We knew that the AP Top 25 college football rankings could see some major movement based on how a loaded Week 11 played out. But even then, I don't think we realized just how chaotic things could get. After we saw Alabama and Ole Miss lay the hammer down on LSU and Georgia, respectively, though, things are about to get hectic for these rankings and the College Football Playoff picture.
What a weekend of college football week 11 turned out to be. Can we do a quick head count to make sure everyone is okay? Let's start with the remaining undefeated teams. Oregon? Indiana? BYU? Army? Is everyone alive and accounted for? Oregon and Indiana look fine, but... BYU and Army? How can I say this delicately... you nearly gave us a heart attack with a 1-point win over Utah and a close shave with North Texas.
But not all is right in the minds of the playoff selection committee, and projecting BYU and Indiana to make a leap is far from a certainty when last week's precedent clearly made the statement that the rankings will benefit who feels like the best teams, rather than the teams who have "earned" a top-5 position.
I think the committee is setting it up to diss BYU and Indiana. They argued when considering the final four teams and now argue about how to place 12 teams. This remains interesting.
1. Oregon Ducks (10-0)
At Wisconsin
If you just look at the final score of Saturday night’s matchup and the 39-18 victory for the top-ranked Ducks, you probably will just think that, even if they didn’t cover the 24-point spread, Oregon did their job. However, this matchup was far closer in Eugene than you might realize and had some chances to go sideways at various times. Make no mistake, Dan Lanning’s team indeed did get the job done, but this might not have been their best effort overall. However, Dillon Gabriel tossed three touchdowns in the winning effort, giving him an FBS-record 180 touchdowns responsible for in his career.
2. Ohio State Buckeyes (8-1)
At Northwestern
Ohio State notched its first two-shutout season of the Ryan Day era with its blowout win over Purdue on Saturday. Will Howard completed 21 of 26 pass attempts for 260 passing yards and three touchdowns and rushed for another. Let’s be honest, we’re not exactly going to learn much more about Ohio State when they’re matched up against a seemingly lifeless Purdue team that could be on the verge of parting ways with head coach Ryan Walters. Having said that, it was further confirmed that Ryan Day’s Buckeyes are one of the best team’s in the country as they wholly embarrassed the Boilermakers in a 45-0 rout set in Columbus.
3. Texas Longhorns (8-1)
At Arkansas
Throughout the week, there were several college football analysts who looked at the remaining four games for the Texas Longhorns, then looked at the production of Quinn Ewers since his return from an oblique injury and wondered if Steve Sarkisian would make a switch to Arch Manning at some point. Ewers made that type of talk look completely silly on Saturday as Texas laid the hammer down on Florida in Austin, 49-17, in a game that wasn’t even that close. The Longhorns defense forced three turnovers with a fumble recovery and two interceptions. Texas has forced a turnover in all nine games this season and 17-straight games overall.
4. Tennessee Volunteers (8-1)
At Georgia
Tennessee dominated Mississippi State in its final SEC home game to finish conference play 6-0 in Neyland Stadium. The good news: Tennessee avoided a potential letdown spot on Saturday nightwith an inferior Mississippi State team coming to Knoxville. The bad news: Josh Heupel’s team picked up that win in Week 11 with Gaston Moore playing the second half after Nico Iamleava was removed from the game after halftime with an injury that looms large for this team. That puts a sour note on the runaway victory for the Vols.
5. Penn State Nittany Lions (8-1)
At Purdue
Do I truly believe that the Penn State Nittany Lions are the fifth-best team in college football? Not even a little bit. But, based on where they were ranked in the AP Top 25 and the CFP rankings after a loss to Ohio State in which they failed to score an offensive touchdown, they’re going to get back into the Top 5. They can thank Georgia Tech and Ole Miss for upset victories that made that happen but, to the Nittany Lions’ credit, they did rebound well against Washington. Penn State opened the night with touchdowns on each of its first four drives to take a 28-0 lead over Washington into halftime. The Nittany Lions defense held Washington to 74 rushing yards on 33 carries (2.2 avg.) and produced five sacks from five different defenders.
6. Indiana Hoosiers (10-0)
Bye week
Indiana's storybook season continued with a win over Michigan, just the Hoosiers' second defeat of the Wolverines since 1988. Indiana is 10-0 for the first time in school history and looks poised for its first College Football Playoff berth. For the first nine games of Indiana’s undefeated start to the 2024 season, the Hoosiers were the epitome of frontrunners. Outside of falling behind 10-0 to Michigan State — which Indiana responded to with 47 unanswered points of their own — the Hoosiers hadn’t truly been in a dogfight. But they got themselves in one against Michigan on Saturday. And it’s again a credit to Curt Cignetti and his team that they persevered and got the gritty 20-15 win in Bloomington.
7. BYU Cougars (9-0)
Hosting Kansas
I said coming into Holy War that there weren't really football reasons that came to mind as to why BYU could lose to rival Utah given where the two rival programs had been trending. And yet, it felt impossible to not put the Cougars on upset alert because of the nature of this rivalry. That proved true in an absolute thriller at Rice-Eccles as BYU staved off what seemed like a surefire loss somehow to win. The Cougars outscored Utah 12-0 in the second half and outgained the Utes, 188-79, picking up the win late with a third game-winning drive on its final possession this season.
8. Miami Hurricanes (9-1)
Bye week
So many times this season, we’ve seen Mario Cristobal’s Miami Hurricanes stick their hand over the flame but ultimately not get burned. Whether that was against Cal, against Louisville, or against Virginia Tech, The U could’ve been considered lucky to still be undefeated entering Week 11. But that type of roulette is always going to catch up to a team and, on Saturday in Atlanta against Georgia Tech, that’s exactly what happened. The Hurricanes still have an inside track for an ACC championship and College Football Playoff berth but have serious questions to answer on defense after allowing a season-high 271 rushing yards against the Yellow Jackets.
9. Notre Dame (8-1)
Hosting Virginia
Not that there was ever any question given what Florida State has devolved into this season but Notre Dame continued their tour of domination on Saturday night as they put a thumping on the Seminoles, clearly looking for some more style points to try and sway some voters. Notre Dame racked up a season-high eight sacks in a dominant win over Florida State for its seventh-straight victory. The Fighting Irish' 52 points are the most against Florida State this season. They got them in the blowout victory, holding FSU under 200 yards of total offense while Riley Leonard threw for 215 yards with a touchdown and rushed for 70 more with two rushing scores.
10. Alabama Crimson Tide (7-2)
Hosting Mercer
Alabama faced what many considered a College Football Playoff elimination game at LSU on Saturday and responded with its best performance of the season. The win, paired with the Georgia loss, revived the Crimson Tide's College Football Playoff hopes. Jalen Milroe is the boogeyman that haunts the dreams of Brian Kelly. While Alabama was the favorite on the road in Death Valley for this game on Saturday night, the Crimson Tide completely dominated start to finish. The star quarterback was front and center for that, rushing for four touchdowns and nearly 200 yards in the blowout win. He might not even have been the most impressive part of the win.
11. Ole Miss Rebels (8-2)
Bye week
LSU losing on Saturday nightagainst Alabama is actually the best thing that could happen in-tandem with Ole Miss taking down Georgia. Lane Kiffin made a statement with a win over Georgia, handing Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs their largest margin of defeat since the 2019 SEC Championship Game. It would’ve been hard to justify moving the Rebels over a Tigers team that beat them with the same record. But now, Lane Kiffin’s team can ride the high of a dominant win over the Dawgs into the Top 12 and start to legitimately think about a relatively comfy road to a 10-2 record and, perhaps, a CFP spot.
12. Georgia Bulldogs (7-2)
Hosting Tennessee
Full disclosure, I have no earthly idea what to make of Georgia, even after 11 weeks of the regular season. Georgia suffered its second loss of SEC play and eliminated any margin for error in its hunt for the College Football Playoff with a disappointing loss at Ole Miss on Saturday. At their best, they put a hurting on both Clemson and Texas, which should be indicative of the ceiling that the Bulldogs have this season. The flip side of that, though, is that they were embarrassed in the first half against Alabama and for the full game on Saturday against Ole Miss. Those two signature wins for Kirby Smart’s team will keep the Dawgs ranked inside of the Top 12, especially with neither loss being all that bad. The Tennessee matchup next week, however, looms large, especially with the offense struggling.