CFN College Football Rankings: Week 13 Top 10
10 Oklahoma Sooners (10-2)
Last Week’s Ranking: 10
Week 13: Oklahoma State 37, Oklahoma 33
Up Next: Bowl Game
There isn’t any one amazing win to point to, but the two losses came against the two teams in the Big 12 Championship – Oklahoma State and Baylor – and they were both on the road. The Sooners won’t get punished for coming achingly close against the Cowboys to being the talk of the College Football Playoff sewing circle for the next week.
9 Baylor Bears (10-2)
Last Week’s Ranking: 9
Week 13: Baylor 27, Texas Tech 24
Up Next: Big 12 Championship vs Oklahoma State
Don’t get into any sort of a twist over the close call against Texas Tech. Baylor had to win, it had to do it without starting QB Gerry Bohanon, and now it’s in the Big 12 Championship for the second time in three years.
8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 8
Week 13: Notre Dame 45, Stanford 14
Up Next: Bowl Game
Really? Notre Dame had to lose to Cincinnati. If it was a loss to just about anyone else, we’d be talking about a steamrolling 11-1 Irish team knocking on the door of the College Football Playoff.
At this point in the season, though, considering the team’s overall body of work and what it has done against against the mediocre teams – total obliteration – you’re not wrong to considering Notre Dame for the top five.
7 Cincinnati Bearcats (12-0)
Last Week’s Ranking: 7
Week 13: Cincinnati 35, East Carolina 13
Up Next: AAC Championship vs Houston
Yeah, it’s 12-0, and yeah, if it was so easy anyone could do it, but while other top teams spent their weekend dealing with big-time programs in epic rivalry showdowns, Cincinnati is supposed to get credit for beating … East Carolina.
Considering SMU just got whacked by Tulsa, how much are we all supposed to milk that one good win over Notre Dame? A lot – that was one of the strongest wins by anyone this year.
6 Ole Miss Rebels (10-2)
Last Week’s Ranking: 6
Week 13: Ole Miss 31, Mississippi State 21
Up Next: Bowl Game
A reasonable case could be made that it should be higher, but the loss at Auburn is enough to knock it down a few pegs. Including Louisville, it has seven wins over bowl bound teams, getting the job done last week against Mississippi State.
5 Ohio State Buckeyes (10-2)
Last Week’s Ranking: 2
Week 13: Michigan 42, Ohio State 27
Up Next: Bowl Game
The team’s two losses came to the likely Big Ten champion and the likely Pac-12 champion. As disastrous disappointments go, that’s not a bad season overall. The offense is still great, and it took every ounce of focus and push for Michigan to overcome the firepower.
4 Alabama Crimson Tide (11-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 3
Week 13: Alabama 24, Auburn 22 4 OT
Up Next: SEC Championship vs Georgia
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Crimson Tide struggled again, and it came within a whisker of getting nailed by Auburn to screw up the SEC Championship-as-national-championship narrative, but it’s here. It did it. Bark all you want about how the team has looked, it has eight wins over bowl bound teams and the one loss to Texas A&M just isn’t that bad.
3 Oklahoma State Cowboys (11-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 4
Week 13: Oklahoma State 37, Oklahoma 33
Up Next: Big 12 Championship vs Baylor
The Cowboys are here for getting two big wins over Baylor and Oklahoma to get through the season with a shot to do something really special. Flip a coin between Oklahoma State and Alabama for this spot, but hanging on to take down OU really is good enough to make the top three.
2 Michigan Wolverines (11-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 5
Week 13: Michigan 42, Ohio State 27
Up Next: Big Ten Championship vs Iowa
Well hello, Michigan. It got the dream win it needed with a thundering performance against Ohio State, and that goes along with strong wins over Wisconsin and Penn State along the way. Even the wins over teams with mediocre records – Nebraska and Washington – weren’t bad.
1 Georgia Bulldogs (12-0)
Last Week’s Ranking: 1
Week 13: Georgia 45, Georgia Tech 0
Up Next: SEC Championship vs Alabama
Georgia did it. There’s just one unbeaten Power Five team and just two unbeatens overall, and it cruised through the season rather easily. With that said, there’s one very good win – Arkansas – and a whole lot of nothing else. The big test is coming with Alabama up next in the SEC Championship.
CFN 2021 Rankings: Week 13
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