AP Top 25 poll released following Week 7

College football fans in 2021 have learned not to tempt fate. It only results in a wildly unpredictable upset.

See: Oregon losing to Stanford in Week 5, just one game after beating Ohio State on the road and moving up to No. 3 in the AP poll; undefeated Alabama in Week 6 losing on a game-ending field goal to Texas A&M, the same Aggies team that fell to Arkansas and Mississippi State; or, most recently, No. 2 Iowa losing to unranked Purdue, the ninth time that unranked Purdue has defeated a No. 2-ranked team, effectively derailing Iowa’s College Football Playoff hopes. There have be many more, too. It’s just what fans have come to expect.

Week 7 of the 2021 college football season certainly did not disappoint. Iowa, just one week after achieving its highest ranking in the AP poll since 1985, couldn’t throw the ball to save its College Football Playoff life. Quarterback Spencer Petras threw four picks, while disgruntled Tennessee fans seemed to throw trash onto the field with more accuracy. Arkansas fell from grace, as the Razorbacks followed up a 4-0 start to the season with its third consecutive loss — this time to unranked Auburn.

Oklahoma State proved that its the best orange-colored team in the Big 12, defeating Texas in Austin, Caleb Williams proved why Lincoln Riley opted to start a true freshman over the preseason Heisman Trophy favorite, Alabama bounced back, Cincinnati made program history and Michigan-Michigan State, scheduled for Oct. 30, is looking like it may be a battle of the unbeatens.

And this week, the upsets weren’t the only thing to shake the college football world — reports emerged Sunday that the Tigers would be parting ways with head coach Ed Orgeron after the season, adding yet another twist to the story of the 2021 season.

We’ve now reached the halfway point of the college football season, with conference championship games just seven weeks away. There are only 11 unbeaten teams remaining — six of them from Power Five conferences. And Cincinnati, one of the five unbeaten Group of Five schools, has a clear path to the College Football Playoff. The craziness of the season is reflected in the Week 7 AP Poll.

The Week 7 AP Poll

1. Georgia (7-0)
2. Cincinnati (6-0)
3. Oklahoma (7-0)
4. Alabama (6-1)
5. Ohio State (5-1)
6. Michigan (6-0)
7. Penn State (5-1)
8. Oklahoma State (6-0)
9. Michigan State (7-0)
10. Oregon (5-1)
11. Iowa (6-1)
12. Ole Miss (5-1)
13. Notre Dame (5-1)
14. Coastal Carolina (6-0)
15. Kentucky (6-1)
16. Wake Forest (6-0)
17. Texas A&M (5-2)
18. NC State (5-1)
19. Auburn (5-2)
20. Baylor (6-1)
21. SMU (6-0)
22. San Diego State (6-0)
23. Pittsburgh (5-1)
24. UTSA (7-0)
25. Purdue (4-2)

Clemson, Utah, and Arkansas finished just on the outside looking in the poll after Week 7.