by Sean Szymczak
Week 12 was another entertaining one in college football. Some of the highlights:
Michigan downed Penn State, whose offense took the day off. Washington squeaked by Utah in a thriller at home. Georgia & Alabama both made emphatic statements in dominant victories. Florida State once again struggled with a team they were supposed to beat soundly.
I see four main tiers in this week’s top 25: the top 3 (Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State), teams 4-8 (Washington, FSU, Oregon, Texas, Alabama), teams 10-15 (Missouri, Penn State, Ole Miss, Oregon State, LSU, Oklahoma), and then everyone else. The bottom of this week’s rankings is a jumbled mess that could realistically be ordered any number of ways.
But I’ll die on this hill: Tennessee, UNC, and Oklahoma State don’t deserve to ranked over teams like Liberty, Toledo, Kansas, or Iowa. If you don’t have a single quality win and aren’t playing your best football of the year right now, why should you get the benefit of the doubt over teams that are either doing nothing but winning, or at least have a genuine quality win under their belt?
Anywho, let’s dive into the week 12 rankings.
The Floor Slap’s Week 12 Top 25
- Georgia (10-0)
- I’ve been saying how overrated Ole Miss is all season long. Even so, Georgia just spanked them. The Rebels picked up 185 yards and scored two TDs on their first three drives of the game. From then on, they were outscored 38-3 and gained only 136 total yards (117 of which game on their final two drives of the game when the game was well out of reach).
- Michigan (10-0)
- I don’t quite get it. Statistically speaking, Ohio State beat Penn State worse than Michigan did. Yet the narrative following Ohio State’s game was that Penn State sucks, while today’s narrative is how dominant Michigan is. Doesn’t make sense to me. Even so, the margin between Michigan & Ohio State is razor thin. I’m keeping the Wolverines on top because of how dominant they had been before this weekend, but it really doesn’t matter. They’ll figure this out on the field.
- Ohio State (10-0)
- Fully healthy for the first time since September with Emeka Egbuka, Cade Stover, and Treveyon Henderson all playing, the Buckeye offense finally clicked. It seems like they are peaking at the right time. November 25th can’t come soon enough.
- Washington (10-0)
- Utah is a good team. This wasn’t an ugly win. It was a quality win.
- Florida State (10-0)
- Whether it be Miami, Pittsburgh, Duke, Clemson, or BC, Florida State has played around with bad teams into the 4th quarter all season long. Even so, there is not reason why an undefeated FSU team wouldn’t get into the CFP. Just keep winning.
- Oregon (9-1)
- They are playing as well as anyone in college football right now. But I have to respect the teams that are undefeated. It’s hard to imagine many scenarios where Oregon doesn’t make the playoff if they win out and beat Washington in a rematch in the Pac-12 title.
- Texas (9-1)
- The Longhorns have squeaked by Houston, Kansas State, and TCU in three of the past four games. They finally got Quinn Ewers back this weekend, so there were no more excuses. That road trip to Iowa State under the lights next week has upset written all over it.
- Alabama (9-1)
- If Alabama were to play Texas this week, I’d favor the Tide by at least a TD. They are the most improved team in college football thanks in large part to the maturation of Jalen Millroe. But I still have to respect that Longhorn win back in September. If we don’t respect that game, what’s the point in playing them? Texas should remain ahead of Alabama as long as they have the same record.
- Louisville (9-1)
- Their win over Virginia wasn’t pretty, but it’s a win. Welcome to the top 10, Louisville!
- Missouri (8-2)
- They have a quality win over Kansas State, gave Georgia everything they could handle last week, and spanked Tennessee yesterday. That’s a top-10 resume in my book.
- Penn State (8-2)
- Their defense is as good if not better than any defense in college football. That side of the ball single-handedly kept Penn State in the game into the 4th quarter against Ohio State & Michigan. But this offense, man… let’s just say Mike Yurcich won’t be showing his face in Happy Valley any time soon.
- Oregon State (8-2)
- Everyone, including myself, is assuming Washington and Oregon are on a collision course to rematch in the Pac-12 title for a chance to go to the CFP. But the Beavers can throw a wrench in that, as they play both of those teams over these next two weeks.
- Ole Miss (8-2)
- Still don’t think they are any good. But they beat LSU head to head and there aren’t any teams with great resumes behind them. So Ole Miss lands here by default.
- LSU (7-3)
- I keep LSU this high solely because of Jayden Daniels. It’s a cluster of mediocre teams outside this week’s top 12. So I’ll favor the team with the best player.
- Oklahoma (8-2)
- The Sooners had a nice response to back-to-back losses, beating WVU 59-20. But they still need to hope Oklahoma State drops another game in order to get into the Big 12 title (presumably against Texas).
- Arizona (7-3)
- Arizona is one of the hottest teams in America. They have won four straight games, three of which were over teams that were ranked at the time they played.
- Utah (7-3)
- Iowa (8-2)
- James Madison (10-0)
- Tulane (9-1)
- Liberty (10-0)
- The fact that the AP Poll continues to rank teams like Tennessee, Oklahoma State, and North Carolina while leaving out one of 7 ranked teams in the country is asinine. OK State I can understand to some degree because they have wins over Kansas & Oklahoma. But they are coming off a 45-3 beatdown at the hands of 5-5 UCF. But Tennessee’s and UNC’s best wins are tight games over a couple 6-4 squads. What has been impressive about either of those teams to warrant being ranked?
- Notre Dame (7-3)
- Toledo (9-1)
- Kansas State (7-3)
- Kansas (7-3)
- Again, Tennessee & UNC don’t have any quality wins. Kansas beat Oklahoma. That keeps them ranked.
Just Missed Out: North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Tennessee
New to Rankings: Iowa (18), Kansas State (24), Toledo (23)
Dropped from Rankings: Oklahoma State (14), Tennessee (17), Fresno State (23)
Ranked Teams by Conference
Pac-12: 5
SEC: 5
Big Ten: 4
Big 12: 4
ACC: 2
Other: 5 (James Madison, Tulane, Liberty, Notre Dame, Toledo)