College Football Power Rankings: Week 2 (2021)

Week 1 is supposed to be easy, right? Apparently not. Eight of the country’s top 25 teams lost in Week 1, causing a seismic shake-up in Week 2’s power rankings.

We’ve got three newcomers into my top 25, three teams who moved double-digit places in the rankings, and one team who looks like they’re going to be spending quite a bit of time nailed into that number-one spot. We also saw a few Heisman hopefuls like Sam Howell and DJ Uiagalelei lose some serious traction, while Bryce Young may have already taken over as the early favorite.

Week 2 kicks off in just four days, so let’s see where the teams stack up before we get another week of college football started.

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College Football Power Rankings Week 2

* (NS) = neutral site; (NR) = not ranked in last week's power rankings

Big Movers

Cincinnati Bearcats
I don't care if they played Miami (OH), Miami (FL), Miami High School, or the Miami Dolphins. Cincinnati looked like they haven't missed a single beat. This team is absolutely 100% for real, and that opening week beatdown of the Redhawks was proof of it. Luke Fickell is one of the best coaches in the country, Desmond Ridder may have actually gotten better, and that defense is not a unit to take lightly.

Penn State Nittany Lions
The Penn State offense did not look good by any stretch of the imagination, but they've got weapons if Sean Clifford can figure it out. He was pretty bad in Madison on Saturday, sans a few wide-open throws, and he'll have to be a lot better if Penn State wants to continue rolling through this schedule. Let's not ignore that defense. Wow, what a performance. Sure, Wisconsin made a ton of mistakes deep in Lion territory, but take nothing away from the Penn State defense as a whole. They made life incredibly uncomfortable for Graham Mertz. That's a huge conference road win.

Coastal Carolina
I'll admit I doubted the Chanticleers heading into this season. I thought some of their success last year had to do with everyone being affected by COVID and having little to no film on Coastal. I was wrong; this team can score in bunches. Again, as I said with Cincinnati, I don't care how inferior the opponent was, Coastal Carolina did exactly what they were supposed to do: beat them badly. Look at Iowa State, Washington, even Oklahoma. They played inferior competition and didn't show the prowess Coastal did.

North Carolina Tar Heels
There was no way I was dropping the Heels out of my top 25, despite how feeble they looked on offense with one of the best quarterbacks in the country. That was some environment in Blacksburg and a tough one for a bunch of players who've played very little together to overcome. That being said, Sam Howell did not look good nor did he look comfortable. He's going to have to put up some gaudy performances over the next few weeks to get anywhere near where I ranked the Tar Heels in Weeks 0 and 1.

Miami Hurricanes
The Canes looked completely shell-shocked in the first quarter against Alabama, almost like they couldn't believe how good the Crimson Tide were in person. It was a bad performance all around, but Alabama also just beat Ohio State by four touchdowns in the National Title game - they do this to everyone. It would be completely unfair to count Miami out this early, but they're going to have to get up off the mat rather quickly.

Newcomers

UCLA Bruins
Technically, UCLA was the 'biggest mover' of the week, but they weren't in my top 25 in Week 0 or 1, so they headline the newcomers section. There was a lot of hope and some substantial hype around Chip Kelly's program with Dorian Thompson-Robinson at the helm, but also a lot of 'I'll believe it when I see it from much of the media. Well, do you believe it now? Kelly's Bruins are for real. Sure, LSU is a program still in a bit of a transition that had to deal with the fallout from Hurricane Ida, but UCLA was up to the task on defense and showed that when their offense gets the ground game going, they're capable of hanging 40 on just about anyone.

Virginia Tech Hokies
I touched on the Hokies a bit in UNC's write-up, but wow. Perhaps the student section deserves some credit here, but so does that Hokie defense. They picked Sam Howell off three times and didn't let the North Carolina offense do much of anything. They'll have to figure out ways to score, but this defense looks like it can take a ton of pressure off the offense as they gain their footing.

Utah Utes
Utah was one of my first few teams out in both Weeks 0 and 1, but they proved to me that I shouldn't have been so skeptical and should rightfully put them in the top 25. This is a typical Utah team that will do their best to pound the rock, complete timely passes, play tough defense, and win the turnover battle. That's Ute football, nothing more to see here.

Random Musings

Clemson Tigers
Uh, wow. That was downright horrible. Despite how well their defense played, I didn't even want to include Clemson in the top 10, but some other top teams played so poorly I had no choice. Let's start with the obvious: the offense. DJ Uiagalelei was really bad. Some are blaming the offensive line: fine. Some are blaming the receivers for not being on the same page: ok. But Uiagalelei looked scared, like a deer in headlights. He was locking onto one receiver, he wasn't mobile at all - not in the pocket or trying to make plays with his legs - and he was inaccurate often. The defense was great, and Clemson still plays in a weak conference, so they'll be fine. But they're going to need some serious help if they want to earn another playoff berth.

Alabama Crimson Tide
Uh, wow, part two. Except I'm not about to come down hard on the Tide as I did with Clemson. Alabama is absolutely turnover-proof, and I'm not talking about fumbles and interceptions. No matter who they roll out there across the board, they're up to the task and pick up where their predecessors left off. Bryce Young is a star in the making. Their defense is typically tenacious. They've got dynamic weapons on offense despite losing their three best in the first round of the NFL Draft. I quite honestly don't see anyone beating Alabama unless something drastically changes. They control their own destiny to another title just a week into this season.

Ole Miss Rebels
Even without their head coach, Mississippi showed that they've got one of the best and most dynamic offenses in the SEC. There were some superb play designs, Matt Corral looks every bit the part under center, and their running back room is way deeper than anyone expected. Don't look now, but this Ole Miss squad may also have a solid defense too.

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