Week 1 of the 2025 college football season is now in the books, meaning the latest version of the AP Poll has come out for fans and bettors alike to debate. The first update to the rankings saw a significant drop for a title contender as well as some shuffling towards the top, so there’s much to discuss as we compare the newest poll to futures markets on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Let’s dive into the Week 2 rankings and the correlation to futures markets on DraftKings Sportsbook for the 2025 National Championship and College Football Playoffs.
Week 2 AP Poll:
Here are the results of the Week 2 AP Poll. The number in parentheses indicates how many first-place votes each team received.
- Ohio State (55)
- Penn State (7)
- LSU (3)
- Georgia
- Miami (FL)
- Oregon (1)
- Texas
- Clemson
- Notre Dame
- South Carolina
- Illinois
- Arizona State
- Florida
- Florida State
- Michigan
- Iowa State
- SMU
- Oklahoma
- Texas A&M
- Ole Miss
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Indiana
- Texas Tech
- Utah
DraftKings futures markets:
In comparison, here are the latest odds to win the College Football Playoff National Championship on DraftKings Sportsbook:
Takeaways from Week 2 AP Poll:
Texas tumbles out of top five
Texas opened as the preseason No. 1 in the AP rankings and took on No. 3 Ohio State in their season opener. The result was absolutely not a pretty one as the reigning champs largely dominated the Longhorns throughout most of the contest. Quarterback Arch Manning finished the day 17-for-30 with 170 yards, one touchdown and one interception, far from what many pundits expected from the potential top selection in the upcoming NFL Draft. While it’s not time to panic over the first-year starter, especially not against a top defense, there are concerns for Texas which show up in the updated AP Poll.
Texas fell all the way to No. 7 after the Week 1 loss, and while they opened the season as +550 co-favorites with Ohio State to win the National Championship, they’ve dropped to fourth in title odds at +750 on DraftKings Sportsbook. This roster has far too much talent to stay at their current ranking though, so now could present an opportunity to capture a little bit of extra value. Make no mistake, they’re still a contender.
A new No. 1
Conversely, Ohio State proved they’re not going anywhere as they opened the season. The 2024 National Champions didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard in the win with just 14 points and 203 total yards of offense, but they showed plenty of resilience against another tough defense and played very disciplined football with no turnovers and just two penalties for 15 yards on the day. Julian Sayin also played efficient football, going 13-for-20 with 126 yards and a touchdown, even with star wideout Jeremiah Smith only catching six balls for 43 yards.
Overall, this looked like a very strong team win in the face of adversity, especially for the defense. Texas racked up 336 yards on the day but were ultimately held scoreless until the fourth quarter, but the Buckeyes didn’t allow their opponent to score again. Keeping a top offense in check on the scoreboard like that speaks volumes about their grit. The No. 1 spot looks much deserved for Ohio State, so it’s interesting to see they dropped just slightly to +600 in title odds but took sole possession at the top of the leaderboard on DraftKings Sportsbook.
LSU jumps six spots
While they entered the preseason AP Poll at No. 9, LSU made a rather large jump this week and moved all the way up to No. 3. The reason for that movement? A strong win over Clemson, who entered the season at No. 4. LSU emerged from that battle with a 17-10 victory and tallied 354 yards of offense to just 261 for their opponents. They moved the ball nearly at will with 25 first downs to stay ahead of the sticks well, and Garrett Nussmeier went 28-for-38 with 230 yards and a touchdown.
If LSU can maintain this kind of play moving forward, they’re a team to keep an eye on in title conversations. They moved up from ninth on the DraftKings Sportsbook leaderboard at +1400 odds to +1000 now, fifth-best. A date against No. 13 Florida on September 13 will tell much about this roster before SEC play begins at the end of the month.
Shuffling the middle of the deck
The middle of the AP Poll also saw some shifts entering Week 2. A couple of risers in this group include South Carolina, who moved from No. 13 to No. 10; Florida’s bump from No. 15 to No. 13; as well as Iowa State going from No. 22 to No. 16. Fallers included Notre Dame dropping from No. 6 to No. 9; Alabama falling all the way to No. 21 from No. 8; and No. 17 Kansas State disappearing from the rankings entirely.
One more team to keep an eye on following a shocking result is Florida State, who downed Alabama in Week 1 and earned the No. 14 spot in the latest rankings.
Biggest gaps between AP Poll and DraftKings Sportsbook odds:
The (T) in the odds category indicates being tied in odds with one or more teams.
Team
AP Poll Rank
DraftKings Odds to Win National Championship Rank
Ohio State
1
1st (+600)
Penn State
2
2nd (+650)
LSU
3
5th (+1000)
Georgia
4
3rd (+700)
Miami
5
9th (+2200)
Oregon
6
6th (T) (+1300)
Texas
7
4th (+750)
Clemson
8
7th (+1400)
Notre Dame
9
6th (T) (+1300)
South Carolina
10
15th (+7000)
Illinois
11
21st (T) (+15000)
Arizona State
12
17th (T) (+10000)
Florida
13
11th (+4000)
Florida State
14
19th (+12000)
Michigan
15
10th (+3000)
Iowa State
16
23rd (T) (+20000)
SMU
17
18th (T) (+11000)
Oklahoma
18
13th (+5500)
Texas A&M
19
11th (T) (+4000)
Ole Miss
20
12th (T) (+5000)
Alabama
21
8th (+1500)
Tennessee
22
14th (+6000)
Indiana
23
17th (T) (+10000)
Texas Tech
24
17th (T) (+10000)
Utah
25
16th (+9000)
The College Football Playoff format complicates the conversation a bit since not every team sees the same pathway or opportunities to earn an appearance. As a reminder, 12 teams are selected into the playoff field. The five highest-ranked conference champions earn automatic bids, but the four highest-ranked teams get the top four seeds and a first-round bye regardless of their conference champion status.
