College Football Rankings 2012: Teams That Will Soon Plummet in AP Poll

Enjoy the AP love while it lasts.

Because it won’t.

A handful of college football teams are due for a fall in the 2012 rankings. Today, they sit high and mighty. In the coming weeks, though, they’ll plummet in the polls. Here are those teams.

3. No. 8 Stanford

Hot off a win against what previously looked like a national-championship favorite in USC, Stanford must be thinking, “Who needs Andrew Luck?” Well, those thoughts will desist once it runs into the wall that is the Notre Dame defense in a few weeks. The Cardinal will travel to South Bend on October 13th, where they’ll struggle to move the football.

Manti Te’o and the Fighting Irish defense have been downright dominant this season. They held No. 10 Michigan State to three points and No. 18 Michigan to six. The Trojans are talented, but Notre Dame’s fourth-ranked stop unit is a different animal.

2. No. 11 Florida

Florida routed Kentucky 38-0 on Saturday. But its unanswered scoring streak definitely won’t last when it faces off against LSU on October 6th.

The Gators’ offense is one-dimensional. While they boast the 26th-ranked ground game in the nation, their air attack falls shot at 109th. That lack of balance will do them in against the Tigers, who, through four weeks, have only allowed their opponents to rush for an average of 1.97 yards per carry.

1. No. 12 Texas                                                                                                        

Hopefully the Longhorns enjoyed beating up on Wyoming, New Mexico and Ole Miss because the cake walk is over. On October 6th, they’ll attempt to defend their home turf against explosive West Virginia. And after that, they’ll only have one week to rest up for their bitter rival Oklahoma.

It would be a miracle if Texas woke up on Sunday, October 14th still undefeated. The Mountaineers feature a top-10 scoring assault. And last year, the Sooners stomped Texas 55-17 in a game which Landry Jones, who’s still running the show, threw for over 350 yards and three touchdowns.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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