College Football Rankings 2016: Projected AP Top 25 after Week 13
By Zach Bigalke
How did a long Thanksgiving weekend of football and rivalry games across the country impact the AP Top 25 heading into championship weekend?
Black Friday caused a lot of shakeup at the bottom half of the AP Top 25, as three ranked teams fell to unranked opponents. The night before, LSU beat Texas A&M in a Thanksgiving matchup between two teams clinging precariously to their positions at the bottom of the AP poll. We also saw Washington take down Washington State in the Apple Cup to claim the Pac-12 North.
Things settled a bit on Saturday, as order was restored throughout most of the country. Ohio State and Michigan went to overtime for the first time in their storied history against one another, showcasing just how closely matched the two teams were all season. Yet neither will play for the conference title as Wisconsin and Penn State booked their tickets to Indianapolis for the Big Ten championship game.
On a weekend where rivalry games provided the bulk of the action, there is bound to be some movement in the AP poll when it is released on Sunday as well as in the College Football Playoff rankings after they are revealed on Tuesday. With only eight championship games and a handful of Big 12 and Sun Belt contests left to play, click through to see how we project the AP Top 25 now that Week 13 action is in the books.