AP College Football Poll 2025 Week 12 Rankings Released with Top Risers and Fallers

Texas Tech continues inching toward a Top-Five ranking thanks to a blowout of BYU in Week 11 of the 2025 college football season.

The Raiders climbed from No. 9 to 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll after a comfortable 29-7 victory over the Cougars in Lubbock, Texas.

The upper portion of the poll almost looked a lot different thanks to a pair of close calls in the Big Ten.

Week 11 AP Top 25

1. Ohio State

2. Indiana

3. Texas A&M

4. Alabama

5. Georgia

6. Ole Miss

7. Oregon

8. Texas Tech

9. Notre Dame

10. Texas

11. Oklahoma

12. BYU

13. Vanderbilt

14. Georgia Tech

15. Utah

16. Miami

17. USC

18. Michigan

19. Louisville

20. Virginia

21. Tennessee

22. Cincinnati

23. Pittsburgh

24. James Madison

25. South Florida

When Nico Radicic connected on a 31-yard field goal with 8:41 left in the third quarter, a lot of fans probably assumed Indiana would have smooth sailing for the remainder of the contest against Penn State.

Instead, the Nittany Lions scored 17 unanswered points and went ahead 24-20 midway through the fourth quarter. The home team got a helping hand from Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who threw his fourth interception on the year to set Penn State up inside Hoosiers territory.

But Mendoza regained his composure and led the IU offense on a 10-play, 80-yard drive that lasted just 1:15. Omar Cooper Jr.'s acrobatic grab in the back of the end zone spared the Hoosiers from a shocking upset.

UNREAL Indiana GW TD 🤯

00:49

The junior seemed to defy physics with the way he managed to get a foot down as he was falling out of bounds.

A loss wouldn't have been devastating to Indiana's hopes of qualifying for the College Football Playoff. The same can't necessarily be said for Oregon, which received its first true initiation into the Big Ten by getting dragged into the morass by Iowa at Kinnick Stadium.

The Hawkeyes finished with 239 yards and only had seven points through three quarters, yet they were still an Atticus Sappington last-second field goal away from taking down the Ducks.

Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski scored a go-ahead touchdown with 1:51 on the clock. Despite Oregon's inability to pass the ball all evening, that was too much time for the Ducks offense.

Dante Moore's 24-yard pass to Malik Benson was the breakthrough Oregon needed to get into field-goal territory. Sappington's effort from 39 yards out traveled through the uprights.

OREGON GW DRIVE

00:41

Whereas the Big Ten's CFP outlook as a conference remains strong, the same can't be said of the ACC. Virginia and Louisville, its two highest-ranked teams, both suffered defeats to unranked foes.

The Cavaliers out-gained Wake Forest 327-203 but was minus-three in turnover differential. The third of their three fumbles came at the Demon Deacons' 26-yard line with a little over three minutes left in the game.

UVA had one more chance to tie the score and got inside Wake's 10-yard line. Daniel Kaelin's completion to Trell Harris only got three yards on third down, and he couldn't connect with Jahmal Edrine on a pass into the end zone on fourth.

Louisville and California needed overtime to determine a winner.

The Cardinals' first possession of the extra period didn't go according to plan thanks to a costly penalty on second down. They had to settle for a 49-yard field goal by Cooper Ranvier to come away with any points.

That left the door wide open for Cal, and the Golden Bears capitalized as Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele found Jacob De Jesus on fourth down.

Cal Upsets Louisville in OT

01:02

"Just a lot of dumb penalties that have hurt us throughout the year just continue to happen," Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm told reporters after the game. "It's just really dumb — like really dumb — some (calls) might be a little questionable, I understand. But just really dumb penalties. We've got to make better decisions."

Virginia at least remains locked in a four-way tie for the ACC's best record, so it can still make the conference title game and qualify for the playoff that way. A second conference loss for Louisville, on the other hand, might take the Cardinals out of the CFP hunt for good.