ESPN updates FPI Top 25 rankings after Week 12 of college football with new No. 1

ESPN has updated its Football Power Index (FPI) Top 25 after a loaded Week 12 Saturday of college football.

What else can you say, it was another tremendously entertaining week of college football. The duos of Washington-Oregon, Alabama-Georgia and Michigan-Ohio State all took care of business as we circle in on huge matchups between them with certain playoff spots on the line. So below, you can read about all the action and check out where everyone landed in the full FPI top 25 as we round the corner and head towards the final week of the regular season.

Format: Team (Record) | (Movement in rankings vs. last week)

1. Ohio State (11-0) (+1)

After a one week hiatus from the top spot, Ohio State has returned to the throne they’ve held for most weeks this season in ESPN’s FPI ratings thanks to a blowout 37-3 win over Minnesota at home. This week, it was TreVeyon Henderson who served as the offensive work horse, taking just 15 carries for 146 yards and two touchdowns to lead the way.

Now, the Buckeyes prepare to travel to rival Michigan for all the marbles. And this time around, with a deeper group of national contenders for the College Football Playoff still remaining, it’s highly unlikely both clubs wind up making the field like last season. So you’re looking at one matchup for both the Big Ten title game appearance and likely the playoff as well.

2. Michigan (10-0) (-1)

All eyes turn to Ann Arbor for one of — if not the — biggest regular season conference matchup of the season. But really, all eyes in the college football world have been on Ann Arbor for the last month as the program continues to deal with fallout from the sign-stealing scandal while now not having its head coach on the sidelines. They won’t vs. Ohio State either.

However, the ultimate goal is still right there for the Wolverines. They’re undefeated and welcoming a likewise-undefeated OSU team into the Big House with playoff and Big Ten title hopes on the line. Win that game, as they’ll likely be favored to even without Harbaugh, and Michigan can storm into the playoff getting their coach back while likely occupying the No. 1 or No. 2 seed.

3. Georgia (11-0) (+3)

Georgia hasn’t been a force in the FPI ratings this season, but ESPN’s model was left with no choice but to promote the Dawgs as they continue to pound quality SEC opponents into the dirt from one week to the next. Tennessee felt the full force of the two-time reigning champions as UGA scored twice in each of the first three quarters to eventually bury the Volunteers at home, 38-10.

Now, it’s on to Georgia Tech, who stands virtually no chance against in the rivalry matchup, before Georgia then heads to their own game for all the marbles: the SEC title vs. Alabama. As mentioned in the Ohio State section, there’s simply more teams left in the mix for CFP spots this late in the season compared to 2022-23, so yes, beating Alabama is still a must if Bulldog fans want to feel 100% safe on selection day.

4. Alabama (10-1)

Like Georgia, Alabama has continued to rise after an early-season swoon which included that loss at home to Texas. Since that misstep, though, Nick Saban has whipped this team into shape for one of the finer coaching jobs of his career. The superstars aren’t as plentiful as they have been in Tuscaloosa, but the overall talent and, obviously, the elite coaching have allowed the Tide to rebound right back into the playoff mix.

Of course, the Iron Bowl awaits in the regular season finale with Alabama traveling to Auburn this year. However, they may have caught Hugh Freeze’s team at the perfect time as they’re coming off a horrendous 31-10 home loss to New Mexico State.

5. Oregon (10-1) (-2)

Arguably no one-loss team in college football has a more impenetrable resume. The Ducks have smashed 10 of 11 teams on their schedule to date, in a very good Pac-12, while possessing just one loss, which came on the road against a top-five and undefeated Washington team thanks to a missed field goal at the buzzer.

Despite a strong resume, the road to the CFP is not easy. First, Oregon needs to handle pesky rival Oregon State this weekend, who just took Washington to the wire and is 8-3 on the year. Then, they’ll get a rematch with then Huskies in the Pac-12 title game — with BOTH teams’ playoff chances on the line.

6. Penn State (9-2) (-1)

Penn State continues to be a tremendously easy team to predict. The Nittany Lions are talented like the top contenders and have a gnarly defense. It’s just — the offense is not built to win this current iteration of the team a Big Ten or national title, especially not with Michigan and Ohio State sharing the division.

So, PSU has hammered every opponent aside from the Buckeyes and Wolverines, and then lost to those two clubs in competitive contests. This week, they slowly marched to a 27-6 win over Rutgers that was competitive for longer than you’d expect — which has been a theme for this rising Scarlet Knight group.

7. Oklahoma (9-2)

Oklahoma certainly had to overcome some unexpected hurdles in their win over BYU in Provo over the weekend. The Sooners saw starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel go down on the last possession of the first half, forcing backup freshman Jackson Arnold to finish the game. Plus, the field was so wet and in rough shape that players were slipping and sliding everywhere.

Nonetheless, in a back and forth contest, Oklahoma eventually prevailed. In large part, they can thank a pick-six and a more than serviceable job by Arnold to keep the Cougars just far enough out of reach.

8. Texas (10-1) (+1)

Texas hasn’t been winning pretty but they’ve been winning nonetheless. This week, they toppled a decent Iowa State team on the road who was a sneaky contender alongside the Longhorns for a league title game spot, giving them five straight victories since the heartbreaker in Dallas.

Those wins include a survival at Houston, 31-24, partially thanks to a very questionable spot of the ball late in that one which went towards the ‘Horns. Then, they eked out three-point victories over Kansas and TCU while blowing out BYU. Take care of Texas Tech next week and Steve Sarkisian’s group will play with the playoff potentially on the line during championship weekend.

9. Florida State (11-0) (-1)

What can even be said? Jordan Travis‘ story is just the absolute all-time gut-wrench in college football. A player in his sixth year of school finally finding success on the national stage with a program who hasn’t been there in a while — only to go out for the year with a grisly leg injury while undefeated and going for 11-0 just before a rivalry matchup in Week 13 and the ACC title in two weekends.

Hope isn’t all the way down the drain for the Seminoles, obviously. Florida’s not having a great year and that contest should be a win during rivalry week, and while Louisville sits at 10-1, they’re a team who lost to 3-8 Pittsburgh and scraped by in one-possession wins over Virginia, Miami, NC State and Georgia Tech. Tate Rodemaker can certainly still propel this program to two more wins. The question is: does an undefeated FSU team get docked in the playoff discussion for no longer having their QB?

10. LSU (8-3) (+1)

The best player in college football is an LSU Tiger — and that’s been the case virtually all year. No matter the opponent, Jayden Daniels is just ripping to shreds every single defense he faces.

The Florida game last weekend featured a gluttonous performance from him, as Daniels logged over 600 yards of offense alone with his arm and legs. Then, he scored eight touchdowns (six passing, two rushing) vs. Georgia State this weekend along with 400+ passing yards yet again. If LSU’s defense was two percent better, JD would be your runaway Heisman candidate — and perhaps that means he should be anyway.

FPI Rankings 11-25

11. Notre Dame (+1)
12. Kansas State (-2)
13. Washington 
14. Texas A&M 
15. Ole Miss
16. Oregon State (+2)
17. Tennessee (-1)
18. Clemson (+2)
19. Missouri
20. Louisville (+2)
21. USC (-4)
22. SMU (+1)
23. North Carolina (+1)
24. Utah (-3)
25. Miami (NEW)

In the latter half of the rankings, Kansas State has fallen back out of the top-10 after a short stint up there, while USC and Utah suffered the largest plummets after the Trojans got whupped 38-20 on their home field by rival UCLA, while the Utes fell on the road against a scalding hot Arizona team. On the other hand, Louisville and Miami both made moves after battling it out this weekend and fellow ACC competitor Clemson jumped a couple spots as well after beating North Carolina.