Top 25 Reality Check: Assessing voters after volatile weeks

Two weeks into the regular season and already 12 ranked teams have lost, including five to unranked teams.

That’s a fair amount of upheaval to the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank so early in the season.

Six teams that were ranked in the preseason are currently unranked and another six teams are ranked but with one loss.

Both the 12 ranked teams losing and six ranked teams with a loss after two weeks of the season are more than at the same point in the previous five normal seasons (2015-19). That’s not including last year when the pandemic altered schedules, delaying the start of the season for many teams.

This week Alabama was No. 1 again and Georgia was

No. 2 for a second straight week. The rest of the rankings got a good shakeup with Oregon up to four and Iowa at five.

This week’s newcomers include No. 20 Arkansas, No. 23 BYU and No. 25 Michigan.

It usually takes about half a season for the the Top 25 to stabilize, give or take a week. Reality Check is ready to start assessing how the voters are doing, something that was shelved during the pandemic because — well —- that was kind of a mess.

No. 1 Alabama (2-0) Next: at No. 11 Florida, Saturday.

Reality check: First game in a hostile environment for the Crimson Tide and new starting QB Bryce Young. Will this actually be a test? Ranked ... just right. No. 2 Georgia (2-0) Next: vs. South Carolina,

Saturday.

Reality check: No need for QB JT Daniels to rush back from a lat injury. Stetson Bennett, who threw five touchdowns in 12 attempts against UAB, should be able to get the job done this week, too.

Ranked ... just right. No. 3 Oklahoma (2-0) Next: vs. Nebraska, Saturday.

Realty check: Sooners probably didn’t need a tuneup for the Huskers, but they took one anyway. Ranked ... a bit too high. No. 4 Oregon (2-0) Next: vs. Stony Brook, Saturday.

Reality check: Ducks’ RPO (run-pass option) game brings out the best in QB Anthony Brown.

Ranked ... a touch low. Make’em No. 3.

No. 5 Iowa (2-0) Next: vs. Kent State, Saturday.

Reality check: Hawkeyes have some dudes on defense, and a couple of nice wins to start the season, but an offense (3.84 yards per play) that needs a lot of work.

Ranked ... too high. No. 6 Clemson (1-1) Next: vs. Georgia Tech, Saturday.

Reality check: Nothing about the first two weeks of Atlantic Coast Conference play suggests the rest of the league will catch up to the Tigers. Ranked ... about right. No. 7 Texas A&M (2-0) Next: vs. New Mexico, Saturday.

Reality check: Still waiting on word about the injury to QB King Haynes, but the Aggies have not shown much reason to believe they have close to enough on offense to keep pace with Alabama.

Ranked ... too high.