The SportsRatings Top 25 is our answer to the AP and coaches' polls. This subjective "poll" properly reflects head-to-head results and give additional consideration to teams who have victories over other top 25 teams.
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Alabama and the SEC—if you're not sick of them yet, just get used to it, because until the recruiting "tide" changes nothing's going to topple either of them. The Southeastern Conference gets the best players in the nation, and they have the best teams—at least at the very top—for the 7th straight year. As for Alabama (13-1), they'll be pre-season #1, or very close, in August later this year.
And even if they'd lost tonight, it would have been to an independent, Notre Dame (12-1). We move the Irish to #3 for the ugly 42-14 loss: behind #2 Oregon (12-1), who beat Kansas State 35-17 in the Fiesta Bowl, but ahead of the Big Ten's Ohio State who finished 12-0 but played no other teams in our top 25 to get there. Those conferences—the Pac-12, Big 12, and Big Ten—have been chasing the SEC in vain lately, some with more success than others.
The Pac-12 was perhaps the #2 conference since they boast two teams in our top 5 as Stanford (12-2), who beat Wisconsin 20-14 in the Rose Bowl, comes in at #5; this year they had an overtime win vs. Oregon and an overtime loss to Notre Dame. Probably the biggest shock of the bowl season was Louisville (12-2) from the much-maligned Big East beating Florida 33-23; for that, we move the Cardinals to #6, right behind the Cardinal and ahead of the Gators. The 22-to-6 jump enforces our rule of head-to-head competition winning out whenever reasonable.
The Florida Gators (11-2) are the first of four SEC teams in a row that round out the top ten, giving the conference 5 of 10 slots. #7 Florida (11-2) previously beat #8 Texas A&M (11-2) as well as #9 South Carolina (11-2) who beat #10 Georgia (12-2). It was a little more complicated than that (Georgia beat Florida, too) but we give credit to the Aggies for beating Alabama and to Florida for beating four teams in the top 13 (they also beat Florida State and LSU). Texas A&M beat Oklahoma soundly, 41-13, while South Carolina and Georgia beat Big Ten representatives Michigan and Nebraska in well-contested affairs, 33-28 and 45-31 respectively.
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Final 2012 SportsRatings Top 25 (thru 01/07/2013)
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Résumé: Important wins / losses
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| 3 | 1 | Alabama | 13-1 | w=NotreDame 42-14, @LSU 21-17, =Georgia 32-28 L Texas A&M 29-24 |
| 5 | 2 | Oregon | 12-1 | w=KState 35-17, @OregonSt 48-24 L Stanford 17-14ot |
| 1 | 3 | Notre Dame | 12-1 | w@Oklahoma 30-13, Stanford 20-13ot L=Alabama 42-14 |
| 4 | 4 | Ohio State | 12-0 | |
| 7 | 5 | Stanford | 12-2 | w@Oregon 17-14ot, SanJoseSt 20-17, OregonSt 27-23 L@Washington 17-13, @NotreDame 20-13ot |
| 22 | 6 | Louisville | 11-2 | w=Florida 33-23, Cincy 34-31ot L UConn 23-20ot, @Syracuse 45-26 |
| 2 | 7 | Florida | 11-2 | wLSU 14-6, @TexAM 20-17, SCar 44-11, @FSU 37-26 L=Louisville 33-23, =Georgia 17-9 |
| 9 | 8 | Texas A&M | 10-2 | w@Alabama 29-24, @LaTech 59-57, =Oklahoma 41-13 L Florida 20-17, LSU 24-19 |
| 10 | 9 | South Carolina | 11-2 | wGeorgia 35-7, @Clemson 27-17 L@LSU 23-21, @Florida 44-11 |
| 11 | 10 | Georgia | 12-2 | w=Florida 17-9 L@SCar 35-7, =Bama 32-28 |
| 13 | 11 | Florida State | 12-2 | wClemson 49-37, NoIllinois 31-10 L@NCState 17-16, Florida 37-26 |
| 14 | 12 | Clemson | 11-2 | w=LSU 25-24 L@FSU 49-37, SCarolina 27-17 |
| 6 | 13 | LSU | 10-3 | wSCar 23-21, @TexAM 24-19 L@Florida 14-6, Alabama 21-17,=Clemson 25-24 |
| 8 | 14 | Kansas State | 11-2 | w@Oklahoma 24-19, Texas 42-24 L@Baylor 52-24, =Oregon 35-17 |
| 16 | 15 | Utah State | 11-2 | wLaTech 48-41ot, SanJoseSt 49-27 L@Wisconsin 16-14, @BYU 6-3 |
| 17 | 16 | San Jose St | 11-2 | wLaTech 52-43 L UtahSt 49-27, @Stanford 20-17 |
| 15 | 17 | N. Illinois | 12-2 | w=KentSt 44-37ot L=Iowa 18-17, @FSU 31-10 |
| 21 | 18 | Louisiana Tech | 9-3 | L TexAM 59-57, UtahSt 48-41ot, @SJSt 52-43 |
| 12 | 19 | Oklahoma | 10-3 | w=Texas 63-21 L ND 30-13, KansasSt 24-19, =TexAM 41-13 |
| 23 | 20 | Boise State | 11-2 | L@MichSt 17-13, SDSU 21-19 |
| -- | 21 | Arkansas State | 10-3 | w=KentSt 17-13 L@WKy 26-13, @Nebraska 42-13, @Oregon 57-34 |
| -- | 22 | Texas | 9-4 | wOreSt 31-27 L WVa 48-45, TCU 20-13, =OK 63-21, @KansasSt 42-24 |
| 19 | 23 | Oregon State | 9-4 | L@Wash 20-17, @Texas 31-27, @Stan 27-23, Ore 48-24 |
| 18 | 24 | Kent State | 11-3 | L@Kentucky 47-14, =NIU 44-37ot, =ArkSt 17-13 |
| -- | 25 | Cincinnati | 10-3 | L@Toledo 29-23, Rutgers 10-3, @Lou 34-31ot |
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| 20 | -- | Ball State | 9-4 | L@UCF 38-17, @KentSt 45-43, NIU 35-23, @Clem 52-27 |
| 24 | -- | Toledo | 9-4 | L@Arizona 24-17ot, BallSt 34-27, @NIU 31-24, =UtahSt 41-15 |
| 25 | -- | UCLA | 9-5 | L@Cal 43-17, Baylor 49-26, OreSt 27-20, Stan 35-17, @Stan 27-24 |
The 12-2 Florida State Seminoles had no trouble with Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl winning 31-10, and finish at #11, one spot ahead of Clemson (11-2) where they've been parked most of the year. The Tigers beat the LSU Tigers by a point, 25-24, preventing a six-SEC-team top 10 by a last-second field goal. LSU (10-3) falls from #6 to #13, one spot ahead of Kansas State (11-2) who drops from #8 after their loss to Oregon.
WAC Attack: The WAC made a great last stand in 2012, with Utah State and San Jose State both winning their bowl games to finish 11-2 and #15 and #16; the Aggies topped Toledo 41-15 and the Spartans beat Bowling Green 29-20, proving that it was WACtion not MACtion that was the best mid-major football this year. While Toledo fell out of the top 25 along with Ball State, and Northern Illinois (12-2) and Kent State (11-3) fell to #17 and #24 after losing their bowls, the WAC retained three teams in the top 25 including idle and bowl-less Louisiana Tech (9-3) at #18. Oklahoma (10-3) falls to #19 after losing to Texas A&M by 28, 26 more than the Bulldogs did in their shootout.
#20 Boise State finished 11-2 after beating Washington, and #21 Arkansas State (10-3) provided the Sun Belt with a representative after knocking off Kent State 17-13. Texas (9-4) upset Oregon State (9-4) 31-27 to muscle their way back in at #22, one spot ahead of the Beavers. This gives both conferences—the Big 12 and Pac-12—three teams in the top 25; all three Pac-12 teams are from the North division.
That leaves one spot—#25—and three teams with 3 losses. We gave the last rung to Cincinnati mainly due to Louisville's surprise performance. The Bearcats lost to the Cardinals in overtime, and also fell to two other quality teams. They edge out 10-3 Northwestern, who lost to three good non-top 25 teams, and 11-3 Tulsa, who lost to 4-8 Arkansas.
As mentioned, Toledo fell out along with Ball State (who lost to Central Florida 38-17), while UCLA was embarrassed by Baylor 49-26 for their 5th loss.
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