Week 12 AP College Football Poll: Who’s Rising, Who’s Falling?
Week 11 was a relatively calm week of college football – unless you’re a team in the ACC. Louisville and Virginia, who entered the week tied for the best records in the ACC with Georgia Tech, suffered upset losses on their home fields.
Louisville was on a three-game win streak that featured a road victory against Miami, who was No. 2 at the time. A defensive collapse contributed to its 29-26 loss to California, dropping them five spots to No. 18. In contrast, Virginia’s offense couldn’t find the end zone in its 13-9 loss to Wake Forest. The Cavaliers hadn’t lost since Week 2 against NC State, but now find themselves on the brink of College Football Playoff elimination. They experienced the biggest decline this week, falling eight spots to No. 20.
Georgia Tech enjoyed the bye week, rising two spots to No. 14 in the poll and creating separation in the ACC race. The Yellow Jackets are the only one-loss team in the conference, but they can’t get their playoff hopes up just yet. They will wrap up the season against No. 4 Georgia, and because Miami, Louisville, and Virginia all have two losses, a Georgia Tech loss could completely shake up the conference.
The top five remains unchanged for the second consecutive week. No. 2 Indiana was almost the victim of a major upset, but a game-winning drive capped off with a toe-tap touchdown catch from wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. saved its undefeated season. Ohio State, Texas A&M and Georgia won stress-free, while Alabama enjoyed its bye week heading into an SEC showdown against No. 11 Oklahoma.
Texas A&M continues to dominate any SEC competition lined up against them, as they went into Missouri and defeated the Tigers 38-17. The Aggies are the only undefeated team in their conference and have won four of their last five games by 10 or more points, including a 34-17 win over Florida. Quarterback Marcel Reed has put the college football world on notice, leading Texas A&M through one of its best seasons in program history. With only three games left – South Carolina, Samford, and No. 10 Texas – an undefeated season could be on the horizon.
As for Missouri, they are 2-3 in SEC play and have fallen out of the Top 25. All of the Tigers’ losses have come against ranked teams, and all of their wins are against unranked teams. A three-loss team with a résumé like Missouri’s won’t cut it for the playoffs, but they will make a bowl game with six wins.
Vanderbilt also remains in playoff contention, defeating Auburn in a 45-38 overtime shootout. Entering this matchup with two losses, dropping a game to 4-6 Auburn would’ve pushed Vanderbilt out of the playoff hunt. Luckily, quarterback Diego Pavia was clutch once again, totaling four touchdowns to keep the Commodores’ historic season alive. They rose two spots to No. 14 but don’t have full control of their own destiny. They’ll need to win out against Kentucky and Tennessee and hope that some upsets occur in the SEC.
Despite the Big 12 battle between BYU and Texas Tech having huge playoff implications, Texas Tech dominated BYU 29-7. Ranked No. 8 and No. 9 respectively before this matchup, BYU and Texas Tech were the clear-cut best teams in the Big 12. Texas Tech took the No. 8 ranking from BYU, and two wins against UCF and West Virginia will guarantee them a playoff berth.
With three weeks left in the regular season, here are the complete rankings:
- Ohio State
- Indiana
- Texas A&M
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Ole Miss
- Oregon
- Texas Tech
- Notre Dame
- Texas
- Oklahoma
- BYU
- Vanderbilt
- Georgia Tech
- Utah
- Miami
- USC
- Michigan
- Louisville
- Virginia
- Tennessee
- Cincinatti
- Pittsburgh
- James Madison
- South Florida
Category: ACC, Big 10, Big 12, College Football, Football, SEC
