Ohio State moved past Indiana to No. 1 on my Associated Press ballot this week.<\/p>\n
The Buckeyes and Hoosiers both posted comfortable Big Ten victories, but I give Ohio State a slight edge. Texas A&M survived a South Carolina scare to remain at No. 3 on my ballot. Georgia and Ole Miss each moved up a spot into No. 4 and 5, respectively, after Alabama\u2019s loss to Oklahoma, which vaulted into my Top 10.<\/p>\n
New teams on my ballot this week: James Madison, Tulane, North Texas and San Diego State.<\/p>\n
My Top 25 ballot after Week 12:<\/p>\n
The defending national champion Buckeyes overwhelmed UCLA<\/a><\/strong> 48-10. The Bruins, who were playing without starting QB Nico Iamavaela, trailed 27-0 at the half and were limited to 222 yards of offense for the game. Bo Jackson<\/a><\/strong> led the Buckeyes with 112 yards rushing on 15 carries. Wide receiver Carnell Tate<\/a><\/strong> did not play, while Jeremiah Smith<\/a><\/strong>, who left early for precautionary reasons, had four catches for 40 yards.<\/p>\n Quarterback Fernando Mendoza<\/a><\/strong> tossed four touchdowns and threw for 299 yards in the Hoosiers\u2019 31-7 victory against Wisconsin<\/a><\/strong>. Wide receiver Charlie Becker<\/a><\/strong> had 108 yards receiving on only five receptions. Indiana\u2019s defense limited the Badgers to only 168 yards. It was the ninth game this season in which the Hoosiers held their opponent to 15 points or fewer.<\/p>\n The Aggies spotted South Carolina<\/a><\/strong> a 30-3 halftime lead, but roared back for a 31-30 victory. It was the largest comeback in school history. Quarterback Marcel Reed<\/a><\/strong> threw for 439 yards and three second-half touchdowns. Wide receivers KC Concepcion<\/a><\/strong> (seven receptions, 158 yards) and Ashton Bethel-Roman<\/a><\/strong> (four receptions, 139 yards, including a 76-yard touchdown) had monster games for the Aggies.<\/p>\n The Bulldogs pulled away from Texas with three fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 35-10 victory against Texas. It was the Bulldogs\u2019 third win in the past two years against UT. Quarterback Gunner Stockton<\/a><\/strong> threw for 229 yards and four touchdowns.<\/p>\n Behind running back Kewan Lacy<\/a><\/strong>, Ole Miss defeated Florida<\/a><\/strong> 34-24 in the Lane Kiffin<\/a><\/strong> Bowl, virtually clinching a College Football Playoff berth. Lacy rushed for 224 yards on 31 carries with three touchdowns. The win was the Rebels\u2019 11th consecutive at home, the nation\u2019s third-longest current home winning streak.<\/p>\n Quarterback Behren Morton<\/a><\/strong> played sparingly, but it didn\u2019t matter as the Red Raiders routed UCF 48-9. Morton threw for 149 yards and back-up Mitch Griffis<\/a><\/strong> threw for 145 yards. Linebacker Jacob Rodriguez<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0had a 2-yard touchdown run on offense and his fourth interception of the year on defense.<\/p>\n The Ducks defeated Minnesota<\/a><\/strong> 42-13 with quarterback Dante Moore<\/a><\/strong> throwing for 306 yards and two touchdowns. Tight end Kenyon Sadiq<\/a><\/strong> returned from injury and had a game-high 96 yards receiving on eight receptions.<\/p>\n Despite only mustering 212 yards on offense, the Sooners won at Alabama 23-21. Oklahoma benefited from three Crimson Tide turnovers, including Eli Bowen\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> 87-yard interception for a touchdown. Quarterback John Mateer<\/a><\/strong> threw for only 138 yards and added 23 yards on the ground.<\/p>\n The Crimson Tide outgained Oklahoma by nearly 200 yards (406 to 212), but lost to the Sooners 23-21. Alabama suffered three turnovers. Quarterback Ty Simpson<\/a><\/strong> threw for 326 yards and a touchdown, but also had an interception returned for an OU touchdown.<\/p>\n The Irish jumped to a 14-0 lead in the first eight minutes at Pitt<\/a><\/strong> and cruised past the Panthers 37-15. Jeremiyah Love<\/a><\/strong> topped the century mark for the fifth time this season, rushing for 147 yards on 23 carries. Quarterback CJ Carr<\/a><\/strong> threw for 212 yards with two touchdowns, both to Malachi Fields<\/a><\/strong>, and two interceptions. Fields finished with 99 yards receiving on seven receptions.<\/p>\n 11.\u00a0BYU<\/a> (9-1)<\/strong> 12.\u00a0Utah\u00a0<\/a>(8-2)<\/strong> 13.\u00a0Vanderbilt<\/a> (8-2)<\/strong> 14.\u00a0Miami<\/a>\u00a0(8-2)<\/strong> 15.<\/strong>\u00a0Georgia Tech<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(9-1)<\/strong> 16.\u00a0Michigan<\/a>\u00a0(8-2)<\/strong> 17. USC<\/a> (8-2)<\/strong> 18.\u00a0Missouri<\/a>\u00a0(7-3)<\/strong> 19.\u00a0Tennessee <\/a>(7-3)<\/strong> 20.\u00a0Virginia<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(9-2)<\/strong> 21.\u00a0Texas<\/a> (7-3)<\/strong> 22. James Madison<\/a> (9-1)<\/strong> 23. Tulane<\/a> (8-2)<\/strong> 24.\u00a0North Texas<\/a>\u00a0(9-1)<\/strong> 25. San Diego State<\/a> (7-2)<\/strong>
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Win 44-13 vs. TCU<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Win 55-28 at Baylor<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Did not play<\/p>\n
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Win 41-7 vs. NC State<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Win 36-34 at Boston College<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Win 24-22 vs. Northwestern<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Win 26-21 vs. Iowa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Win 49-27 vs. Mississippi State<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Result:\u00a0<\/strong>Win 42-9 vs. New Mexico State<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Win 34-17 at Duke<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Lost 35-10 at Georgia<\/p>\n
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Win 58-19 vs. Appalachian State<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Win 35-24 vs. Florida Atlantic<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Win 53-24 at UAB<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Result:<\/strong>\u00a0Win 17-7 vs. Boise State<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ohio State moved past Indiana to No. 1 on my Associated Press ballot this week. The Buckeyes and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":382599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-382598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}