NCAA Football Rankings 2021: Predicting Top Movers in Week 12 Top 25 Standings

The Oklahoma Sooners relinquished the title of the Big 12's top College Football Playoff candidate Saturday.

Lincoln Riley's team suffered its first defeat of the season against the Baylor Bears. The result dropped it to the same record as the Oklahoma State Cowboys, whom it faces in Week 13.

Oklahoma was ranked fourth in the latest AP Top 25, and it was stuck at No. 8 in the CFB Playoff rankings that came out Tuesday. The Sooners will suffer the largest drop of any of the top programs in both polls because it was the only one to lose in Week 11.

The rest of the top 10 held serve ahead of two-week stretch in which we will learn a lot more about some of the playoff contenders.

Oklahoma State was 10th in both the AP and CFB Playoff rankings entering Week 11. The Cowboys produced a third straight blowout victory Saturday, and they should be considered set for a boost ahead of the Sooners and one or two other programs.

Oklahoma

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The Top 25 movement starts with Oklahoma.

The Sooners hurt their playoff case with a road loss to the Baylor Bears, who lost the previous week to the TCU Horned Frogs.

Oklahoma is not out of the playoff race, but it is no longer the most viable playoff candidate in its conference.

Oklahoma State has played tremendous defense over the past three weeks, and the one-loss Cowboys get Oklahoma at home November 27.

With Oklahoma's loss to Baylor, there is a chance that the Sooners lose out on a Big 12 Championship Game berth at Bedlam. If Oklahoma falls in Stillwater, it would drop to two conference losses alongside Baylor, and the Bears would have the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Oklahoma will have to be at its best in Week 12 just to keep the Big 12 Championship Game in its sights. It hosts an Iowa State Cyclones program it has had trouble with.

The Sooners should enter that contest in the back end of the top 10 in the AP poll and outside of the top 10 in the playoff rankings.

Oklahoma State, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Ole Miss Rebels should jump Oklahoma during Tuesday's rankings release. Look for Oklahoma to land somewhere between Nos. 11 and 13. The selection committee has selectively used head-to-head records as part of the ranking criteria.

If the loss to Baylor matters to the committee when ranking teams, the Sooners could fall as far as No. 13.

Auburn

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On Saturday, the Auburn Tigers suffered one of the more stunning losses of the season against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Auburn blew a 28-3 lead and conceded 40 unanswered points to its SEC West rival during Saturday's first window of games. And Bryan Harsin's team deserves to be on the outside looking in at the Top 25 after such a brutal collapse on home soil.

Auburn is now 6-4 with a two-game losing streak, but it should get back to winning ways against the South Carolina Gamecocks in Week 12.

Auburn's fourth loss is significant to the playoff chase of the Alabama Crimson Tide, whose resume will look a bit worse if the Tigers win the Iron Bowl on November 27.

There is a real chance Auburn's loss does not affect the playoff race at all if the Georgia Bulldogs take down Alabama in the SEC Championship Game on the first weekend of December.

Auburn is a middle-of-the-pack team, and it should be treated as such by the voters, who should put it outside the Top 25. However, it may get the benefit of the doubt as an SEC team and remain on the inside edge of the polls.

NC State

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The NC State Wolfpack's ACC championship dreams were put to rest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Saturday night.

NC State dropped to 7-3 by way of a 45-42 loss to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, who are close to representing the ACC Atlantic in Charlotte on December 4.

Dave Doeren's Wolfpack have put together a solid seven-win season, but they are going to fall a good amount of spots after failing to pass a Top 25 test on the road.

NC State is expected to move more in the rankings than Wake Forest because most of the teams listed ahead of the Demon Deacons won in Week 11.

The Wolfpack were 16th in the playoff rankings and No. 21 in the AP Top 25. They might lose their status in both rankings as a three-loss team. Like Auburn, if NC State remains in the playoff rankings, it will be as one of the teams just barely inside the Top 25.

NC State has a chance to rebound and make a top-tier bowl game if it beats the Syracuse Orange and North Carolina Tar Heels at home to cap the regular season.