College Football Rankings 2015: AP, Amway Standings Revealed for Week 12 Polls
The top-ranked Clemson Tigers continued to roll with a 37-27 win over the Syracuse Orange on Saturday. At some point, serious Heisman Trophy buzz should pick up for quarterback Deshaun Watson.
The sophomore accounted for 465 total yards (360 passing, 105 rushing) and three touchdowns (two passing and one rushing). As of Sunday morning, ESPN.com hadn't updated their rankings, but their latest list—which is as of November 10—has Watson eighth.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Watson's 3,191 total yards this season are a huge reason why Clemson is ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press and the Coaches' poll. Normally the best player on a team this good gets more props.
Here's a look at the latest polls from the AP, Coaches and Bleacher Report's own:
Alive or Done
LSU Tigers
Losing to the Alabama Crimson Tide on the road is a permissible defeat, but the LSU Tigers' latest defeat has all but killed any chances the team had of making the College Football Playoff.
On Saturday, LSU fell to an unranked Arkansas Razorbacks team at home, 31-14. That, college football fans, is a bad loss. No matter what they or the Crimson Tide do from here on out, it's hard to imagine the Tigers getting the nod from the CFP committee.
Alabama Crimson Tide
Bama's path looks to be paved. It has Charleston Southern on November 21, and then it finishes the regular season in the Iron Bowl against the Auburn Tigers. You can never consider the Iron Bowl a gimme, but it seems Bama is a cinch to represent the SEC West in the conference title game.
Even if it loses to the Florida Gators, Alabama has a solid chance to get in as a two-loss team.
Baylor Bears
Playing without quarterback Seth Russell, the Baylor Bears fought hard, but fell to the Oklahoma Sooners, 44-34. The loss was just the team's first, but the next two games on the schedule are brutal.
Next week, the Bears will see the undefeated and fourth-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys in Stillwater. The next week, Baylor will be in Fort Worth to take on the No. 11 TCU Horned Frogs.
As a one-loss Big 12 team, Baylor's chances of making the CFP seem bleak. There's almost no way they emerge from the next two weeks without at least one more loss. Don't bet on a two-loss Big 12 team in the CFP.
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Meanwhile, the Cowboys simply have to beat Baylor and then their in-state rival Oklahoma to finish undefeated. If they can run the table, there's no way they shouldn't make the CFP.
The Cowboys will have finished the season undefeated with three of their last four games coming against ranked teams in their conference. This would be the rare occasion where playing in a conference without a postseason title game helps the top Big 12 team.
Stanford Cardinal
The Stanford Cardinal had the most realistic shot at representing the Pac-12 in the CFP. That shot was all but blown Saturday with a 38-36 loss at home to the Oregon Ducks. In the past, it has been Stanford who has played spoiler to Oregon's title hopes. This year, the tables were turned.
The loss was the second for the Cardinal, with both coming against teams that were unranked at the time. The first defeat came to the Northwestern Wildcats in Week 1. Northwestern has since risen to No. 20 in the nation, but their success won't help Stanford much.
Chalk this year up as another disappointing campaign for the Cardinal.
Iowa Hawkeyes and Ohio State Buckeyes
Two Big 10 teams stand to gain from Stanford's fall. The defending champion Ohio State Buckeyes are 10-0 after a 28-3 win over the Illinois Fighting Illini. Should the Bucks win out and take the Big 10 Championship game, they would be a cinch to make the CFP. However, they have a tough road ahead of them.
The No. 13 Michigan State Spartans are next, with the No. 14 Michigan Wolverines after that and then the conference title game. The next three weeks will be tough, but the Cardinal's loss might have created some leeway.
With Stanford faltering, Ohio State might still make it in as a one-loss team. Finishing their last three games with a 2-1 record will still be difficult. Neither Michigan-based team will be a pushover, and what about the champions from the Big Ten West?
Iowa doesn't have the division officially locked up just yet, but it owns a one-game lead over the Wisconsin Badgers—and the tiebreaker.
No one is talking about the Hawkeyes, but they should be. After a 40-35 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Iowa improved to 10-0 and rose to No. 6 in the AP poll. Should they beat the Purdue Boilermakers and Nebraska Cornhuskers to finish the season and win the conference championship game, the Hawkeyes will have quite the case for the CFP.
The next three weeks of the college football season should be a blast.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
