College football rankings 2018: 2 new SEC teams make Week 2 Coaches Poll Top 25

Texas and Florida State are out, South Carolina and Florida are in. That’s what the coaches decided after a jam-packed opening weekend of the 2018 season.

UT’s exit from the poll comes as no surprise. The Longhorns entered the season ranked No. 21 in the Coaches Poll, but fell to Maryland in Week 1 29-34 despite being 14-point favorites. Florida State similarly played its way out of the rankings. FSU was No. 19 to start the season, but the betting favorite (7 points) going into Monday night’s ACC clash with No. 17 Virginia Tech in Tallahassee, Fla. The Hokies won the game 24-3.

With two spots open, the coaches turned to the SEC to fill those vacancies

South Carolina opened the 2018 season with a 49-15 win over Coastal Carolina. While it’s a satisfying win for the Gamecocks, the No. 24 ranking in the Week 2 poll may be more of a reflection of the fact that USC was basically the first team out, missing the preseason Top 25 cut, but next in line in terms of receiving votes.

Next in line in the “others receiving votes” list was Florida. UF now holds the No. 25 ranking as the coaches decided to give the spot opened up by FSU’s exit to the Gators. In Dan Mullen’s first game as head coach, Florida cruised past Charleston Southern 53-6.

While Gamecocks and Gators fans were happy to see their teams win, and now ranked, it’s somewhat surprising that the coaches voted them in favor of two teams that defeated Power 5 foes. Maryland was the team that knocked off Texas, certainly a stronger opponent than Coastal Carolina or Charleston Southern. Ole Miss thumped Texas Tech 47-27 in the Advocare Texas Kickoff in Houston. While Texas Tech was not ranked, the Red Raiders are still a Power 5 team, something that cannot be said for Coastal Carolina or Charleston Southern.

Here’s the complete poll:

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Georgia
4. Ohio State
5. Oklahoma
6. Wisconsin
7. Auburn
8. Notre Dame
9. Stanford
10. Penn State
11. Washington
12. USC
13. Michigan State
14. Virginia Tech
15. LSU
16. TCU
17. West Virginia
18. Mississippi State
19. Boise State
20. UCF
21. Miami
22. Michigan
23. Oklahoma State
24. South Carolina
25. Florida

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.