World News – USA – College Football Ranking: B / R’s Top 25 after Week 12

On a day that the state of Ohio survived a top 10 showdown with Indiana to keep playoff hopes up, Cincinnati came back for a tough win, UCF and Kyle Trask were the first SEC quarterback in history to throw 30 passes on goals in the first seven games of the season. In college football, things stayed pretty current.

The only real hiccups that Saturday was no. 10 Wisconsin loses 19th in a classic, flawed Big Ten defensive Donnybrook to Northwestern.

Bedlam was tame as never before, and Liberty’s spectacular run of the season against the state of North Carolina failed to materialize, while Coastal Carolina continued. There were many twists and turns, even if Saturday had few problems.

B / R’s five-person expert group – David Kenyon, Adam Kramer, Kerry Miller, Joel Reuter, and Brad Shepard – tried to sort it all out. Each submitted a top 25 ballot with a first vote counting 25 points, followed by 24 points for the second, 23 for the third, and so on. .

1. Alabama (last week: 1) 2. Ohio State (2) 3. Notre Dame (3) 4. Clemson (4) 5. Cincinnati (5) 6. Florida (6) 7. BYU (7) 8. Texas A&M (8) 9. Northwest (18) 10. Indiana (9) 11. Miami (11) 12. Coastal Carolina (13) 13. Marshall (14) 14. Oregon (12) 15. Oklahoma (20) 16. Georgia (17) 17th. Iowa State (25) 18. Wisconsin (10) 19th. USC (19) 20. Louisiana (22) 21. Auburn (NR) 22. Freedom (16) 23. Tulsa (23) 24. Texas (24) 25. Oklahoma State (15) Other who received votes: Colorado

It would have been easy to talk about the Ohio State Buckeyes, who won a top 10 showdown against Indiana, or the Cincinnati Bearcats, who continued to rumble against the UCF despite falling early.

That distinction should go to the Oklahoma Sooners, who are much tougher than their No.. 18 ranking would suggest now. After a shaky early season of injuries, opt-outs, suspensions and youth break-ins, coach Lincoln Riley Oklahoma looks like Oklahoma again.

They went out and demoralized rival Oklahoma State in « Bedlam » on Saturday night and set fire to No.. 14 cowboys after the final score of 41-13.

This is not the same team that lost consecutive games to Kansas State and Iowa State earlier this season. Since then, they have had five straight wins that ended with beautiful shows against rivals Texas and Oklahoma State.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler continued his remarkable development after showing up earlier in the season to go on the bench during the two-game debacle. Riley set him up again and he’s been brilliant ever since.

Saturday night was perhaps his best game as he set the Big 12’s top defense on fire and finished the 17-of-24 for 301 yards and four touchdowns. The winning streak and quality game coincided directly with the return of Rhamondre Stevenson (141 rushing yards), who provides the balance the offense needs.

Perhaps the biggest revelation, however, and the most important one for the future of the program, is how much better Defense Coordinator Alex Grinch’s unit looks like. You were excellent against the cowboys, you have a limping Chuba Hubbard and really shut down the entire cowboys offensive.

Oklahoma State ended up only 150 yards, and part of that was in garbage time after the game was good in hand. The Sooners made sure that Bedlam quickly became Bed Time.

The Wisconsin Badgers won a victory over Michigan a week ago after a long layoff related to COVID-19.

Coach Paul Chryst’s team traveled to Chicago to battle No.. 19 Northwestern on Saturday, and the Badgers left their offensive at Camp Randall with a shocking 17-7 loss in a game that shifted power to Big Ten West.

There was no sign that Redshirt freshman quarterback Graham Mertz and his unit would see anything like what they did against the Wildcats.

Part of that was Northwestern’s stifling defensive effort, but for the tenth-placed Wisconsin team, there wasn’t a rhythm throughout the day that didn’t look like it belonged anywhere near the top 10. They made a total of 366 yards, but every time something got going, a self-inflicted wound ended it.

The Badgers kept coming into play all year long, but Mertz threw three of them against Northwestern. Additionally, an ugly trend continued for Wisconsin as it lost two more mistakes, bringing its total to five that year.

Five turnovers were more than enough to keep the momentum going in the corner of Northwestern, and the undefeated Wildcats took Indiana’s place as a big pre-season surprise to the Big Ten. The Hoosiers were more than one game in their 42:35 loss to the state of Ohio, but they now have a flaw on their record.

Wisconsin too, and an early season that started with so much promise, now stares at question marks galore as the offense must find a way to regain the shape that Big Ten fans have of the conference’s prospects enthusiastic contenders for two college football playoffs.

That is out of the question now for the Badgers, who must get Mertz back on track in a rush with a game against an improving Minnesota team coming up next week.

Only one of Wisconsin’s 17 drives ended up in a score, and only two drove more than 42 yards. In addition to the five sales, there were also four three-and-off sales. That was bad offensive football all round, and now the Badgers are out looking at the picture of the conference championship.

For the past four seasons, the Sun Belt title run has taken a direct route through Boone, North Carolina, with the Appalachian State Mountaineers winning every championship.

That probably won’t happen this year thanks to an unexpected run by the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers that is one of the funniest and most exhilarating subplots of a crazy 2020 college football season.

It’s fitting that this season is straight out of a picture book, considering that the mascot is based on a character from Chaucer’s The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, one of the Canterbury Tales. The chanticleer is a dominant rooster who rules the court.

Despite a fierce back-and-forth affair against the climbers back home in Conway, South Carolina, the Chanticleers found a way to beat Redshirt freshman star quarterback Grayson McCall 34-23 on Saturday.

Grayson McCall finished the race with 200 yards, 69 yards and three touchdowns. D’Jordan Strong sealed the win with a 38-yard pick-six at 1:20 to make it look a little easier than it was. This was definitely the biggest win in program history

As bad as 2020 was for many people, it was Coastal Carolina’s year in the sports world.

Proud graduate Dustin Johnson just won his second major golf championship and first Masters tournament last weekend. The men’s soccer team just won their fourth Sun Belt conference tournament title, and the volleyball team is undefeated ahead of their postseason.

Don’t forget this program has a flair for drama: the baseball team won the College World Series in 2016. So if the chants miraculously make it into the college football playoffs, then watch out. At least they keep hopes of a New Year’s Six Bowl game going with an exciting win in front of an ESPN crowd.

They also kept the Cinderella Bowl excitement going by playing the other feel-good story, Liberty, in two weeks’ time too.

There are several Sharpie games on the college football program every year, regardless of the leaderboard, and the Iron Bowl showdown between Alabama and Auburn should be one of them.

You never know what kind of craziness is going on in this case, and it will be in Tuscaloosa this coming weekend between the senior Crimson Tide and No. . 23 Auburn. On paper it looks like Alabama has a huge advantage, but you never know in this game.

That’s pretty much the taste of week 13 in college football. On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of massive showdowns going on, but there are plenty of games that could make the competitors sweat.

The only other matchup will be between No.. 17 Iowa State and No.. 22 Texas in a game that will make a big 12 impact. This is one of those games that could go either way with the explosiveness of the Longhorns and the disciplined unity of the Cyclones.

While Notre Dame has been demonstrating its veteran leadership year-round, the second-tier Irish must travel to North Carolina to compete against a team of Tar Heels that is offensively dangerous, despite not having proven they are none of it can hold evaluation.

Then there is the civil war between No.. 11 Oregon and Oregon State, dangerous Maryland traveling to Indiana to take on the Hoosiers, Oklahoma explosively attacked on the way to Morgantown against West Virginia, and Minnesota with a trip to Wisconsin after its great victory over Purdue.

Fifth-placed Texas A&M Aggies must keep their hopes of making the playoffs by beating a young LSU team that took Arkansas 3-3 on Saturday.

None of these games other than the two ranked showdowns should keep fans up at night throughout the holiday week, but upsets are part of the game and there’s plenty of potential for them to play next week.

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