Alabama dropped to No. 10 in the AP Top 25 on Sunday and No. 22 North Texas moved into the rankings for the second time in school history and first since 1959.
Ohio State is No. 1 for the 12th straight week, receiving 57 first-place votes, and Indiana is No. 2 with eight first-place votes. The Buckeyes (10-0) and Hoosiers (11-0) from the Big Ten have held the top two spots in the poll for five straight weeks.
North Texas (9-1) is one of four American Conference schools to be ranked at some point this season, and for the Mean Green, it’s historic. The last time North Texas was ranked, it was known as the Eagles. That season, under coach Odus Mitchell, UNT was ranked for two weeks in early November, with a high of No. 16.
Texas A&M (10-0) remained No. 3 and received a first-place vote after the Aggies rallied from 27 points down in the second half to beat South Carolina on Saturday. Georgia (9-1) moved up a spot to No. 4 after routing Texas, and Ole Miss (10-1) moved up one to No. 5. Texas Tech (10-1) moved up two spots and is now tied with Oregon (9-1) at No. 6.
Oklahoma’s road upset of Alabama moved the eighth-ranked Sooners up three spots, past Notre Dame at No. 9. The Tide (8-2) slipped six spots after losing 23-21 to the Sooners.
No. 17 Texas continued its wild swings through the rankings this season after losing 35-10 at Georgia. The Longhorns went from preseason No. 1 to unranked and then popped back up all the way to No. 10 last week before falling seven spots this week.
AP Top 25 after Week 12
1
1
10-0
1
2
2
11-0
2
3
3
10-0
3
4
4
9-1
5
5
7
10-1
6
6
5
10-1
8
6
6
9-1
7
8
8
8-2
11
9
11
8-2
9
10
9
8-2
4
11
13
9-1
12
12
15
8-2
13
13
14
8-2
15
14
10
8-2
16
15
17
9-1
14
16
12
8-2
17
17
19
7-3
10
18
16
8-2
18
19
18
9-2
20
20
21
7-3
21
21
25
9-1
24
22
24
9-1
NR
23
NR
7-3
NR
24
23
8-2
NR
25
NR
8-2
NR
NR
20
7-3
NR
NR
22
7-3
NR
Others receiving votes: Navy 61, Illinois 31, SMU 28, Arizona State 19, Louisville 17, Iowa 14, Pittsburgh 12, San Diego State 12, Arizona 9, UNLV 9, Washington 8, South Florida 6, East Carolina 4, UConn 1
Also considered by Ralph: Iowa, Washington, Arizona State, Nebraska, Cincinnati, Navy
How I voted
I did it, everyone. I finally did it. I moved Indiana ahead of Texas A&M. I was one of the few holdouts who had the Aggies second and Hoosiers third behind Ohio State in the rankings.
It’s been a pretty close call for a while, especially the past couple of weeks. But the more the season plays out, the more apparent it becomes that IU’s top-end resume is better than A&M’s.
The Aggies needing the biggest comeback in school history to dig out of a hole at home against South Carolina was the tipping point. At least Indiana’s miraculous fourth-quarter comeback against a talented underachiever was at Penn State. As bad as the Nittany Lions’ season has gone, I’m confident they’re better than the Gamecocks.
As my colleague Stewart Mandel pointed out this weekend, Texas A&M has not played a team currently better than seventh in the SEC standings. I even gave some thought to moving Georgia ahead of A&M.
I wouldn’t argue much with any of my fellow voters who stuck with Aggies over Hoosiers, but I’m a convert now.
And because it seems to set readers off every week, let’s do some further explaining of my running Miami-Notre Dame issue.
I remain steadfast in having Miami ranked ahead of Notre Dame because the Hurricanes beat the Fighting Irish. I was especially open-minded to changing it this week, with the Irish playing at Pitt and the Canes hosting NC State.
Notre Dame was impressive in smothering the Panthers, who were outclassed from the jump. But then Miami played maybe its best game of the season against the Wolfpack. I don’t want to make too much of NC State, but that’s a legitimately good offense Miami locked down.
To give a little deeper insight into that decision, I, similar to the selection committee, am not beholden to head-to-head results, but if I deem the teams close, then head-to-head it is. The selection committee takes the same approach but doesn’t view Miami and Notre Dame as comparable enough. I do.
There are two power rankings among those I like that publish early enough Sunday morning for me to consult them before I submit my ballot: ESPN’s SP+ and FPI. Both produce a power ranking (forward looking) and a strength of record/resume ranking (aka most deserving).
In SP+, Notre Dame is fifth and Miami is 10th, but the raw numbers have the two teams about 2.5 points apart, with the Irish favored. Miami won by three at home. Resume SP+ has Notre Dame eighth and Miami 11th.
FPI has Notre Dame fifth and Miami 11th with about a 3.5-point differential. FPI strength of record has Notre Dame 12th and Miami 16th.
There are others I check in on throughout the week when they do publish, like FEI (last week Notre Dame 6th, Miami 10th, separated by about three points).
This seems to be the very definition of close and good enough for me to not rely so much on hypotheticals and continue to lean into what happened when the teams played.
In and out
Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and South Florida — all ranked 19th or lower last week — lost and fell out of the rankings.
For Pitt, it turned out to be a one-week stay.
Moving in to replace those teams along with North Texas were the Mean Green’s conference rival Tulane, which is also ranked for the first time this season, and Missouri and Houston, both of which previously spent some time in the rankings.
Next week
No. 16 USC at No. 6 Oregon. The old Pac-12 (and 10 and 8) rivals have played 11 times with both ranked, all since 1988. This will be the first since 2015.
No. 23 Missouri at No. 8 Oklahoma. This is an old Big 8 matchup that has moved to the SEC. It’ll be their first game matching ranked opponents since 2010, and their 16th ranked matchup overall.