Week 13 of the college football season came and went, and we didn’t see much movement around the top of the AP Top-25 rankings.
The Michigan Wolverines succeeded in their job this weekend, taking down the Maryland
Terrapins to set up a more meaningful rivalry game against Ohio State. A win could catapult Michigan into the College Football Playoff, while a loss would surely keep the Wolverines from sniffing the postseason. The Game always matters, but this one has a bit more juice to it.
Following Michigan’s win this weekend, it moved up three spots to No. 15 in the AP Poll.
As for the rest of college football, most of the top programs either didn’t play or easily won their games against overmatched opponents. However, that was not the case for everybody.
Starting in the Big Ten, where No. 5 Oregon defeated No. 19 USC, 42-27. With the Ducks’ win, they ultimately locked in a spot in the CFP and could see itself in the Big Ten Championship with a win and an Ohio State loss next weekend. Unfortunately for the Trojans, three losses most likely keeps them out of the CFP race and will take on UCLA to cap off a good season.
Former ACC-favorite Georgia Tech faltered on Saturday, losing at home to Pitt, 42-28.
At the top of poll, No. 8 Oklahoma secured a CFP spot with a win over former No. 23 Missouri, while No. 11 BYU fended off a tough Cincinnati team that attempted to play spoiler for three quarters. No. 14 Utah scored 16 unanswered points in the final seven minutes against Kansas State to stay in the Top-12 and keep its playoff hopes alive.
Keeping an eye at the bottom of the AP Poll, No. 20 James Madison, No. 21 North Texas and No. 22 Tulane all won their respective matchups, giving the CFP committee a ton to discuss for who deserves the Group of Six spot in the postseason.
Here is the final AP Poll before Rivalry Week:
- Ohio State
- Indiana
- Texas A&M
- Georgia
- Oregon
- Ole Miss
- Texas Tech
- Oklahoma
- Notre Dame
- Alabama
- BYU
- Vanderbilt
- Miami
- Utah
- Michigan
- Texas
- Virginia
- Tennessee
- USC
- James Madison
- North Texas
- Tulane
- Georgia Tech
- Pitt
- SMU
Other teams that received votes: Arizona State 77, Navy 44, Missouri 23, Arizona 20, San Diego State 19, Washington 16, Iowa 10, UNLV 7, South Florida 4, UConn 3, Wake Forest 2, Illinois 1.
