TAMPA, Fla. – A memorable Week 12 of the college football season featured plenty of drama in the SEC, including a heavyweight battle in Tuscaloosa between Alabama and Oklahoma. The latter prevailed, 23-21, despite absorbing many body blows in being held to 212 yards and 12 first downs. The Sooners, though, found a way and their reward was being bumped up three spots to No. 8 in the third installment of the College Football Playoff rankings revealed Tuesday night.
Oklahoma (8-2/4-2 SEC) overcame October losses to Texas and Ole Miss by winning consecutive road games at Tennessee and at Bryant-Denny. Next up for Brent Venables’ team is a visit from No. 22 Missouri on Saturday. The Sooners conclude the regular season next week by hosting LSU.
Alabama (8-2/6-1 SEC) fell six spots, but is still in good shape at No. 10. Like the Sooners, the Tide has four wins against ranked teams. They host Eastern Illinois this week ahead of the Iron Bowl at Auburn.
Texas (7-3/4-2 SEC) predictably slid down the ranking, dropping seven spots to No. 17 after a 35-10 loss at Georgia. The ‘Horns still have a chance, albeit a slim one, given No. 3 Texas A&M (10-0/7-0 SEC) visits Austin on Thanksgiving weekend. They also need plenty of help.
ACC
At No. 15 last week, Miami was the highest-ranked ACC team even though they were not among five teams with one conference loss. The ‘Canes are not among what are now four teams with one league loss, though they remain the highest ranked at No. 13 having moved up two spots after blowing out North Carolina State last week.
Miami finishes its season on the road with games at Virginia Tech on Saturday and at Pitt next week. No. 16 Georgia Tech, which squeaked past Boston College last week, hosts the Panthers this week. The Yellow Jackets finish the season with their annual matchup with No. 4 Georgia, which will take place in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
G5
Tulane is the new Group of Five darling checking in at No. 24. The Green Wave (8-2/5-1 American), who are coming off a win against visiting FAU, lost at UTSA on October 30, but have decent non-conference wins against Northwestern and Duke.
The committee obviously found the Green Wave’s body of work more impressive than that of one-loss North Texas and two-loss Navy, which knocked last week’s No. 24, USF, out of the equation. James Madison of the Sun Belt is 9-1, but the Dukes’ best win is over conference foe and 7-3 Old Dominion, which is not going to move the needle.
READ: Observations From The First 2025 College Football Playoff Ranking
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