College football’s Top 25 résumé ranking entering Week 12

The top 8 teams in this week’s ranking remained unchanged, though they did slightly change order. And 4 teams dropped out.

You can find last week’s ranking here.

Ranking the Top 25 résumés in college football

This is not a power ranking of the best teams in college football. This is not a ranking of how I think these teams will look at the end of the season or a prediction of who will make the College Football Playoff. This ranking aims to compare who has accomplished what, who has beaten whom, and who has lost where.

Let’s get to it.

Dropped from the ranking: 17 Missouri, 18 Memphis, 23 Washington, 24 Virginia

25. Iowa (6-3, 4-2 B1G)

BEST WIN: 37-0 at Wisconsin
LAST WEEK: 21

The Hawkeyes have several blowout wins over bad teams, a 1-point home win over a bad-but-more-talented Penn State team, and 3 losses by a combined 10 points. The Week 2 loss to Iowa State came on a field goal in the final 2 minutes. In the 5-point Indiana loss, the Hawkeyes were tied with less than 2 minutes to play. In the 2-point Oregon loss, the Hawkeyes had a lead with less than a minute to play. Losses are still losses, but Iowa holds onto its spot over some of the radioactively bad ACC teams that haven’t come close to playing the same quality of competition.

24. Cincinnati (7-2, 5-1 Big 12)

BEST WIN: 38-30 vs. Iowa State
LAST WEEK: NR

Cincinnati gets back into the top 25 despite being idle in Week 11. The Bearcats got the edge in a head-to-head with Pitt.

23. Tennessee (6-3, 3-3 SEC)

BEST WIN: 41-34 at Mississippi State
LAST WEEK: NR

The Vols were close to the cut line last week and they hop back in despite being idle in Week 11.

22. Georgia Tech (8-1, 5-1 ACC)

BEST WIN: 24-21 vs. Clemson
LAST WEEK: NR

Georgia Tech has a better résumé than both Tennessee and Cincinnati when judged by K-Ford’s ratings. The same is true when judged by SP+. The SEC is better than the ACC by a country mile. But 1 loss is better than 3.

21. Louisville (7-2, 4-2 ACC)

BEST WIN: 24-21 at Miami
LAST WEEK: 19

The loss to Cal stinks, but the Cards have 3 wins that are better than Georgia Tech’s best win.

20. James Madison (8-1, 6-0 Sun Belt)

BEST WIN: 63-27 vs. Old Dominion
LAST WEEK: 25

The Dukes have won 7 straight since a 14-point road loss to Louisville. That includes a pair of road victories in back-to-back weeks. The Dukes have the 20th-ranked résumé, according to SP+. The schedule is weak, but JMU is also top-30 in FPI’s strength of record metric.

19. Tulane (7-2, 4-1 AAC)

BEST WIN: 38-32 at Memphis
LAST WEEK: NR

The Green Wave are very much a player in the chase for a Playoff spot. They have 2 wins over power conference teams and a road win at Memphis that kept them in the thick of the AAC title race.

18. South Florida (7-2, 4-1 AAC)

BEST WIN: 18-16 at Florida
LAST WEEK: 22

The Bulls pummeled UTSA on a Thursday night as their quarterback logged a 200-passing/100-rushing day. South Florida responded nicely to the loss to Memphis.

17. Michigan (7-2, 5-1 B1G)

BEST WIN: 24-7 vs. Washington
LAST WEEK: 20

Michigan was idle in Week 11.

16. Vanderbilt (8-2, 4-2 SEC)

BEST WIN: 31-24 vs. LSU
LAST WEEK: 16

Vanderbilt stays right where it was a week ago. Diego Pavia was outstanding, but giving up 38 points to Auburn is pretty suspect.

15. BYU (8-1, 5-1 Big 12)

BEST WIN: 24-21 vs. Utah
LAST WEEK: 9

I was right not to buy into the Cougars. Big-time opportunity to make a statement on the road and they get slapped across the face with a tortilla for 3 hours. Texas Tech dominated and won 29-7.

14. USC (7-2, 5-1 B1G)

BEST WIN: 31-13 vs. Michigan
LAST WEEK: 14

I actually like this USC team quite a bit. On a short week, they handled their business against a Northwestern team that has snuck up on others in the conference this year. USC has been outstanding at home.

13. Notre Dame (7-2)

BEST WIN: 34-24 vs. USC
LAST WEEK: 13

It was good to see the Irish put the hammer down on a team after whatever that was in Massachusetts the week prior. And Navy didn’t give the ball away like candy this time the way it did in last year’s meeting. Notre Dame just lined up and dominated.

12. Miami (7-2, 3-2 ACC)

BEST WIN: 27-24 vs. Notre Dame
LAST WEEK: 12

The Hurricanes rolled Syracuse to move to 7-2 on the year. I don’t care much about the opponent, only that Miami took the game seriously.

11. Oklahoma (7-2, 3-2 SEC)

BEST WIN: 33-27 at Tennessee
LAST WEEK: 10

Oklahoma was idle in Week 11.

10. Texas (7-2, 4-1 SEC)

BEST WIN: 23-6 vs. Oklahoma
LAST WEEK: 15

Texas was also idle in Week 11. Still, I upgraded the résumé a bit. It looks like the Longhorns have firmly found their footing and road wins at Kentucky and Mississippi State look better with extra data points. The gap between the Sooners and Longhorns was probably too large a week ago, and that mistake needed to be corrected. I still hate the Florida loss, but the Red River rivals are close enough now that the head-to-head matters, and that led to the move.

9. Utah (7-2, 4-2 Big 12)

BEST WIN: 45-14 vs. Cincinnati
LAST WEEK: 11

The Utes were idle in Week 11, but the sting of the blowout loss to Tech was lessened when Tech did the same thing to BYU. Cincinnati getting back into the Top 25 helped, too.

8. Ole Miss (9-1, 5-1 SEC)

BEST WIN: 34-26 at Oklahoma
LAST WEEK: 8

No change for Ole Miss after blanking *checks notes* The Citadel.

7. Oregon (8-1, 5-1 B1G)

BEST WIN: 18-16 at Iowa
LAST WEEK: 5

The first 5 games of the season for Oregon were exceptional. The Ducks splattered bad teams and then won a high-stakes game at Penn State. But Penn State has fallen apart since that game, and Oregon has looked questionable for several weeks.

6. Georgia (8-1, 6-1 SEC)

BEST WIN: 43-35 vs. Ole Miss
LAST WEEK: 7

In an effort to avoid Muddy Waters 62 yelling into the void about me some more, Georgia got a small upgrade this week. The Bulldogs went on the road and controlled a game without intervention from the officials. Good job!

5. Texas Tech (9-1, 6-1 Big 12)

BEST WIN: 29-7 vs. BYU
LAST WEEK: 6

The best win of the weekend belonged to the Red Raiders, who hosted ESPN’s College GameDay, then went out and destroyed a previously unbeaten BYU team. Tech forced 3 turnovers, held BYU to 3-of-14 on third down, and limited BYU to 67 rushing yards on 27 attempts. The defense is good enough to win games in the CFP.

4. Alabama (8-1, 6-0 SEC)

BEST WIN: 24-21 at Georgia
LAST WEEK: 4

Alabama listened to talk all week about LSU’s sudden changes making the Tigers a threat to the Tide. Alabama went out and little brothered LSU.

3. Ohio State (9-0, 6-0 B1G)

BEST WIN: 14-7 vs. Texas
LAST WEEK: 3

The Buckeyes have given up double-digit points in back-to-back games. Alert the elders.

2. Indiana (10-0, 7-0 B1G)

BEST WIN: 30-20 at Oregon
LAST WEEK: 2

Indiana didn’t separate from Penn State, but it also didn’t trail in the game until less than 7 minutes were left on the game clock. Still, a come-from-behind win at Beaver Stadium is an achievement, and this happened to be Indiana’s first-ever win in State College. The toe-tapping touchdown catch from Omar Cooper Jr. was one of the greatest catches I’ve ever seen, considering the circumstances.

1. Texas A&M (9-0, 6-0 SEC)

BEST WIN: 41-40 at Notre Dame
LAST WEEK: 1

Texas A&M stays at No. 1 for me. The Aggies have won 3-straight road games in the SEC, which is remarkable. The latest came convincingly against a good-but-injured Missouri team.