Winners and Losers of the Week 12 College Football Playoff Rankings
As expected, there was little substantial movement in the second edition of the 2025 College Football Playoff rankings.
Last weekend, every Top 10 team won except for No. 7 BYU—which lost to eighth-ranked Texas Tech. It was a lopsided loss, to be sure, but nobody in that range fell victim to a significant upset.
The same, however, cannot be said farther down the rankings.
Virginia and Louisville lost to unranked ACC opponents, and Washington dropped a stunner at Wisconsin. While the ACC pair tumbled a few spots, Washington exited the poll—and provided a window for a Group of Five newcomer.
The full rankings are below:
1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Texas Tech
7. Ole Miss
8. Oregon
9. Notre Dame
10. Texas
11. Oklahoma
12. BYU
13. Utah
14. Vanderbilt
15. Miami
16. Georgia Tech
17. USC
18. Michigan
19. Virginia
20. Louisville
21. Iowa
22. Pitt
23. Tennessee
24. South Florida
25. Cincinnati
Winner: Texas Tech Respect
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Following a 29-7 smackdown of then-unbeaten BYU, the Red Raiders enjoyed the most notable jump—two whole spots!—in the Top 10.
Moving ahead of BYU was obvious, of course.
The second, however, gave a valuable nod to 9-1 Texas Tech's résumé in comparison to fellow 9-1 team Ole Miss.
Now, dwelling on that example is not necessary. In short, an 11-1 Texas Tech squad is guaranteed to make the Big 12 Championship Game, while an 11-1 Ole Miss might not make the SEC Championship Game. Ultimately, there may be an extra data point to consider in Texas Tech's world.
But in a ranking understandably dominated by the Big Ten and SEC, Texas Tech made a noticeable dent in the order.
Loser: ACC's Multi-Bid Hopes
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The initial CFP Top 25 included five ACC teams, but none of them ranked higher than 14th. It was clear that, right or wrong, the selection committee had minimal respect for the conference.
And last Saturday didn't help matters.
No. 14 Virginia saw quarterback Chandler Morris exit early due to injury, and the Wahoos lost to Wake Forest. Minutes later, Cal finished off an overtime upset on the road at No. 15 Louisville.
In this update, both programs dipped five spots. Neither team has a Top 25 opponent left on the slate, so rising into an at-large position is improbable.
The league's hopes of sending two schools to the Playoff are not crushed, but they're pretty reliant on this next program.
Winner: Miami, Sort of
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The timing of the Hurricanes' setbacks probably hurt them in the first CFP ranking. The committee—the group is only human, after all—probably felt the sting of Miami dropping two games in a three-week period a bit too much and subsequently undervalued the team's early success.
Virginia and Louisville taking a second loss opened the door for a change, as Miami climbed from 18th to 15th in Tuesday's poll.
Yes, Louisville fans can point to the head-to-head victory over Miami as a reason for frustration. I get that. Consider, though, that Notre Dame—a team Miami beat—opened eight spots in front of U-M last week.
The main takeaway: Miami has legitimate at-large hopes, for now.
Yes, the 'Canes must finish 10-2 to stick in the discussion because they're unlikely to make the ACC Championship Game. Plus, they'll need at least a handful of losses in front of them and no bid-stealers in conference title games.
It's a very specific path to the Playoff, but Miami isn't buried just yet.
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Loser: Multi-Bid Group of 5
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The critical disclaimer to remember is that we are barely in mid-November. There are four total weekends left to play.
But there's not much respect for Group of Five conferences right now.
After shutting out those leagues last Tuesday, the committee only inserted South Florida at No. 24 this week.
Big 12 school Cincinnati, which is 7-2, nabbed the final position over a slew of teams in the American—North Texas (8-1), Memphis (8-2) and Tulane (7-2)—and Sun Belt favorite James Madison (8-1).
No, that's not a surprise. The bottom of any Top 25 requires you to pick apart a handful-plus of flawed teams. There's no perfect metric.
If the ACC continues to crack open a door for a low-ranked champion, however, the American and Sun Belt want to have a shot to capitalize. So far, not so good.
Winner: Big Ten Depth
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Ohio State is again atop the Top 25, and Indiana stuck at No. 2. Oregon made its expected rise to No. 8 after BYU's loss.
The important detail in the Big Ten is what happened farther down the ranking with USC, Michigan and Iowa.
USC (17th) and Michigan (18th) climbed in front of UVA (19th) and Louisville (20th). In addition, three-loss Iowa—following a close to Oregon—checked in 21st with two-loss Pitt trailing at 22nd.
It's abundantly clear how highly the committee rates the Big Ten.
Considering the number of head-to-head games that remain—Iowa at USC, USC at Oregon, Michigan at Ohio State, among others—the committee's down-ballot preference for the Big Ten will be helpful for the league's at-large upside.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
