NCAA Football Rankings 2016: Hits and Misses from Week 13 Polls
Sometimes even chaos needs to take it easy. After the major upheaval we saw a week ago following three of the top four teams in the country lose within a few hours of each other, it was much calmer during Week 12 of the 2016 college football season.
But there were still a number of results that impacted the playoff race and also affected the latest Associated Press and Amway coaches polls. We're here to discuss how each of the 61 AP voters and 63 coaches who have Amway ballots chose their rankings.
Every voter has their own reasons for how they ranked teams, and when the numbers are added up, it leads to some things that stand out. Both good and bad. We've pointed out what's most notable from the latest rankings.
Hit: Welcome Back, Houston
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Remember when Houston was the trendy dark horse pick to make the playoffs, a non-power conference juggernaut capable of taking on the big boys? The Cougars showed that early on by knocking off Oklahoma, but once they got into American Athletic Conference play, they lost at Navy and SMU—the latter by 22—and instead of hoping to make the semifinals, they weren't even likely to win their own division.
But after thoroughly crushing Louisville 36-10 on Thursday, a result that effectively ended Louisville's playoff dreams, Houston is back in the polls. It was ranked 18th by the Associated Press and 21st in the Amway poll.
The Cougars (9-2) are the third-highest ranked "Group of Five" team behind Western Michigan and Boise State, but because they can't win their conference, they aren't in contention for the New Year's Six bowl bid given to the top non-power school. Getting back into the rankings is a nice consolation, but it isn't likely to help the school's chances of holding onto coveted coach Tom Herman.
Miss: Louisville Ranked Like It's Still in Playoff Hunt
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With a second-place finish in the ACC's Atlantic Division, Louisville was already facing an uphill battle to get into the playoffs because of the lack of a 13th game to pad its resume. That was before the Cardinals were crushed 36-10 at Houston on Thursday, ending any speculation about whether they were worthy of a shot at the national title.
Yet Associated Press and Amway voters still have the Cardinals (9-2) ranked high enough to be considered a playoff contender. They sit 11th in each poll, down from third the week before but still ahead of teams like USC (12th in both rankings) and Florida (13th in each) who have either won division titles or remain alive for them and thus have more opportunities to rise.
At this point in the season, the “who is better than whom” debate should get tossed out at least when voters put together the top part of their ballots. Since the playoffs are the main focus, it would make sense to rank all legitimate playoff contenders above those who don't have a shot to make it.
Hit: Bedlam Will Be a Top 10 Battle
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The Big 12 was seemingly eliminated from the playoff race back in October when its last remaining unbeaten teams were knocked off. No perfect teams combined with the lack of a conference championship game looked to be the death knell for the league.
But the Big 12 has risen from the ashes, resurrected by the craziness that's gone on at the top of the polls as well as some strong play from Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. And with those teams riding eight- and seven-game win streaks, respectively, their annual Bedlam game on Dec. 3 is going to have more than just bragging rights on the line.
Oklahoma (9-2) jumped to seventh in both polls after its 56-28 win at West Virginia, leading 34-0 at one point, while Oklahoma State (9-2) has risen to 10th in each ranking following an impressive 31-6 win at TCU.
This will be the second year in a row and third time since 2011 each team is ranked in the top 10.
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Miss: So We're Ranking Four-Loss Teams Now?
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LSU was one yard away from beating Florida on Saturday, but despite two shots to get those final three feet, the Tigers fell short and lost 16-10 at home to the Gators. It was only a home game because Hurricane Matthew postponed the original matchup in early October, set for Gainesville, and forced the teams to reschedule and relocate to Baton Rouge.
The latter part of that change was mandated by LSU, so in a way, it was karma that the Tigers would get the advantage and still lose. Yet enough Associated Press voters decided they were worthy of remaining in the Top 25 despite a 6-4 record.
Sure, LSU's losses are by a combined 23 points and to teams that are a combined 37-6, but that still doesn't change the fact it has four losses and there are plenty of two- or three-loss teams that are unranked who wouldn't have minded being No. 25 in the AP poll.
At least the Amway voters wised up, dropping the Tigers from 14th to what's essentially 28th based on votes received.
Hit: Washington State Not Punished for Competitive Loss
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The fact Washington State even managed to get into the polls after starting this season at 0-2, with one of those losses to FCS school Eastern Washington, is a credit to voters who recognized how much the Cougars had improved over the course of the season. And it looks like they also understood their 38-24 loss at Colorado didn't warrant too steep of a drop in the polls.
The Cougars (8-3) fell from 20th to 23rd in both polls, ensuring the Apple Cup against Washington on Saturday will feature a pair of ranked teams for the first time since 2001.
WSU's drop was far less pronounced than other ranked teams who lost in Week 12 and deservedly so. Louisville fell eight spots in each poll after losing by 26 at Houston, West Virginia dipped nine spots in the Associated Press rankings and eight places in the Amway poll after its 28-point home loss to Oklahoma and Utah's home loss to Oregon warranted falling 10 and nine spots, respectively.
Had the Cougars fallen as much as those other teams, which would have taken them out of the rankings altogether, there would have been a problem.
Miss: Instead of New Blood We Got Tennessee Again
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There are 22 FBS schools with two or fewer losses, and 17 of those are ranked this week. That means five teams with pretty darn good records didn't make the Top 25, but Tennessee and its 8-3 record moved back into both polls after a 63-37 win over a three-win Missouri team.
A day after the Volunteers were eliminated from the SEC East Division race—one the league's media overwhelming expected them to win—they claimed one of the poll spots left open by low-end ranked teams losing. While Tennessee has looked better the last three weeks, particularly on the offensive side with 167 points during a three-game win streak, getting back into the Top 25 during a season in which it's failed to live up to expectations doesn't provide much consolation.
That wouldn't be the case for any of the unranked two-loss teams, a batch of schools that would take much more pride in being No. 24 in both polls like Tennessee is.
It's understandable that San Diego State and Troy, both of whom were ranked last week but lost in Week 12, didn't appear in either poll. The same can't be said for Navy, South Florida and Toledo.
All recruiting information courtesy of Scout.com, unless otherwise noted. All statistics provided by CFBStats, unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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