| Rank | Team | Comments | Prior | |
| 1 |  | Alabama | Alabama should have little trouble stopping Penn State's questionable passing attack. | 1 |
| 2 |  | Oklahoma | The Sooners get to rest up in week two and prepare for their huge trip to Florida State. | 2 |
| 3 |  | LSU | LSU gets a little breather against Northwestern State after the big win over the Ducks of Oregon. | 3 |
| 4 |  | Wisconsin | UNLV did not provide a challenge and Oregon State will not either after losing to Sacramento State. | 4 |
| 5 |  | Nebraska | Nebraska is slowly building momentum. Fresno State will provide a slightly stiffer challenge than Chattanooga. | 5 |
| 6 |  | Boise State | Boise State gets a week off after knocking off Georgia. This week we'll see how bad Georgia really is. | 8 |
| 7 |  | Florida State | Charleston Southern will not give Florida State a game…this is a tune-up for Oklahoma in week three. | 7 |
| 8 |  | Oklahoma State | A Thursday night game against Arizona should provide Oklahoma State with a nice early test. | 9 |
| 9 |  | Stanford | If Richmond can beat Duke, Stanford should have an easy trip to Tobacco Road to take on the Dukies. | 11 |
| 10 |  | South Carolina | Stephen Garcia seemed to make all the difference last week. Conference play begins with a reeling UGA. | 10 |
| 11 |  | Ohio State | The Ohio State defense is still really, really good. The offense will have time against Toledo to work out the kinks. | 13 |
| 12 |  | Oregon | Oregon does not have too much time to look back at the LSU game. Nevada is waiting to take advantage. | 6 |
| 13 |  | Texas A&M | Texas A&M gets an early week off after beating their old SWC rivals SMU in week one. | 12 |
| 14 |  | Arkansas | The Razorbacks should add another W to the standings hosting New Mexico in Little Rock. | 14 |
| 15 |  | Florida | Like Arkansas, Florida does not have to jump into the SEC schedule in week two and take on UAB. | 15 |
| 16 |  | Virginia Tech | ECU gave South Carolina a game for a while and now Virginia Tech gets what could be their toughest road game. | 17 |
| 17 |  | Arizona State | It is another non-Saturday game for ASU, but a national audience will tune in to see Missouri come to Tempe. | 16 |
| 18 |  | Penn State | Penn State looked pretty good in week one, but the offense will not look nearly as effective against Alabama. | 23 |
| 19 |  | West Virginia | West Virginia's new offense will get plenty of practice time against lowly Norfolk State in week two. | 19 |
| 20 |  | Texas | Beating Rice did not prove Texas is back. Beating BYU would help get the Longhorns up the polls. | 18 |
| 21 |  | Mississippi State | The Bulldogs jump right into conference play with a trip to Auburn. Chris Relf will have to be on his game. | 20 |
| 22 |  | USC | USC struggled against Minnesota and Utah is a better team with some hope of winning their first Pac-12 game. | 21 |
| 23 |  | Maryland | Maryland will take a week off after a win against a depleted Miami team to prepare for West Virginia in week 3. | NR |
| 24 |  | Missouri | Missouri heads out West to face a tough Arizona State team in front of a national audience on Friday night. | 24 |
| 25 |  | Northwestern | Northwestern beat BC on the road without their superstar quarterback. Persa will get some rest in week 2 too. | NR |
Week 1 Football Top 25
Mon, 09/05/2011
