College Football Top 25 Week 12 - All is Quiet at the Top
All was quiet atop the rankings this past week, as the top 11 teams all won on Saturday. There were no changes to the top 10, although, comparing Central Florida, Washington State, and West Virginia is getting increasingly difficult. It was quite the opposite at the back of the rankings, as once again, several teams floundered and opened the door for changes in this week's top 25. So before the CFP committee unveils their third set of rankings later today, checkout our updated top 25 for week 12. As always, there's plenty to discuss so let's dive right into it:
Top-ranked Alabama cruised past Mississippi State in Tuscaloosa, 24-0, posting their second consecutive shutout over a ranked opponent, as the previously #17 Bulldogs couldn't fare much better than LSU the previous week. Clemson was supposed to get a tough game up in Chestnut Hill against a quality Boston College squad, but controlled the game from the get-go, as their stingy defensive front made their presence felt throughout in a 27-7 victory over the Eagles. The #3 Fighting Irish took care of a listless Florida State squad, 42-13 to stay unbeaten. Michigan won their glorified scrimmage against Rutgers, 42-7, and in one of the marque games of the week, the #5 Georgia Bulldogs got revenge on Auburn for last year's defeat, taking care of the Tigers in Athens, 27-10 to round out the top 5.
Staying at #6 is Oklahoma, after barely escaping the Bedlam showdown with in-state rival Oklahoma State, 48-47. The Cowboys attempted to duplicate the heroics of West Virginia from the week before by going for two after a late touchdown instead of kicking a game-tying extra point. Ok State's pass to the endzone on the 2-pt try with just 1:03 to play was batted down and the Sooners hung-on for a dramatic victory. Oklahoma keeps winning, but at some point, the Sooners are going to have to make some improvements on defense. That's 47 points allowed this past week AT HOME, and 46 allowed the week before in a 5-point win over Texas Tech in the past two weeks. Through 7 league games, OU is now surrendering a whopping 34.6 points per game in Big XII play. I'm not sure how the Sooners are going to be expected to stop or even slowdown Alabama's or Clemson's offenses, respectively, if they can only "hold" a pair of 5-5 teams (Texas Tech & Oklahoma State) to 46.5 points per game. The Sooners keep winning, but they need to shore some things up defensively in the last couple of weeks if they are to make the playoff.
Behind Oklahoma, it starts to get real interesting as to what to do with the next four teams. Central Florida took care of Navy, 35-24 to remain unbeaten and stay in the #7 spot, although I thought really hard about dropping the Knights a couple of spots to #9 after Washington State and West Virginia were both more impressive this past Saturday. The #8 Cougars went to Colorado and got a 31-7 victory, and the #9 Mountaineers dismantled TCU at home, 47-10. After comparing the resumes of all three, however, I decided to leave UCF at 7, WSU at 8, and WVU at 9. The Mountaineers actually only have one win to date over a team with a winning record(@ Texas), and while Washington State has four wins over teams with winning records, they have the least impressive numbers when it comes to points scored, allowed, differential, etc. UCF actually has three victories now over teams with winning records, so the resumes are a bit jumbled together at the moment. That being said, I can't really make an argument for UCF dropping behind either or both of Washington State and/or West Virginia. For now, they all stay the same for another week.
At #10, Ohio State got a big road victory over Michigan State to give the Buckeyes' just their second win over a team with a winning record this season. However, their one loss of the season (20-49 at Purdue) was ugly to begin with, and it got even uglier this past weekend when Purdue went to a 4-5 Minnesota squad and got embarrassed, 41-10. Out of Oklahoma, UCF, Washington State, West Virginia, and Ohio State, the Buckeyes have easily the worst loss of the group, but still have a direct path to the final four if they can knock off Michigan to close out the season and then win the Big Ten Championship game. We will see, but for now, OSU stays rightfully at 10. LSU also stayed put at 11 this week, as they went to Arkansas and controlled the game through 3 quarters, leading 24-3. However, after the Hogs made it interesting in the final frame, the Tigers escaped with a 24-17 win that was less-than-impressive over a team that was just 2-7 heading into the contest. LSU is obviously still a very good football team, but the committee can probably stop with this non-sense of having the Tigers ranked all the way up at #7.
Last week, the committee comically put the 2-loss Kentucky Wildcats ahead of unbeaten Central Florida, and Kentucky promptly went out and played an absolute stinker of a game at Tennessee, looking awful and losing, 24-7. The Wildcats' struggles on offense have been well-documented, and it appears those struggles are really starting to put a cap on what was a remarkable start to the season. The bad loss dropped the Wildcats 8 spots in our rankings this week, down to 20.
#13 Fresno State also lost, dropping a tough game in the Mountain West, at Boise State, 24-17. The loss dropped the Bulldogs from the rankings and allowed Syracuse to move up 3 spots and into the #12 spot in this week's top 25 after pounding Louisville 54-23 this past week. Texas snuck past Texas Tech in Lubbock, getting a late touchdown to win it after blowing a 17-point 4th quarter lead, to jump up a couple of spots as well and Utah State also moved up a spot, as they settled in at #13 after drubbing poor San Jose State, 62-24.
The Iowa State Cyclones moved up 5 spots following their victory over Baylor to round out the top 15, and are followed by fellow 3-loss teams Washington, who was idle this past week, Florida at 17, who squeaked one out at home over South Carolina, and Penn State at 18, who defeated Wisconsin 22-10, and jumped back into the rankings after a 1-week hiatus. The Cyclones own the most impressive win out of that group (30-14 over West Virginia) so they get the nod at 15. The Cincinnati Bearcats jumped back into the rankings as well, settling at #19 after getting a quality win over South Florida, to improve to an impressive 9-1 on the season. They have a showdown looming with UCF this week that will determine the winner of the American Athletic East Division. The previously mentioned Kentucky Wildcats check-in at 20 this week, and behind them are Boise State, back in the rankings for the first time since the beginning of the season, fresh off their big home win over previously #13 Fresno State. Rounding out the top 25 are UAB, up three spots to 22 after getting an overtime victory over Southern Miss to improve to 9-1, Utah back into the top 25 at #23, Boston College, who dropped five spots after their loss to Clemson, but remain in the rankings this week at 24, and a big congratulations to Army, who jumps into the top 25 for the first time in a long, long time, (the last time Army was ranked in one of the polls was 1996!) as the Black Knights are now 8-2 and round out the rankings this week at #25.
TOP 25
1 ALABAMA (10-0)
2 CLEMSON (10-0)
3 NOTRE DAME (10-0)
4 MICHIGAN (9-1)
5 GEORGIA (9-1)
6 OKLAHOMA (9-1)
7 UCF (9-0)
8 WASHINGTON ST. (9-1)
9 WEST VIRGINIA (8-1)
10 OHIO ST. (9-1)
11 LSU (8-2)
12 SYRACUSE (8-2)
13 UTAH ST. (9-1)
14 TEXAS (7-3)
15 IOWA ST. (6-3)
16 WASHINGTON (7-3)
17 FLORIDA (7-3)
18 PENN ST. (7-3)*
19 CINCINNATI (9-1)*
20 KENTUCKY (7-3)
21 BOISE ST. (8-2)*
22 UAB (9-1)
23 UTAH (7-3)*
24 BOSTON COLLEGE (7-3)
25 ARMY (8-2)*
Dropped out: 13 Fresno St., 17 Mississippi St., 21 N.C. St., 23 Auburn, 24 Michigan St.
* - New to the rankings this week
Duke (7-3), Northwestern (6-4) - who got a huge win over Iowa this past week to take control of the Big Ten West Division, N.C. St. (6-3), Mississippi St. (6-4), and Virginia (7-3) are the next group of teams just outside of the rankings. All could make a claim to jump in at #25, but Army has not lost since their 28-21 overtime defeat to Oklahoma in Norman back on September 22nd and deserve their spot in the top 25.
Looking ahead to this week, #1 Alabama has a joke of a game against The Citadel, while most of the country will be in the midst of conference clashes, the Tide basically have a bye this week, #12 Syracuse will play #3 Notre Dame from Yankee Stadium in New York, in what is shaping up to be a dandy of a ballgame. USC is the middle of a down year, so this game most likely represents the biggest remaining test for the Irish if they are to make the playoff. Meanwhile, Syracuse all-of-a-sudden has a huge opportunity to impress and improve their resume and make a leap into the top 10 if they can pull off the upset. #9 West Virginia has a tricky game at Oklahoma State, #2 Clemson will host 7-3 Duke, in an ACC clash; #7 Central Florida finally has a massive opportunity to improve their resume with a game against #19 Cincinnati in Orlando, and #15 Iowa State visits #14 Texas in the game of the week in the Big 12 conference, where the winner will still be alive for a birth in the conference title game, while the loser will be eliminated. Be sure to check back next week as always for our updated top 25, as we inch ever closer to finding out who makes the playoff and who doesn't! Enjoy the games!
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