College Football 2020: Winners, losers from Week 12 AP Top 25 release

After a week filled with COVID-19 cancellations and no ranked matchups, there was not much change in college football’s Week 12 AP Top 25.

This was going to be the most challenging week so far in this strange football season due to the high volume of cancellations and it lived up to that billing. That is not to say that there was not some noteworthy results this weekend.

Penn State has gone from top 10 team with playoff aspirations to 0-4 after another embarrassing loss to Nebraska. Michigan is getting worse by the week after an embarrassing loss to Wisconsin. USC continues to look uninspiring and not worthy of being considered for a playoff spot, despite its 2-0 record.

With three of the top four teams out this week either due to a bye week, postponement or cancellation, Notre Dame was the highest-ranked team playing this weekend and there was some thought that Boston College could pull off the upset. After being close early, Notre Dame pulled away and never looked back and now the Fighting Irish head into their bye week as the clear front-runner in the ACC and a clear path to the championship game, where it is likely that they will face Clemson once again.

Some other contenders kept their playoff hopes alive. Florida, Cincinnati, Oregon and Indiana all got victories this week and looked pretty good in doing so. Indiana and Cincinnati will face their biggest tests of the season next week when the Bearcats take on UCF and their explosive offense and the Hoosiers will have what might be their biggest opportunity in program history when they face Ohio State next week.

The list of contenders could narrow considerably next week and that could give us a much clearer look at the playoff race with the first rankings just a few weeks away.

Here are the winners and losers from the Week 12 AP Top 25 release.