The final AP Top 25 of the regular season has No. 11 Alabama one spot — and one voting point — ahead of No. 12 SMU as the teams await the final College Football Playoff rankings to determine which one makes the first 12-team field.
Oregon (13-0), the only unbeaten team left in the FBS, finished the regular season as a unanimous No. 1 after winning the Big Ten championship. Georgia (10-2), the preseason No. 1 team, is No. 2 after winning the SEC championship in overtime over Texas.
The Longhorns slipped to No.4, one spot behind Notre Dame at No. 3. That’s a season-high ranking for the Fighting Irish. Penn State dropped two spots to No. 5 after losing to Oregon 45-37. Big Ten rival Ohio State is No. 6.
Tennessee is No. 7, followed by Boise State, Indiana and Arizona State, which jumped up two spots to No. 10 after a Big 12 championship blowout win over Iowa State.
Alabama (9-3) stayed at No. 11 after not reaching the SEC championship game, while SMU (11-2) dropped four spots to No. 12 after losing the ACC title on a walk-off, 56-yard field goal to Clemson. The Tigers jumped five spots to No. 13, one ahead of South Carolina, which beat Clemson by a field goal to finish the regular season.
Alabama has 838 points in the poll, just a point ahead of SMU (837) and 11 ahead of Clemson (827).
AP Top 25 on Dec. 8
|
Rank
|
Team
|
Record
|
Prev.
|
Matt’s vote
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
13-0 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
2 |
11-2 |
5 |
2 |
|
|
3 |
11-1 |
4 |
5 |
|
|
4 |
11-2 |
2 |
3 |
|
|
5 |
11-2 |
3 |
4 |
|
|
6 |
10-2 |
7 |
6 |
|
|
7 |
10-2 |
6 |
7 |
|
|
8 |
12-1 |
10 |
9 |
|
|
9 |
11-1 |
9 |
8 |
|
|
10 |
11-2 |
12 |
10 |
|
|
11 |
9-3 |
11 |
13 |
|
|
12 |
11-2 |
8 |
12 |
|
|
13 |
10-3 |
18 |
11 |
|
|
14 |
9-3 |
13 |
16 |
|
|
15 |
10-2 |
14 |
14 |
|
|
16 |
9-3 |
15 |
15 |
|
|
17 |
10-2 |
17 |
17 |
|
|
18 |
10-3 |
16 |
19 |
|
|
19 |
11-1 |
24 |
20 |
|
|
20 |
9-3 |
20 |
18 |
|
|
21 |
8-3 |
21 |
23 |
|
|
22 |
9-3 |
23 |
21 |
|
|
23 |
9-3 |
22 |
22 |
|
|
24 |
10-3 |
19 |
24 |
|
|
25 |
10-2 |
25 |
25 |
Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 75, Louisville 37, Duke 29, Kansas State 9, Marshall 8, LSU 8, Florida 5, Ohio 2, Tulane 2, Baylor 2, Louisiana 1
No new teams entered the rankings after championship weekend,
No. 19 Army matched Clemson for the biggest rise, jumping five places after dominating Tulane for the American Athletic Conference championship.
No. 24 UNLV slipped five spots after losing to Boise State in the Mountain West title game.
How Matt voted
• Most of my top 10 is close to the AP poll, but I kept Notre Dame behind Texas and Penn State rather than penalize the Longhorns and Nittany Lions for close losses in top-five matchups in extra games while the Irish were at home. Notre Dame has a good case to be ahead, given the lack of marquee wins by Texas and Penn State and its dominant stretch of play in recent weeks, but it’s not like it has a true marquee win, either. And I’d take Texas’ two losses (both to Georgia) and Penn State’s (Oregon and Ohio State) over Notre Dame’s one to Northern Illinois. There’s no doubt the teams from No. 3 to No. 7 — also including Ohio State and Tennessee — are tightly bunched, though. A lot of reasonable cases can be made.
• The debate for the final at-large Playoff bid is between SMU and Alabama. Just like the poll, I placed SMU 12th on my ballot. The difference is I jumped Clemson ahead of the Mustangs after the ACC title game — and also ahead of Alabama, which I have 13th. I don’t believe SMU deserves to fall out of the Playoff after losing an extra game on a long walk-off field goal, for an Alabama team that has more quality wins but also lost to Vanderbilt and was crushed by 6-6 Oklahoma.
• Overall, I’m very close to the consensus. I have the same 25 teams on my ballot this week as the poll, with nobody more than two spots different. Now, we wait to see how it compares to the selection committee. — Matt Brown, college sports managing editor and AP Top 25 voter
Required reading
(Photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
