the best arguments to move up in the rankings.

LSU opened the Lane Kiffin era with a 50-point performance at home against the Clemson Tigers.

Ole Miss kicked off life without Kiffin with a hard-fought win over the Louisville Cardinals in the only ranked matchup of the weekend.

Ole Miss, LSU With Best Cases To Move Up In Polls

Ole Miss and LSU own the best cases to make moves up the rankings after Week 1.

LSU produced arguably the most dominant performance of the weekend in its 51-10 thumping of Clemson in Baton Rouge.

The style of victory over a power-conference opponent might be enough to move LSU up into the top 10 from its No. 11 spot in the AP poll and No. 13 position in the Coaches poll.

Ole Miss had the best win of the weekend based on ranking since it played in the only Top 25 contest.

The Rebels won a shootout with Louisville on a last-second field goal.

Pete Golding's side was No. 9 in the preseason AP poll and No. 10 in the preseason Coaches poll. A move up of a spot or two could be warranted given the stature of the victory.

Louisville Has Case To Remain In AP Top 25

Louisville has an argument to remain in the AP Top 25, instead of dropping out from its No. 24 spot in the preseason poll.

The Cardinals put up a strong fight against a top-10 opponent in Ole Miss. They were tied with the SEC with one minute remaining.

The poll voters typically don't reward teams for losses, but in this case, Louisville might be able to hang on to its spot.

Jeff Brohm's side hung around against one of the top teams in the SEC and no one around it in the polls had an overly impressive weekend.

Clemson was the first team in the "others receiving votes" column of the preseason AP poll. The Tigers aren't deserving of any votes after Week 1.

The Florida Gators and Boise State Broncos were next in that column. Boise State suffered a hard-fought loss on the road at Oregon and Florida cruised against Florida Atlantic.

There's no clear replacement for Louisville in the AP poll. It likely won't appear in the Coaches poll, though, because it was unranked in that preseason rankings.

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