No. 2 Ohio State and No. 5 Indiana held their spots in the AP Top 25 college football poll Sunday, setting up the third top-five matchup in the Big Ten this season for the Buckeyes.
Oregon remained No. 1 for a fifth consecutive week and is the unanimous choice for the third time. The Buckeyes are followed by No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Penn State and Indiana in an unchanged top five.
Tennessee’s loss to Georgia and BYU being upset by Kansas shook up the rest of the top 10. The Bulldogs jumped three spots to No. 8 after having their streak of 60 top-10 appearances in a row snapped last week. The Volunteers dropped four spots to No. 10 and the Cougars fell seven places to No. 14 after their unbeaten season was ended at home by the Jayhawks.
The rest of the top 10 includes No. 6 Notre Dame, No. 7 Alabama and No. 9 Ole Miss.
The Big Ten and SEC hold nine of the top 10 spots, with Notre Dame the only team from outside those conferences. Miami from the ACC at No. 11 is otherwise the highest ranked team from a conference other than the Big Ten and SEC, followed by No. 12 Boise State from the Mountain West. BYU is the top-ranked Big 12 team at No. 14.
AP Top 25 after Week 12
|
Rank
|
Team
|
Record
|
Prev.
|
Matt’s vote
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
11-0 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
2 |
9-1 |
2 |
2 |
|
|
3 |
9-1 |
3 |
4 |
|
|
4 |
9-1 |
4 |
5 |
|
|
5 |
10-0 |
5 |
3 |
|
|
6 |
9-1 |
8 |
10 |
|
|
7 |
8-2 |
9 |
6 |
|
|
8 |
8-2 |
11 |
8 |
|
|
9 |
8-2 |
10 |
7 |
|
|
10 |
8-2 |
6 |
9 |
|
|
11 |
9-1 |
12 |
11 |
|
|
12 |
9-1 |
13 |
14 |
|
|
13 |
9-1 |
14 |
13 |
|
|
14 |
9-1 |
7 |
12 |
|
|
15 |
8-2 |
15 |
15 |
|
|
16 |
8-2 |
18 |
18 |
|
|
17 |
8-2 |
17 |
17 |
|
|
18 |
9-0 |
16 |
16 |
|
|
19 |
7-3 |
23 |
19 |
|
|
20 |
9-2 |
25 |
21 |
|
|
21 |
8-2 |
NR |
20 |
|
|
22 |
8-2 |
NR |
22 |
|
|
23 |
8-2 |
NR |
NR |
|
|
24 |
7-3 |
NR |
25 |
|
|
25 |
8-2 |
19 |
NR |
|
|
NR |
7-3 |
20 |
23 |
|
|
NR |
7-3 |
24 |
24 |
Others receiving votes: Missouri 56, Memphis 38, Kansas State 36, Syracuse 21, Louisville 15, Pittsburgh 6, LSU 6, Louisiana 5, Vanderbilt 4, Colorado State 2, Duke 2, James Madison 2, Georgia Tech 1
The Buckeyes cruised past Northwestern on Saturday and the Hoosiers were off, leading into Indiana’s biggest regular-season game ever. The only other top-five matchup in Indiana history was in the 1968 Rose Bowl, when the fourth-ranked Hoosiers lost to No. 1 USC.
Meanwhile, the Buckeyes will be playing their third top-five matchup this season after losing at Oregon and winning at Penn State on the road. This will be Ohio State’s 46th top-five matchup all-time — including bowls and conference title games — four fewer than Oklahoma for the most. Ohio State is 23-21-1 in such games.
The Buckeyes will also become the first team since LSU in 2011 to play three top-five matchups in a regular season. It will be the eighth time in AP poll history, dating to 1936, that a team has played in three top-five matchups in the regular season. The fifth AP top-five matchup of the regular season ties 1996 and 1943 for the most.
Indiana comes into the game 1-70 against AP top-five teams, beating only Purdue in 1967. Ohio State is 36-46-6.
How I voted
• There are a lot of bunched-up teams on the ballot this week, making me wish we could include ties. I’ve been a bit lower on Notre Dame than most for much of the season — the Irish have been dominant lately, but the NIU loss still holds them back in my eyes — and thus my top nine spots are all taken up by the Big Ten and SEC after BYU’s loss to Kansas, with the Irish 10th.
From the Big Ten, I have Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana in the top three, with Penn State fifth. In the SEC, I have Texas fourth, with Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia and Tennessee almost inseparable from No. 6 to No. 9. And I can’t say I feel good about anything beyond Oregon and Ohio State being No. 1 and No. 2.
Texas has a great defense but a flimsy resume, and the next four SEC teams, all with two losses, are nearly impossible to order because of a combination of head-to-head results (Tennessee beat Alabama, which beat Georgia, which beat Tennessee) and bad losses (Ole Miss to Kentucky, Alabama to Vanderbilt, Tennessee to Arkansas). And then there’s Texas A&M, down at 15th at 8-2, lacking a marquee win but controlling its own destiny in the SEC race if it can beat Auburn and Texas. I disagree with the poll having Georgia ahead of Ole Miss after last week’s Rebels thumping of the Bulldogs, but there’s also no perfect answer.
I’d say this will all sort itself and a logical order will present itself, but this time, with a 16-team SEC … maybe not?
• Some weeks, I wish I could rank 35 teams. Other weeks, it’s more like 20. This ballot felt much more like the latter after Kansas State, Missouri, Washington State, LSU, Louisville and Pitt all lost. I ended up keeping Kansas State and Missouri on my ballot and moving in Tulane, Iowa State and Illinois. I seriously considered Syracuse and UNLV and didn’t really consider any of the four-loss teams.
• One bottom of the rankings move I don’t regret: I had Arizona State on my ballot at No. 25 last week, and the Sun Devils more than justified that ranking by winning at Kansas State to earn their first poll appearance since October 2021. — Matt Brown, college sports managing editor and AP poll voter
Required reading
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
