Florida moved up two spots to No. 8 in the latest Associated Press college football rankings Sunday.
No. 2 Ohio State gained some ground on No. 1 LSU in The Associated Press college football poll and Oregon dropped out of the top 10 after being upset by Arizona State.
The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press college football poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 23, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:
| Record | Pts | Pv | |
| 1. LSU (50) | 11-0 | 1537 | 1 |
| 2. Ohio St. (9) | 11-0 | 1486 | 2 |
| 3. Clemson (3) | 11-0 | 1440 | 3 |
| 4. Georgia | 10-1 | 1347 | 4 |
| 5. Alabama | 10-1 | 1283 | 5 |
| 6. Utah | 10-1 | 1231 | 7 |
| 7. Oklahoma | 10-1 | 1189 | 8 |
| 8. Florida | 9-2 | 1058 | 10 |
| 9. Minnesota | 10-1 | 996 | 11 |
| 10. Michigan | 9-2 | 913 | 12 |
| 11. Baylor | 10-1 | 910 | 13 |
| 12. Penn St. | 9-2 | 903 | 9 |
| 13. Wisconsin | 9-2 | 791 | 14 |
| 14. Oregon | 9-2 | 784 | 6 |
| 15. Notre Dame | 9-2 | 701 | 15 |
| 16. Auburn | 8-3 | 635 | 16 |
| 17. Memphis | 10-1 | 535 | 18 |
| 18. Cincinnati | 10-1 | 518 | 17 |
| 19. Iowa | 8-3 | 510 | 19 |
| 20. Boise St. | 10-1 | 410 | 20 |
| 21. Oklahoma St. | 8-3 | 266 | 22 |
| 22. Appalachian St. | 10-1 | 206 | 23 |
| 23. Virginia Tech | 8-3 | 147 | 25 |
| 24. Navy | 8-2 | 99 | NR |
| 25. Southern Cal | 8-4 | 79 | NR |
Others receiving votes: Iowa St. 74, Virginia 38, Texas A&M 27, Air Force 22, SMU 9, Arizona St. 4, North Dakota St. 1, Louisiana-Lafayette 1.
With Oregon losing, it’s shaping up to be LSU, OSU, Clemson, and Alabama in the CFP…that is if the top teams hold serve. OU and Utah could possibly jump Alabama but I don’t think it will happen, even with a Tua-thless Alabama. Furthermore, it could be another Alabama-Clemson in the Championship again (yawn) as predicted in the preseason. Don’t chuckle; it could happen.
As for the AP rankings, I was surprised to see Oregon fall 8 spots to 14 after a close loss in an away game. That’s quite a precipitous drop from being in the conversation for a CFP berth before the game.
Maybe it’s time to do away with the SEC Championship. It has been the most important game of the year to me for a long time, but the $^&#*@ PLAYOFFS!! YAY have rendered it largely irrelevant, and increasingly a liability. If a team wins the SEC, they should be automatically playoff-bound, but they’re not. If a team loses, they can get jumped by a team that didn’t even win their own division. Nebraska did it in 2001, Oklahoma did it in ’03 and 04, Bama in ’11 and ’17. How are THE PLAYOFFS !! any better than the old BCS? Either way it’s a subjective decision, only now it has deemphasized the one game that raised the SEC above all the other conferences. So sad to see our conference fall in line with the herd, as though getting two SEC teams is somehow important.
I hope Auburn beats Bama, just for that reason. If UGA wins in ATL, watch these committee jerks shoehorn LSU in anyway, once again making the real championship game irrelevant.
Grin, the only reason the CFP is better than the BCS is that four teams are involved. I actually think the BCS poll was superior to the CFP Committee. The BCS blended the objectivity of the computer polls with the subjectivity of the human polls. The formula used for calculating the rankings was public knowledge, so you could know exactly why the teams were ranked in their particular order. Now, with the committee, you have to watch a two-hour (?) show and then listen to the committee chairman ramble on in an attempt to explain and justify their completely subjective rankings.
If LSU loses to UGA in the SEC CG, then two 1-loss teams will make the playoff. If LSU loses close, why wouldn’t they still be worthy of one of the spots that will be take by 1-loss teams? What other team can claim anything close to LSU’s wins over UF, Auburn, and Bama? Would OU, with a loss to K-State, or Oregon, with a loss to ASU, both having the same record as LSU, have a better claim to the number 4 spot than the Tigers just because they won the Big 12 and PAC 12, respectively?
The problem with the playoff is that it’s not a playoff. It’s an invitational tournament, with the invitees being selected by the committee, whose stated objective is to select the four “best” teams. A true playoff isn’t for the purpose of determining the “best” team; it’s for the purpose of crowning a champion. “Best” teams are voted on; champions win their crown on the field.
I’m guessing that’s your point: that by losing the SEC CG, LSU should be eliminated, because the playoff should only select teams that have won their conference. I actually agree with that. Unfortunately, until all FBS teams are put into conferences that are considered equal, the champions of those conferences all win a playoff berth, there will be no true playoff in college football.
My apologies, meant to say Utah instead of Oregon. Oregon would have two losses compared to LSU’s one. Utah would have only one loss, but their loss is to USC, whereas LSU’s loss would be to #4 UGA.
“Invitational tournament” – that is a brilliant definition.
Yeah, you got my point entirely. I really have taken from the Book of Spurrier that winning one’s conference was the most important title ever. Maybe he’s changed his view now, I don’t know, but I think winning a national title without winning one’s conference is nonsensical.
You and I are in complete agreement, Grin, and although I’ll surely take several HEAT rounds for saying this if there are enough people left on Gatorsports to care one way or another, but the playoffs should be determined by CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS AGAINST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS. I don’t care if one conference champion is 7-6 or not…..they win their conference and they play. I’ve got a better chance of becoming a nun than that happening anyway, but so what. Hell, throw in the AAC too if you want to, since it would be hillarious to watch their AD claim an NC anyway after they get beat in that format even if they did win their conference.
Let the beatings begin.
Yeah, the herd as spoken.
“Tua-thless”…very clever, Sly!!! I think dirtdoctor is correct about the reason for how far the Ducks fell, but I agree it still seems like an inordinate drop. I don’t recall how far UGA fell after their SC loss, but they did have the ND win at the time, and have since backed that up with wins over UF and Auburn. Oregon has only victories over Washington, ranked #25 at the time and now unranked, and USC, unranked at the time and now #25, to soften the blow. My question is whether a win over Utah in the PAC 12 title game would vault the Ducks back in front of the Gators.
Thanks Joe. I can’t take all the credit. I got “Tua-less” from reading Heather Dinich. The addition of “th” was mine.
As for the drop in polls, I can understand wilder swings earlier in the season when there are a lot of unknowns for the voters to gauge a team’s relative position. See Gators MBB this season. Later in the season, there’s a larger body of work to fall back on so the movement should be smaller. UGA dropped 7 spots because they lost at home to a 2-3 SC team about midway through the season, but still in the top 10. ASU is no slouch having already beaten two top 20 teams earlier in the season and playing at home.
I certainly see you point regarding the drop in polls. As for “Tua-thless”, it’s the “th” that makes all the difference, so I think you can take all the credit!
Looked it up: UGA dropped from #3 to #10 in the AP after losing to SC, so an 8 spot fall for the Ducks is consistent.
Bama’s fate hangs on the Iron Bowl. If The Tide has a big game against Auburn without Tua, their stock will go up since Bama’s only lost would be to the uncontested #1 team LSU and that lost being by just 5 points with an injured Alabama quarterback. The main problem with the PAC 12 is they just beat each other up because none of them are good enough to be in the top ten. They are to soft.
Dirt, even living in the State of Texas as I do, it’s hard to argue with logic like that.
They lost to a 5 loss team currently tied for 4th place in their conference that is not ranked and to Auburn that is a 3 loss team currently rank 16th in Coaches and AP Polls. Who you lose to matters.
Once again the Ducks are a pretender and not a contender. West Coast football is soft.
“West coast football is soft.” That’s the main reason Urban Meyer will eventually land at USC, if the ND job doesn’t come open first.
There’s no easier route to the playoffs every season than going undefeated in the PAC-12. Just today, I was listening to two ESPN morons singing the praises of 1-loss Utah and how they would be more deserving of a playoff spot than LSU or Bama if UGA wins the SECC (assuming Bama beats Auburn next week.). Who the heck has Utah beat this season to justify them a playoff spot??? Urban has to be sitting there at Fox Sports, licking his chops!!!
Utah could not beat any of the top five teams in the SEC on their best day, lol.
If Bama loses the Iron Bowl there is still a way for them to make THE PLAYOFFS!! First, LSU has to beat TAMU by less than 30, and then lose to UGA in the fifth OT, after which the SEC will declare Georgia to have “not really” won the SEC, and send them to the Sugar. Michigan and the Sunny Nuts will declare their game to have been a rushing-only tie in a Woody-Bo tribute, and demand the CFP Committee to award the Big 12 (not 10) Title to Penn St. by default. Then Clemson suspends itself from the ACC title game due to PETA protests over their choice of mascot. This will get Bama into the top three, which is all that really matters.
Hilarious!
You’re both full of beans. LSU wins it all and UCF claims the title despite their win-loss record. Jeesh…..I buy you guys books, I send you to school……….
Good grief. Are you all blind?! Notre Dame will win the AP’s national championship after losing to Texas in the title game. Sportswriters will put Notre Dame ahead of “we’re back!” Texas, figuring that the quality of its loss to Texas actually trumps the quality of Texas’s win over Notre Dame. This logic is known in sports writing circles as the Dooley Paradigm. JK Pat!
You are henceforth and evermore a member of the Sarcasm Society, PVB. Send your membership dues to Sly, and once he confirms payment I’ll teach you the secret handshake!
I think Auburn has a real shot of beating Bama. Also, I think Bama is more of a long shot. Clemson and Ohio State will get in plus the LSU vs UGA winner. If LSU loses Bama is doomed. If LSU wins Bama has a shot but I think Utah gets in if they win out.
Utah? What the hell part of Texas is that place in, anyway?
Not overly impressed with OSU in their win over PSU. Their QB is not in the same league as Burrow, Fromm and Matthews ( or even Trask except in running) and their defense was not tested by Penn State. They undoubtedly will make final four, but don’t see them able to penetrate Georgia OLine or defend against LSU. Their defense has not faced any team that has speed like LSU. I don’t think PSU good beat UF.
Agree with you Barnett and the rest of the guys above are all wet! Nobody in the top 5 are going to lose another game except Ga to LSU. I LIKE the CFP committee’s choices. I always hated that the best teams werent ranked that way. I think they do a very good job putting teams in the correct order. I dont give a darn about conference champions. I dont want to see weak conf champs preventing another team from playing for the NC who is better. Im fine with 2 SEC teams if they are the best teams!