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AP College Football Poll 2023: Complete Week 12 Rankings Revealed

Scott Polacek

Saturday didn't really change anything.

While there was no shortage of entertaining games, all of the top College Football Playoff contenders came away with victories. Most notably, Georgia handled Ole Miss with ease and Michigan went into Penn State and came away with its most impressive win of the season.

The Associated Press poll looks different than the CFP one with the two-time reigning national champion Bulldogs on top instead of Ohio State, but the tenor of the championship race looks the same.

Here is a look at the new AP Top 25, which was released Sunday:

  1. Georgia
  2. Michigan
  3. Ohio State
  4. Florida State
  5. Washington
  6. Oregon
  7. Texas
  8. Alabama
  9. Louisville
  10. Oregon State
  11. Missouri
  12. Penn State
  13. Ole Miss
  14. Oklahoma
  15. LSU
  16. Utah
  17. Tulane
  18. James Madison
  19. Arizona
  20. Notre Dame
  21. Tennessee
  22. North Carolina
  23. Kansas State
  24. Oklahoma State
  25. Liberty

Georgia made a statement with its 52-17 blowout win, but it wasn't that easy for everyone else.

Both Washington and Florida State escaped conference matchups against Utah and Miami, respectively, with seven-point wins. Utah blocked a late field goal and had an opportunity to perhaps force overtime against the Huskies, but the Washington defense held strong. The Seminoles did the same on the Hurricanes' final drive.

Elsewhere, Oregon gave USC its fourth loss of the season in a 36-27 win that wasn't as close as the final score indicated thanks to two late touchdowns from the Trojans.

The biggest scare came for Texas, which seemed to be on cruise control against TCU with a 26-6 halftime lead before the Horned Frogs made things interesting down the stretch. TCU scored 20 points in the fourth quarter and closed the deficit to three before Adonai Mitchell made a game-saving catch on a third-and-12 to clinch the win for the Longhorns.

Saturday wasn't a sweat for Ohio State during a win over Michigan State and Alabama during a victory over Kentucky, but the biggest result probably belonged to Michigan.

The Wolverines went into one of the most difficult places to play in all of college football without suspended head coach Jim Harbaugh and were in control for the majority of a 24-15 win over Penn State.

In fact, they threw the ball just eight times and used a strong defense and running back Blake Corum to demoralize the Nittany Lions and knock James Franklin's squad out of the CFP race with a second loss.

There figures to be plenty of fireworks to end the college football season, but next Saturday is lining up to be the calm before the storm. Of the serious championship contenders, only Washington faces what looks to be a serious challenge with a road game at Oregon State.

Ohio State hosts Minnesota, Michigan faces Maryland, Florida State plays North Alabama, Oregon goes against Arizona State, Alabama matches up with Chattanooga and Texas is at Iowa State. Perhaps Tennessee can challenge Georgia, but the Bulldogs seem to be hitting their stride and should roll.

That means there likely won't be many changes in next week's rankings either.

   

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