In terms of thrills and excitement, college football’s Rivalry Week definitely lived up to fans’ expectations for the last week of the regular season. As Week 13’s results showed more close calls than outright upsets, and as November came to a finish, many of the favorites held their ground, there aren’t as many changes in the next college football rankings as you might think.
Following Michigan’s 30–24 victory over Ohio State, there will undoubtedly be a change in the top five as the Wolverines will contend with Georgia for the top spot and the Buckeyes must now determine their standing among the top 10 one-loss teams. Other changes we may expect to see include Louisville dropping out of the top 10 as Jeff Brohm gets his team ready for the ACC Championship Game following an unexpected home loss to rival Kentucky.
In other news, we’ll see how Florida State, Georgia, and Washington handled fierce challenges from in-state rivals to keep their perfect records, and how Alabama’s incredible touchdown pass to Isaiah Bond on a fourth-and-goal from 31 yards out late in the fourth quarter kept them in the running for the College Football Playoffs. Some teams considered their victory during rivalry weekend to be a success, while others, like Oregon and Texas, felt more confident going into conference championship week.
After the results of Week 13, this is how we believe the new AP Top 25 will appear:
1. Georgia (last week—1): After breaking away in a victory over Georgia Tech, the Bulldogs are not anticipated to give up their top ranking, even though some first-place votes may be transferred elsewhere.
2. Michigan (3): Michigan’s defense earned J.J. McCarthy’s praise for their efforts in the Wolverines’ 30-24 victory over Ohio State, as they twice intercepted Kyle McCord to win the game for the third time in a row.
3. Washington (4): After a fierce display against Apple Cup foe Washington State, things appeared very doubtful for the Huskies. However, a game-winning field goal helped them to complete a 12-0 regular season victory, 24-21.
4. Florida State (5): Mike Norvell has led the Seminoles to the fourth 12-0 start in program history after a 24-15 win at Florida, and though the Seminoles did not overwhelm their rivals, they remain undefeated — and that’s enough to hang in the playoff race.
5. Ohio State (2): The expectation here is that Ohio State will check in as the top-ranked one-loss team in the country after the defeat at Michigan. The Buckeyes have a lot of big-picture frustrations coming out of a third-straight loss to the Wolverines, but since it’s just the first loss of the season, there’s not a huge drop expected in the new college football rankings.
5. Ohio State (2): The expectation here is that Ohio State will check in as the top-ranked one-loss team in the country after the defeat at Michigan. The Buckeyes have a lot of big-picture frustrations coming out of a third-straight loss to the Wolverines, but since it’s just the first loss of the season, there’s not a huge drop expected in the new college football rankings.
7. Texas (7): Steve Sarkisian may or may not have calculated style points into his game plan, but a 57-7 win against Texas Tech on Black Friday certainly reinforced the notion that the Longhorns are a team worthy of title consideration. After a couple of close calls earlier in the month, the win sends Texas into December with some momentum looking to capture the program’s first Big 12 title since 2009.
8. Alabama (8): Nick Saban hasn’t had a lot of epic Iron Bowl moments go his way when the game is played in Jordan-Hare Stadium, but Saturday’s epic finish provided the ultimate plot twist. Though the drama was high and the finish was legendary, there won’t be a ton of changes in the rankings for an 11-1 team that was expected to win by a larger margin.
9. Missouri (10): Mizzou’s path to a New Year’s Six bowl bid was benefited by a 48-14 win against Arkansas on Friday that leaves the Tigers with a 10-2 regular season record. It’s the first 10-win season for the program since 2014 and a notable step up in performance for Eli Drinkwitz after back-to-back six-win seasons.
10. Penn State (11): It’s a second-straight 10-2 regular season for James Franklin after a finishing the year with a 42-0 win against Michigan State in Detroit. Franklin has now logged double-digit win campaigns in five of the last eight years but could find some trouble climbing much higher than this in the final rankings depending on the Nittany Lions’ bowl opponent.
11. Ole Miss (12): Lane Kiffin improved to 3-1 in the Egg Bowl as Ole Miss’ coach with a 17-7 win on Thursday night that gives the Rebels a chance to match or best their top-11 poll finish from 2021. 12. Oklahoma (13): A 69-45 win against TCU on Friday kept the Sooners in the mix for the Big 12 title game at the time, but ultimately, Oklahoma falls short due to Oklahoma State’s win against BYU. At 10-2, the Sooners have shown dramatic improvement from last year’s six-win regular season, but to beat Texas and yet still miss out on the Big 12 title game will bring some disappointment when Oklahoma fans look back on their final year in the conference.
13. Louisville (9): The team’s home loss to Kentucky in the regular-season finale marked the beginning of an extremely personal and bitter chapter in Jeff Brohm’s dream rookie season. A victory over Florida State in the ACC Championship Game next week may swiftly turn things around, but for now, there is more anger about the 38-31 loss than excitement about the chance to capture the program’s first-ever ACC championship.
14. LSU (14): Jayden Daniels’ four touchdowns helped the Tigers avoid a disappointing home defeat to Texas A&M, and he is still a strong candidate for the stiff-arm trophy. The Tigers needed Daniels’ second-half surge to save the loss.
15. Arizona (16): In a 59-23 victory over Arizona State, Noah Fifita had an incredible effort, throwing for 527 yards and five touchdowns. It seems sense that Fifita was the star of Arizona’s final regular-season game because the Wildcats’ recent six-game winning streak has helped them climb up the rankings.
16. Tulane (18): After defeating UTSA 29-16 on Friday to end the regular season with an 11-1 record, we’re forecasting Tulane to make a slight jump. Since a setback to Ole Miss at the beginning of September, the Green Wave have won ten straight games, and UTSA is probably among their hardest opponents during that run.
17. Notre Dame (17): The Irish finished the season with a 9-3 record thanks to a strong finish that included a big day for Audric Estime. In the 56-23 victory over rival Stanford, Estime ran for 238 yards and four touchdowns, which helped the team overcome a sluggish first half.
18. Oklahoma State (21): After falling behind 24-6 early in the game, the Cowboys rallied to defeat BYU 9-3 in double overtime to secure a trip to the Big 12 Championship Game.
19. Iowa (20): With a 10-2 record this season, Iowa has demonstrated almost every method there is to win a football game. The Hawkeyes’ 13-10 victory over Nebraska on Friday appeared to have a little bit of everything, but despite the high level of entertainment, the rankings value probably won’t move the team from its position in the bottom part of the top 25.
20. Oregon State (15): An 8-4 record and a head-to-head loss to Arizona are the two factors working against the Beavers, although this may be too aggressive given the hit Oregon State will suffer in the rankings after Friday’s loss at Oregon.
21. Liberty (22): Following a 42-28 victory over UTEP, Liberty completed a 12-0 regular season. Jamey Chadwell honored the Flames’ achievement in the El Paso community by having a Mariachi band perform in the locker room.
22. Toledo (23): After falling to Illinois by two points in the season opening, the Rockets have won 11 of their last 12 games. Next, Toledo will play Miami (Ohio) in the MAC Championship Game in an attempt to win 12 games for the first time.
23. James Madison (24): The Dukes defeated league rival Coastal Carolina 56-14 in Conway, showing that they intended to finish first in the standings even though they aren’t qualified for the Sun Belt Championship Game.
24. NC State (NR): After being selected as one of the top 25 teams by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee last week, the Wolfpack lived up to their reputation by defeating North Carolina 39-20 in their rivalry game to end the season with a 9-3 record.
25. Tennessee (25): Following a 48-24 victory over Vanderbilt, the Volunteers finish the regular season with an 8-4 record.
Leave a Reply