AP College Football Poll 2025 Week 15 Rankings Released with Top Risers and Fallers

Texas moved up two spots in the Associated Press Top 25 poll after handing Texas A&M its first loss of the 2025 college football season.

The Longhorns went from 16th to 14th. Now, their fanbase anxiously awaits Tuesday's release of the College Football Playoff selection committee's rankings.

Fans of Miami are in a similar position after the Hurricanes beat Pittsburgh but didn't have the chips fall in their favor to seal a berth in the ACC title game. They're holding strong at No. 12.

Week 15 AP Top 25

1. Ohio State

2. Indiana

3. Georgia

4. Oregon

5. Texas Tech

6. Ole Miss

7. Texas A&M

8. Oklahoma

9. Notre Dame

10. Alabama

11. BYU

12. Miami

13. Vanderbilt

14. Texas

15. Utah

16. Virginia

17. USC

18. Michigan

19. James Madison

20. North Texas

21. Tulane

22. Arizona

23. Navy

24. Georgia Tech

25. Missouri

The final week of the regular season didn't cause total chaos.

Ohio State ended its four-game losing skid against Michigan. Georgia outlasted Georgia Tech. Ole Miss cruised in the Egg Bowl. Oregon jumped ahead early on Washington and didn't look back. Oklahoma and Alabama survived close calls against LSU and Auburn respectively.

Still, plenty of intrigue surrounds the next CFP rankings reveal.

One argument in favor of expanding the playoff to 12 teams was that it would lessen the sense of injustice toward the teams that narrowly missed the cut. A 9-3 Texas squad has much less claim on a CFP spot than 13-0 Florida State did in 2023, for example.

A lot of people will nonetheless feel the Longhorns were snubbed if they're omitted from this year's playoff field.

The version of Texas that outplayed Texas A&M in the second half in Austin certainly looked like a top-12 team. The defense held the Aggies to seven points and got two interceptions. Arch Manning went 6-of-8 for 128 yards through the air and had a 35-yard touchdown run.

Texas Upsets A&M

01:28

Head coach Steve Sarkisian tried to undercut what's basically the biggest reason to keep Texas out of the top 12.

"This whole idea that, 'Well, you lost to Florida.' Well, the team that played for the national championship last year lost to Northern Illinois at home," he told reporters after the A&M game. "So you're going to punish us and you don't want to punish them, but they were good enough to go play for a national title? So I have no doubt in my mind that the team we have in that locker room downstairs is a Playoff football team and worthy of an opportunity to play for a national championship."

Of course, that was the only game Notre Dame lost during the 2024 regular season, and the Fighting Irish were dominant the rest of the way. Only one of their next 10 games was decided by one score.

Beyond just the Florida loss, Texas needed overtime to beat Kentucky and Mississippi State. It wilted badly against Georgia earlier this month. The flat effort it displayed in the opener against Ohio State can't be dismissed entirely.

The Longhorns have put together a strong resume over 12 games.

But they wouldn't be in this position if they hadn't lost to Florida or had taken down what looked like a beatable OSU at the time.

Miami is in a similar position.

The Hurricanes are arguably the ACC's best team, yet they're totally shut out from the conference championship.

If the committee keeps them at No. 12, they'd also miss the College Football Playoff because the highest-ranked Group of Five school would leapfrog them.

Miami did what it could to make a strong final statement, going on the road and beating Pitt by 31 points.

Carson Beck finished 23-of-29 for 267 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Girard Pringle Jr. and Mark Fletcher Jr. combined to run for 112 yards and one score. The defense held the Panthers to 229 yards and had four sacks.

Miami Drops Pitt 👊

01:14

Going solely off the eye test, Miami looks like a playoff outfit.

Those defeats to Louisville and SMU loom large, however, and the ACC's general lack of top-shelf competition means they don't have many signature wins.

Taking down Notre Dame in Week 1 has only looked more impressive. Beyond that, the committee won't be swayed that much by victories over Pitt, South Florida, Florida, Florida State and North Carolina State.

Especially with how the Mustangs finished, Miami simply couldn't afford to lose that SMU game, and that's exactly what it did.

Now, the Hurricanes' fate is squarely in the hands of the selection committee.