Last week was the first official “Shakeup Week” in D Poll history. Most of the rearranging came once teams I expected to excel didn’t, and schools I didn’t believe in performed better than anticipated. Today, the reasons for the recalibration stem from a realization I made while curating this week’s poll.
Vibes are the central tenet of the D Poll, and they haven’t been considered nearly enough.
Multiple teams I’d qualify as having “bad vibes” remained in the poll following Week 1, and that’s not about to happen after this past weekend’s slate of games. Let me be clear, though: it’s OK to have losses (sometimes), but it’s not OK to have bad vibes.
What are good and bad vibes? Good vibes are beating a ranked in-state opponent on the road. Bad vibes are losing in a foreign country to a hated rival, only to have your starting quarterback’s father and brother get into an all-out duel in the parking lot. Good vibes are your head coach being silly in a press conference after a fun win. Bad vibes are losing as a three-score favorite on the road in Week 1 to a team that went 2-10 a year ago. Hopefully that’s clear enough.
So, don’t be shocked when you don’t see a team you believe to be one of the 25 best in the country in these rankings. The D Poll’s primary objective is to express which teams have the best vibes plus those that are actually good at playing football. It’s a marriage of two things that can be difficult to juggle at times, though I think I’ve begun to crack the code on how to best handle it.
Remember—this poll is a fluid entity. Unlike the AP Poll, which was terrible this past week, I’m unafraid to add and remove teams as I please, especially early in the season. We’re still gathering information on how this year’s season will play out, and relying on preseason biases is foolish. It’s obviously hard to completely divorce myself from preconceived notions, but I’ve tried my best. Feel free to call me out if you have any grievances on that front.
Finally, polls are subjective, and the D Poll is no different. Vibes and feelings are the most subjective criteria to ever exist. What I categorize as “bad vibes” might be different from you, and that’s perfectly fine. This is just a silly poll—the stakes aren’t that serious. Also, and this is important, just because I rank your favorite team below your rival doesn’t mean I hate your favorite team. Well, maybe I do. That’s up to interpretation depending on the circumstance.
Here’s the D Poll for Week 3. It might break your brain.
Note: Not every team is going to get a little blurb. That’s just the way life goes sometimes. Maybe next week? For any of the teams I don’t write about, just think about the vibes and feelings surrounding their season so far.
Teams dropped from last week’s D Poll: Arizona State, Florida, SMU, Alabama, Michigan
25. Indiana (NM)
Week 2 result: 56-9 win vs. Kennesaw State
24. Ole Miss (NR)
Week 2 result: 30-23 win at Kentucky
I promised a select few Ole Miss fans in last week’s preview episode of Seth’s College Football Corner that I’d rank the Rebels if they beat Kentucky. On paper, it was a simple ask—Ole Miss was a 7.5 point favorite on the road against one of the worst teams in the SEC. In practice, however, it was always going to be more difficult.
Kentucky was pretty much the sole reason that Ole Miss was omitted from the College Football Playoff a season ago, as the Rebels’ early season defeat to that terrible team ended up being the result that kept them out of the field. My thought process was that if Ole Miss can get the Kentucky monkey off its back, then it’s a top 25 team. Well, the Rebels won, and I have rewarded them accordingly.
It was not a pretty game, though. Kentucky took a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter and did a decent job of limiting Lane Kiffin’s offense from truly exploding. In the end, talent won out, and that meant that Ole Miss left Lexington with a victory. There are definitely some things for them to clean up heading into an important game against Arkansas at home this week, with quarterback Austin Simmons’ health being chief among them.
23. Auburn (NR)
Week 2 result: 42-3 win vs. Ball State
Funnily enough, it’s not beating Ball State that lifted Auburn into the D Poll for the first time this season. It was actually Baylor’s impressive showing against SMU that gave me enough reason to bring the Tigers into the fold.
Auburn, for the most part, manhandled Baylor in Week 1. That same Bears team turned around the next week and shred up SMU’s defense left and right, which leads me to believe that Auburn’s win over Baylor was probably a bit more impressive than originally thought.
There’s still a lot to learn about Hugh Freeze’s squad. With the schedule ramping up here pretty soon—Auburn plays Oklahoma in two weeks—I’m fairly certain those answers will come pretty quickly.
22. Vanderbilt (NR)
Week 2 result: 44-20 win at Virginia Tech
I tried to tell everybody that Vanderbilt wasn’t going to be a doormat. I hope that a thumping of a Virginia Tech team that played competitively against South Carolina proves just that.
Down 20-10 at the half, the Commodores completely flipped the script in the third and fourth quarters, outscoring Virginia Tech 34-0 the rest of the way. I don’t know what head coach Clark Lea told his team in the locker room, but all I know is that it led to complete domination.
The fact that the AP Poll has South Carolina ranked in the top 10, but omits Vanderbilt is ranking malpractice. The two teams have a common opponent—Virginia Tech—with one beating the Hokies on a neutral field by 13 (and needed a kickoff return to do it), and the other completely pantsing them on their home field. Just because it’s Vanderbilt doesn’t mean that respect cannot be given. Just terrible.
I’m sure that won’t be the last time I rail on this week’s AP Poll.
21. Texas Tech (+2)
Week 2 result: 62-14 win vs. Kent State
20. Mississippi State (NR)
Week 2 result: 24-20 win vs. Arizona State
Sure, Mississippi State is not a “top 25” team in America. If you put the Bulldogs’ roster up against half of the teams on the D Poll, it’d be easy to say that they probably wouldn’t win. But they sure won on Saturday night against Arizona State, and as a result the vibes are absolutely through the roof.
Ever since Mike Leach tragically passed away in 2022, leaving Mississippi State searching for a direction, the program has been through hell. There hasn’t been that much to celebrate, until Saturday. Beating the reigning Big 12 champions, rushing the field, and taking down the goalposts, must’ve been such a cathartic experience for a fanbase and student body that was desperately yearning for some sort of happiness as it related to football.
Vibes are the most important criteria of this poll, and the vibes in Starkville are good enough at the moment to warrant a spot in this sacred ranking. How long that lasts is a question for next week. For now, let’s just celebrate alongside Mississippi State.
19. Missouri (NR)
Week 2 result: 42-31 win vs. Kansas
I might’ve been wrong about the Tigers. In my preseason projections, I pegged Missouri as a 6-6 squad that wouldn’t have competent quarterback play. Yeah, that doesn’t seem to be aging all that well.
Beau Pribula balled out, throwing for 334 yards and three touchdowns on 30-of-39 passing. Mizzou put up 595 yards of offense, while Kansas only had 251. The final score was somewhat close, but Missouri was definitely the better team.
When it comes to the vibes, does it get any better than beating a hated rival at home? And with this being the first edition of the Border War (or Border Showdown if you’re lame) since 2011, Missouri was able to unleash 14 years of built up celebration. That had to feel good.
With Missouri’s easy schedule, continual rise in the D Poll is definitely a possibility. The Tigers don’t leave the state until mid-October, with battles against Louisiana, South Carolina, UMass, and Alabama awaiting. If they play like they did on Saturday against KU, then we could be talking about Missouri potentially going to the College Football Playoff sooner rather than later.
18. Texas A&M (+2)
Week 2 result: 44-22 win vs. Utah State
17. Tennessee (+7)
Week 2 result: 72-17 win vs. East Tennessee State
Simply put, Joey Aguilar might be able to spin the pigskin better than I thought. If that’s going to be the case moving forward, then watch out for the Volunteers.
A bout against Georgia this week will tell us a whole lot about the state of 2025 Tennessee football, so I’m holding any further judgment until that game concludes. For now, with the vibes being positive in Knoxville, the Volunteers continue to vault themselves up this ranking.
16. USC (NM)
Week 2 result: 59-20 win vs. Georgia Southern
15. South Carolina (-4)
Week 2 result: 38-10 win vs. South Carolina State
“Seth, the Gamecocks won, and pretty convincingly too! Why the slide?”
Totally not real South Carolina fan, your complaints are not heard on deaf ears. Let me explain. What exactly have the Gamecocks done this season warrant the ranking I had them at previously? They needed some special teams flukiness to beat Virginia Tech and took a while to completely pull away from South Carolina State. I’ll give you that the game was affected by poor weather, but still, it’s South Carolina State.
If South Carolina truly deserves the top 10 ranking the AP thinks it does, then it’ll show as much against Vanderbilt this weekend. If not, then perhaps some plummeting in the polls will be justified.
14. Texas (-8)
Week 2 result: 38-7 win vs. San Jose State
The same logic that applied to South Carolina also holds true for Texas. What have the Longhorns done in 2025 that says they're a top 10 team? All they’ve done through two games is lose on the road to an admittedly amazing program and then struggle to get going against one of the worst teams in FBS. Not exactly a top 10 resumé.
Arch Manning’s stat line was definitely improved from Week 1, but the performance itself didn’t look the prettiest. The continued narratives surrounding his struggles, as well as the questions pertaining to his health, are certified bad vibes. Of all the questions you don’t want to be having in the middle of the college football season, concerns about the star quarterback’s health is definitely one of the worst.
Hopefully some improvements are made to the performance and the energy moving forward, but I can’t live with myself if I allow such blatantly poor vibes higher than this.
13. Iowa State (+8)
Week 2 result: 16-13 win vs. Iowa
12. Notre Dame (-2)
Week 2 result: BYE
11. Oklahoma (+8)
Week 2 result: 24-13 win vs. Michigan
Perhaps one day we’ll look back at Oklahoma’s big night against Michigan as the moment that the program finally returned. With a quarterback in John Mateer that appears to be a bonafide star and Heisman Trophy contender, and an offense alongside him that has fantastic weapons like Deion Burks, the ceiling for the Sooners is pretty high. Oh, and the defense is a buzz saw, but that was expected from a Brent Venables-coached team.
I wasn’t certain at the beginning of the season if Oklahoma was going to do enough to “prove it” over the course of the year. The schedule is brutal, and there were a ton of questions regarding the offense. With the latter of those appearing to be no problem, all that’s left to examine is how this team does against the difficult slate of games it has ahead of it.
10. South Florida (NR)
Week 2 result: 18-16 win at Florida
If you dressed up South Florida’s resumé in Alabama clothing, then the Bulls would be a top five team in the AP Poll, easily. Heck, they might even be number one. USF destroyed Boise State—the preseason favorite to be the Group of 5’s College Football Playoff representative—at home in Week 1 and then went on the road and played more physical, and won, against a Florida squad that everybody believed could do some damage in the SEC.
When Nico Gramatica’s kick went through the uprights to give South Florida the win on Saturday, I knew that it’d be disrespected regardless. Sure enough, I was right. The Bulls are ranked 18th in the AP Poll this week, which is ludicrous. I thought that ranking teams was merit based? How are voters still holding onto preseason biases two weeks into the season? We’ve seen football games played, rank teams based off that for crying out loud!
For the vibes alone, South Florida is a top 10 team. But with the wins it has, there’s no doubt in my mind that, at least for now, the Bulls deserve a spot high up in this poll. And if they manage to beat Miami this week, oh my gosh we might have ourselves a magical story on our hands.
9. Utah (+6)
Week 2 result: 63-9 win vs. Cal Poly
8. Illinois (-1)
Week 2 result: 45-19 win at Duke
7. Georgia (-4)
Week 2 result: 28-6 win vs. Austin Peay
Ask any Georgia fan and they’ll tell you that they aren’t pleased with how their team performed against Austin Peay. It was a sloppy game, and head coach Kirby Smart admitted as much in his postgame press conference. If there was ever an honest man in a press conference, it’s Kirby Smart.
The most notable thing he did in that press conference was challenge quarterback Gunnar Stockton to improve, saying that the player he saw in practice was not the one he was seeing on the field. Ouch. Well, he’s not wrong.
We’ll see if the Bulldogs can clean it up against Tennessee this week. They’re talented enough to win a national championship, but until the vibes and messaging improves, I can’t have them any higher than seven.
6. Penn State (-4)
Week 2 result: 34-0 win vs. Florida International
Obviously, Penn State hasn’t played anybody of substance yet. Blowing the breaks off Nevada and FIU don’t move the needle for me, and with other teams making impressive statements, I’m forced to move them up and Penn State down. It’s not exactly an indictment on the Nittany Lions, I promise.
5. Florida State (+9)
Week 2 result: 77-3 win vs. East Texas A&M
Beat Alabama? Check
Beat East Texas A&M? Check
So far, the results for the Seminoles are better than I thought it’d be heading into the year. They’re definitely a top five team in the country right now, at least resumé wise. Keep it up FSU!
4. LSU (NM)
Week 2 result: 23-7 win vs. Louisiana Tech
3. Miami (+2)
Week 2 result: 45-3 win vs. Bethune-Cookman
2. Ohio State (-1)
Week 2 result: 70-0 win vs. Grambling
The Buckeyes did nothing wrong in terms of their performance on Saturday. Killing Grambling was exactly what was expected of them, and they passed that test with flying colors. What upsets me is that this game was even played in the first place. Nobody wants to see Ohio State embarrass Grambling. It’s just not entertaining, and this is an entertainment product after all.
Play good opponents and people will show up and give you money. It’s very simple, yet these schools can’t seem to get it through their heads that playing the games that the fans want them to play is a good business model.
1. Oregon (+8)
Week 2 result: 69-3 win vs. Oklahoma State
Nobody impressed me more in Week 2 than the Oregon Ducks. I knew that they were a quality team, but I didn’t know that they had this much of a chip on their shoulder.
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy made headlines prior to the game when he commented on the disparity in spending between Oregon and Oklahoma State. The Ducks used this as motivation (for some reason), and subsequently ran up the score on an Oklahoma State team that’s likely to finish near the bottom of the Big 12.
It’s not beating Oklahoma State that’s impressive, it’s the mentality that Oregon had that is. It’s very apparent that Dan Lanning sure knows how to motivate a group of players—just ask Colorado back in 2023.
The vibes are fantastic in Eugene, and that’s good enough to lift Oregon up to number one.