NCAA Football Rankings 2016: Week 13 College Top 25 Standings Prediction
The grind of a college football season becomes evident in November, as the pressure mounts for teams atop the rankings to keep playing at their peaks in an effort to keep their chances of earning berths in the College Football Playoff alive.
It's become easier to separate the contenders from the pretenders over the last two weeks, though there is still much to be determined heading into a crucial week for the selection committee.
After a weekend of intense action that started with a Top 5 Louisville team getting blown out on Thursday, here are the predicted Top 25 rankings for Week 13:
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide (11-0) | 1 |
| 2 | Ohio State Buckeyes (10-1) | 2 |
| 3 | Clemson Tigers (10-1) | 5 |
| 4 | Michigan Wolverines (10-1) | 4 |
| 5 | Washington Huskies (10-1) | 7 |
| 6 | Wisconsin Badgers (9-2) | 6 |
| 7 | Oklahoma Sooners (9-2) | 8 |
| 8 | Penn State Nittany Lions (9-2) | 9 |
| 9 | Colorado Buffaloes (9-2) | 12 |
| 10 | Oklahoma State Cowboys (9-2) | 13 |
| 11 | Louisville Cardinals (9-2) | 3 |
| 12 | USC Trojans (8-3) | 15 |
| 13 | Auburn Tigers (8-3) | 18 |
| 14 | Western Michigan Broncos (11-0) | 14 |
| 15 | Florida State Seminoles (8-3) | 17 |
| 16 | Florida Gators (8-2) | 21 |
| 17 | Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-2) | 19 |
| 18 | Houston Cougars (9-2) | Unranked |
| 19 | West Virginia Mountaineers (8-2) | 10 |
| 20 | Boise State Broncos (10-1) | 22 |
| 21 | Stanford Cardinal (8-3) | Unranked |
| 22 | Texas A&M Aggies (8-3) | 23 |
| 23 | Tennessee Volunteers (8-3) | Unranked |
| 24 | Virginia Tech Hokies (8-3) | Unranked |
| 25 | North Carolina Tar Heels (8-3) | Unranked |
Moving Up
Florida Gators (8-2; Week 12 AP rank: No. 21)
It was a month later than originally scheduled, but the Gators didn't mind the wait, as they knocked off the LSU Tigers 16-10 in Baton Rouge on Saturday to secure a date with Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.
The Gators and Tigers did not put on a pleasant show, as each offense struggled to figure out its opposing defense, though there was drama at the end when LSU running back Derrius Guice was stopped at Florida's 1-yard line as time expired.
Guice was LSU's primary running back in the game because Leonard Fournette was limited to 40 yards on 12 carries due to lingering ankle issues that have plagued him virtually all season.
This has been a season in which Florida has been overlooked from the beginning, opening the preseason ranked No. 25 in the nation. The trend continued on Saturday, per ESPN's Michael Eaves:
The Gators can be an erratic team. Their two losses are against Tennessee, which scored 35 unanswered points in the second half for a 38-28 win, and a 31-10 destruction against an Arkansas team that had just one conference win before that game.
The victory marks Florida's first of the season against a team still ranked. It ensures the Gators will be in the Top 20 for the first time since Week 4 when the polls are released.
Houston Cougars (9-2; Week 12 AP rank: Unranked)
Houston's stock fell hard after losing to Navy and SMU in a three-game span, but the poll voters also underestimated how good this team is as a result.
The Cougars aren't going to win a talent war, so they have to be on point every week to compete. Their performance is a direct reflection of head coach Tom Herman, who once again became the hottest commodity for Power Five programs looking to make changes after his team thrashed Louisville.
Saturday Down South noted how bad things got for Heisman front-runner Lamar Jackson against the Cougars:
Jackson had been an unstoppable machine through the season's first 10 games, posting 46 total touchdowns. Even in Louisville's previous defeat against Clemson, he was brilliant with 457 total yards and three scores.
But this was not about what Jackson couldn't do as much as it was about what Houston did. Herman's team entered the year ranked in the Top 15 on the strength of a Peach Bowl win over Florida State last December.
By defeating Louisville and beating Oklahoma in the season opener, John McClain of the Houston Chronicle noted Houston has done something that not even Alabama has in 2016:
This isn't to suggest Houston could beat Alabama, but it should help the Cougars vault back into the Top 15 because they are that good. Those earlier losses knocked them out of the playoff race, but it doesn't change the fact that this is still one of the nation's best teams.
Moving Down
Louisville Cardinals (9-2; Week 12 AP rank: No. 3)
Any hope of seeing what Jackson could do against Alabama's defense in a potential playoff matchup went out the window when the Cardinals laid an egg on Thursday.
Jackson deserves to remain the Heisman front-runner because the gap between him and everyone else all season has been so wide, and there was nothing he could do against Houston with an offensive line that looked like it couldn't block a peewee defense.
The question is how much the voters will punish Louisville for its 26-point defeat.
Keep in mind that, for a team regarded as one of the nation's best, the Cardinals failed two of their four biggest tests this season, per Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel:
Even with Ohio State and Michigan struggling against inferior opponents on Saturday, those teams still won. Wisconsin was the highest-ranked two-loss team last week at No. 6 in the AP poll, and it got an easy win over Purdue.
Colorado figures to get a bump after beating Washington State. Penn State had an easy game against Rutgers and shouldn't get punished for that. There is no room for Louisville in the Top 10 at this point because of how bad Thursday was and its mediocre performance against its best competition this season.
West Virginia Mountaineers (8-2; Week 12 AP rank: No. 10)
With a huge home game against Oklahoma in prime time, West Virginia struggled defensively in a 56-28 defeat that sits in the same nest as Louisville.
The Mountaineers did play better offensively than Louisville this week, racking up 579 yards. Running back Justin Crawford was incredible with 331 yards on 24 carries, though he did have two fumbles as part of the team's four turnovers that led to 28 Oklahoma points.
Per ESPN Stats & Info, it tends to be a bad thing when a West Virginia player runs for a lot of yards against Oklahoma:
Turnovers were the defining story for the Mountaineers. Two of them came in the red zone on consecutive possessions that allowed Oklahoma to stretch its lead out to 34-0.
Given the ugly nature of the defeat, West Virginia should be punished by the voters. It was ranked in the Top 10 coming into the game despite a close win against Texas, which was beaten by Kansas on Saturday, last week.
The two games West Virginia has played against ranked opponents this season, it has lost. Oklahoma State handled the Mountaineers 37-20 on Oct. 29.
Because of how soft West Virginia's wins look and how bad it's looked in its two biggest games of the year, a steep drop to the bottom of the Top 20 feels appropriate with two games remaining to get back on track.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
