While a heart-pounding weekend of college football unfolded in the South and neighboring Ohio and more chaos is likely to come, all was tranquil and should continue to be in central Pennsylvania for the next three weeks.

Penn State won its opener against Nevada by five touchdowns and is favored to beat Florida International by six TDs on Saturday and FCS team Villanova by at least that many the following week.

The nonconference schedule is so soft it makes the Nittany Lions’ hold on No. 2 in The Associated Press Top 25 tenuous even if they win by the expected large margins. Until Oregon shows up to play Sept. 27, Penn State figures to be mostly out of sight and out of mind of the voters, barring the unthinkable.

Ohio State jumped over the Lions into the top spot in poll on Tuesday after a 14-7 win over preseason No. 1 Texas.

Only two first-place votes and five points separated Penn State and Texas entering the season. The Buckeyes now have a firm hold on No. 1 with 55 of the 66 first-place votes. Penn State received seven, 16 fewer than it had in the preseason poll.

No. 3 LSU rode the momentum of its 17-10 win at then-No. 4 Clemson to move up six spots and sits just 44 points behind the Nittany Lions. The Tigers could pull ahead of Penn State if they beat Louisiana Tech this week and No. 13 Florida the next.

No. 4 Georgia and No. 5 Miami also could move past Penn State before long. Georgia is at No. 22 Tennessee the same day the Nittany Lions play pat-a-cake with Villanova, and Miami hosts ascending South Florida and No. 13 Florida back-to-back weeks.

No. 6 Oregon could be ahead of Penn State, too, by the time the teams meet in the Nittany Lions’ first real test. The Ducks’ next three games are at home against Oklahoma State, at Northwestern and at home against Oregon State.

Of course, the Nittany Lions’ AP ranking won’t matter if they win the Big Ten or finish in the top three or four. It’s all about College Football Playoff ranking, and it would be a surprise if Penn State isn’t in the 12-team field given that James Franklin has assembled perhaps his best roster in his 15 seasons. The CFP’s initial rankings aren’t announced until the first week of November.

So for now, Franklin should have no worries. He can do his highly visible job and then go home like a regular guy and catch some games. That’s what he did this past weekend, after briefly chatting with friends and family in the kitchen.

“I tell everybody I’m going down to the basement,” he said. “Not trying to be anti-social, but I want to go down in the basement and watch games. If they want to come down, great. But they know not to come down and start peppering me with questions.”

Apologizing for the visual, he said, “I sit sometimes in my boxers and T-shirt and watch games and try to relax and enjoy it.”

Gamecocks plenty game

South Carolina is a top-10 team for the first time since the Steve Spurrier era more than a decade ago.

The Gamecocks landed at No. 10 on Tuesday following their 24-11 win over Virginia Tech in Atlanta. LaNorris Sellers is a game-breaker at quarterback who could lead fifth-year coach Shane Beamer to a breakthrough season if he can stay healthy.

South Carolina has its highest ranking since it was No 9 in the 2014 preseason poll. The last time the Gamecocks were in the top 10 in the regular season was 2013, when they were No. 6 early in the season.

Sunshine State success

The state of Florida’s three power-conference teams are all in the top 15 for the first time since the 2006 preseason poll.

Miami is No. 5 after beating Notre Dame, Florida is No. 13 after shutting out Long Island and Florida State is No. 14 after knocking of Alabama.

And here’s a Sunshine State bonus: South Florida is just eight spots out of the Top 25, and the highest-ranked Group of Five team, after defeating Boise State.

Extra Points

Before Texas and Clemson over the weekend, the only other time two top-five teams lost in Week 1 was 1972 when No. 1 Nebraska, coming off back-to-back national championships, got upset by unranked UCLA and No. 4 Arkansas was beaten at home by No. 8 Southern California. … This year marked the first time four top-10 teams lost in Week 1. … This is the second straight year the Big Ten has had teams ranked 1-2. It happened in three straight polls last season. … Alabama’s fall from No. 8 to No. 21 was its biggest in the regular season since it went from No. 13 to unranked on Sept. 11, 1990.

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