College Football Rankings: Predicting Week 12 AP Top 25

Predicting how the AP top 25 poll will look for Week 12 as this week’s college football rankings are always a nice source of amusement.

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Clemson, Alabama and Ohio State are the consensus top three teams in the country. The playoff rankings and the AP rankings differed who comes in second after Clemson, but this week, I think we’ll see Alabama move past Ohio State for the No. 2 spot in the AP poll to match their status in the playoff rankings.

Ohio State remained undefeated with a win over Illinois but Alabama’s resume to this point is better than Ohio State’s despite their one loss to Ole Miss. The two teams could be headed for a rematch in the College Football Playoff and I don’t think Nick Saban or Urban Meyer care much if they’re 2 or 3, they know they can beat anyone wherever they’re ranked.

But there’s some drama at the No. 4 spot where Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Iowa and maybe even Oklahoma after their 10-point win at then-No. 6 Baylor could make a case to follow the big three. They’re all in good position as the season draws to a close. But Baylor, Stanford, LSU and Utah are not after crucial losses to Oklahoma, Oregon, Arkansas and Arizona, respectively.

The losses from Stanford and Utah puts an end to the Pac-12 getting a team in the College Football Playoff.

I think it’s time to take the Houston Cougars and North Carolina Tar Heels seriously and they make a big move up this week. Without further delay, here’s how I predict the AP Top 25 to look when it’s released Sunday afternoon.

Note: Games in progress are marked with an asterisk and assume the scores at time of publishing hold true in regard to the winning team.

1. Clemson

2. Alabama

3. Ohio State

4. Oklahoma State

5. Notre Dame

6. Iowa

7. Oklahoma

8. Florida

9. Baylor

10. Houston

11. TCU

12. Michigan State

13. North Carolina

14. Stanford

15. Utah

16. Michigan

17. LSU

18. Florida State

19. Navy

20. Northwestern

21. Wisconsin

22. Washington State

23. Oregon

24. USC

25. Mississippi State

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Who do you think should be ranked higher than I have them projected for and who do you think is way too overrated and needs to be ranked lower? Sound off in the comments section and let your voice be heard.