No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana remained atop the AP Top 25 college football poll on Sunday, setting up the first 1-2 game in the history of the Big Ten championship and the conference’s first 1-2 matchup since the Buckeyes beat Michigan in 2006.
Ohio State (12-0) and Indiana (12-0) have been marching unbeaten toward a 1-2 title game in Indianapolis for weeks.
The defending national champion Buckeyes moved to 14 straight weeks as No. 1, receiving 61 first-place votes after ending their four-game losing streak to Michigan. The Hoosiers have been No. 2 for seven straight weeks. They received the remaining five first-place votes.
Texas A&M’s first loss of the season, to Texas on Friday night, dropped the Aggies from third to seventh. Georgia (11-1) is No. 3, followed by No. 4 Oregon (11-1), No. 5 Texas Tech (11-1) and No. 6 Ole Miss (11-1). The Big Ten now has three of the top four teams.
The rest of the top 10 stayed the same with No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 10 Alabama. BYU also held its place at No. 11 and Miami moved up one spot to No. 12 ahead of Vanderbilt. Texas is 14th, moving up two spots after beating its rival Aggies.
AP Top 25 after Week 14
RankTeamRalph’s voteRecordPrev
1
1
12-0
1
2
2
12-0
2
3
3
11-1
4
4
5
11-1
5
5
4
11-1
7
6
7
11-1
6
7
6
11-1
3
8
10
10-2
8
9
9
10-2
9
10
11
10-2
10
11
12
11-1
11
12
8
10-2
13
13
15
10-2
12
14
13
9-3
16
15
14
10-2
14
16
17
10-2
17
17
16
9-3
19
18
18
9-3
15
19
25
11-1
20
20
20
11-1
21
21
19
10-2
22
22
24
9-3
NR
23
NR
9-2
NR
24
NR
9-3
23
25
22
8-4
NR
NR
21
8-4
NR
NR
23
9-3
NR
Others receiving votes: Tennessee 71, Houston 57, Iowa 51, UNLV 33, New Mexico 20, South Florida 11, SMU 8, Iowa State 4, Arizona State 3, Louisville 3, UConn 3, North Dakota State 3, Illinois 2, Washington 1, Pittsburgh 1, San Diego State 1
The last AP No. 1 vs. 2 matchup before bowl season was in 2022 between top-ranked Georgia and Tennessee. The Bulldogs won the early November meeting 27-13.
The SEC Championship Game has matched the top two teams in the nation twice, featuring Florida and Alabama both times in 2008 and 2009. Florida won in 2008 and Alabama in 2009. Both went on to win the national championship.
The 2006 Ohio State-Michigan version of the Game of the Century was the regular-season finale and decided which team would play in the BCS title game. The Big Ten had not yet established a championship game. The Buckeyes beat the Wolverines but lost in the national title game to Florida.
Ohio State-Indiana won’t have stakes that high.
The Buckeyes and Hoosiers are both locks to make the 12-team College Football Playoff, and both are likely to end up with first-round byes no matter the outcome. The winner should lock up the No. 1 seed in the tournament and play a quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl.
How I voted
Despite no huge upsets or surprising results, I made a significant move toward the back of the top 10 this week.
Since Oklahoma beat Alabama a few weeks ago, I have been ranking the Sooners No. 8, followed by the Crimson Tide at No. 9. I have held steady in having Miami ahead of Notre Dame through the raging debate sparked by the CFP selection committee. The Hurricanes have been 10th and the Fighting Irish 11th on my ballot.
The change I made this week was moving both Miami and Notre Dame ahead of the two SEC schools. Now, Miami is eighth, followed by Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Alabama at No. 11.
One of the things I mentioned back in August, when I wrote about being a voter for the first time after years of overseeing the poll at AP, was how it is almost impossible to maintain pure consistency throughout the rankings because every judgment is a different case with unique circumstances.
I’ve stuck to head-to-head results determining the order of Miami and Notre Dame and feel somewhat vindicated now that the two have ended their regular seasons with similar resumes — and the Hurricanes beat the Irish on the field.
I stuck with a similar mindset when it comes to Oklahoma and Alabama, but I gave the SEC teams the advantage over the other two based on their overall strength of schedule. The Sooners and Tide still have that advantage, but nothing about the way Oklahoma is playing suggests it is definitively better than the Hurricanes or Irish. Or Alabama, for that matter.
I’m keeping OU ahead of Alabama because of the head-to-head result, but of all the teams currently viewed as comfortably in the Playoff, the Sooners have been the least impressive to me. Most deserving or best is what gets debated when it comes to the CFP rankings. Deserving tends to win the day, but it’s a bit of a blend. I think of rankings the same way. They’re not power ratings.
Oklahoma, which barely escaped LSU on Saturday, has enough good wins, most notably against Alabama, to deserve its ranking, but I’m not sure the Sooners are actually better than BYU, Texas — which beat the Sooners — Utah or Vanderbilt.
In and out
In what wasn’t exactly the best weekend for the ACC, two of its ranked teams lost and fell out of the Top 25.
Pitt and SMU dropped out, along with Tennessee. They were replaced by No. 22 Arizona, No. 23 Navy and No. 25 Missouri.
Navy is ranked for the first time this season, giving the American three teams in the Top 25 along with No. 20 North Texas and No. 21 Tulane.
For Arizona (9-3), which has had a strong rebound season under second-year coach Brent Brennan, it’s the first time cracking the Top 25 this season.
Next week
Championship weekend features a ranked matchup in four conferences, headlined by the Big Ten. The ACC will feature unranked Duke against No. 16 Virginia.
No. 2 Indiana vs. No. 1 Ohio State. The Hoosiers have lost 30 consecutive games to the Buckeyes dating back to 1988. This will be Indiana’s third top-five matchup in program history and second in the last two years. The Hoosiers lost a regular-season top-five game at Ohio State last year.
No 10 Alabama vs. No. 3 Georgia. The SEC title game has been a top-10 matchup seven of the past nine years.
No. 11 BYU vs. No. 5 Texas Tech. Both teams are in the Big 12 title game for the first time. Texas Tech hasn’t won a conference title since the Southwest Conference in 1994.
No. 20 North Texas at No. 21 Tulane. The American champion will likely secure a Playoff spot.