ESPN updates FPI Top 25 rankings after wild Week 13 of college football

ESPN has updated its Football Power Index (FPI) Top 25 after a loaded final regular season week of college football.

What else can you say, it was one last tremendously entertaining week of college football to close out the regular season. Michigan came away victorious in a rather high-scoring edition of The Game, while fellow College Football playoff contenders Washington, Alabama and Florida State all managed to get past their in-state rivals. 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 (11-1)

Oh boy, Michigan fans will have a field day with this one. After Ohio State long stood as the No. 1 team in FPI, Michigan actually knocked them off a couple weeks back, but the Buckeyes rebounded to reclaim the throne heading into The Game. Then, despite a third straight Wolverine victory in the rivalry, the FPI still kept OSU atop the rankings.

Does it make any sense? Nope, but that’s more or less been par for the course for a computer-driven ranking system like the FPI this season. For the Buckeyes, Ryan Day‘s name is certainly taking a beating online while also drawing some attention from the Texas A&M job opening after he just lost to the rival for a third straight time while a playoff appearance like last year’s (where OSU still made it after a Michigan loss) is incredibly unlikely. It could be a wild offseason in Columbus.

2. Michigan (12-0)

Coach-less and embroiled in scandal, Michigan just keeps hammering away on the football field. Whether Sherrone Moore or Jim Harbaugh is dialing up the plays, the actual Wolverine players have demolished every opponent in their path, including the Buckeyes.

The Michigan stars showed out in this year’s edition of The Game, especially on offense. JJ McCarthy rarely blows up the stat sheet and recorded less than 150 pass yards but made the plays he needed to, several of which involved top receiver Roman Wilson. Then, on the ground, Blake Corum lived up to his billing with 88 rush yards and two touchdowns for the day.

3. Oregon (11-1) (+2)

Friday night, Oregon completed a regular season that is just about as close to flawless as you’ll ever find. They lost just one game… at the buzzer on a missed field goal to what is now a 12-0 Washington team and then won the other 11 all by seven points or more. After that Washington loss, the average margin of victory was 26 points in their final six wins — all vs. Pac-12 teams.

So they have an 11-1 record, a leading Heisman contender in Bo Nix and now will play potentially for the College Football Playoff in a rematch against Washington in the Pac-12 title game. What’s interesting, though, is that despite having teams with a combined 23-1 record, the Pac-12 still isn’t certain to get a team in. Because if Oregon topples the Huskies as they’re favored to, both teams could very well wind up just on the outside of the picture depending on how the rest of championship weekend unfolds.

4. Penn State (10-2) (+2)

What a bizarre year for the Nittany Lions. You could very well make the case that Penn State is a top-five football team that just so happened to run into two of the only teams slightly better than them in Ohio State and Michigan. Because, besides those two games, PSU absolutely decimated its schedule.

The Nittany Lions ran Big Ten West champ Iowa and their vaunted defense right off the field in a 31-0 beatdown. They also beat Rutgers, Michigan State, Maryland and West Virginia all by 20+ and didn’t allow any of their wins to come by less than one possession. It’s a dominant college football team that ran into two buzzsaws.

5. Georgia (12-0) (-2)

Add Georgia to the list of programs with a major bone to pick with the FPI. Despite winning 29 straight football games over the course of three seasons while serving as the reigning back-to-back national champions, the Bulldogs have fluctuated up and down this list all year but never topping out higher than No. 3.

For the Dawgs, FPI and CFP rankings couldn’t matter less right now as Kirby Smart’s group has one simple task left before locking up their College Football Playoff spot: beating Alabama. Win and UGA is in. Lose and… well, there’s a chance the Bulldogs could sneak in, and Paul Finebaum is openly campaigning for that possibility, but with a loaded field of contenders this season, that feels like a long shot.

6. Alabama (11-1) (-2)

We discussed how teams like Oregon, Michigan and Penn State have just put their opponents through a meat grinder and have dominated all season, like Alabama normally does. Except, this ‘Bama team is winning one close game after another, overcoming a lack of star-power by just being the better-coached football team.

If you’ve heard folks call this team Nick Saban’s finest actual coaching job, that may sound crazy, but it could also be true. Without a Heisman winner at quarterback, or several first rounders at wide receivers, or a defense that’s littered with All-Americans — Alabama has simply found a way to win. And against Auburn, they might’ve found their wildest way to win yet with a 4th down and goal conversion from the 31-yard line to score the game-winning touchdown.

7. Texas (11-1) (+1)

Texas pile-drove through Texas Tech with a 50-point victory this past weekend to wrap up their regular season and set up a Big 12 title game that leaves the Longhorns with a potential playoff appearance on the line. They’ll face Oklahoma State, who Texas hasn’t played yet this year, though the Cowboys did topple Oklahoma, the only team who beat Texas.

For Steve Sarkisian’s group, the task is fairly simple: just win baby. If Texas beats Oklahoma State, the ‘Horns are pretty certainly in the playoff. Sure, Michigan, Georgia, Florida State and Washington could all win out to give us four undefeated power conference champs, but the odds of that happening are pretty slim. If even one of those teams lose, Texas likely gets in there first thanks to that win at Alabama.

8. Oklahoma (10-2) (-1)

The last weekend in October and the first in November will loom large over this program until next fall. In eight short days, the Sooners went from Big 12 favorites and an inside track at the College Football Playoff to sitting completely outside the picture altogether thanks to consecutive losses at Kansas and at Oklahoma State.

Win either of those games and it’s Brent Venables group heading down south for a Red River rematch. Alas, OU might be kicking themselves, but fans have to be tremendously pleased with the progress made in year two of the Venables era.

9. Florida State (12-0)

Sorry Florida State, the nation is rooting against you. They were against Florida and they certainly will against Louisville as virtually no college football fan wants to see a QB-less FSU team likely get careened by a Michigan or Georgia. If Jordan Travis was still healthy, they’d be massive underdogs in a game like that. Without him? Las Vegas may not even release a point spread.

Without Travis, this Seminole team has virtually no shot of winning the playoff should they even make it. And you know the committee won’t be looking to put this Florida State team in unless they absolutely have to. So the easy solution is to get a Louisville win in the ACC title game over Florida State to go ahead and knock them out for good. But let’s see if Florida State can shut up the naysayers and make it in anyway.

10. LSU (9-3) (+1)

You could say LSU’s been out of the College Football Playoff discussion since September, when they lost their second game of the season to Ole Miss. But the season took on a new meaning for this Tiger team as their horrible defense and electric offensive talent paved the way for quarterback Jayden Daniels to put up Heisman-type numbers in a slew of SEC shootouts.

Statistically, the Heisman conversation isn’t even worth having, as Daniels clears every quarterback in the country, not just this season, but basically for the entire 2020s decade thus far on paper. Then you watch him play and the guy is a lightning bolt, running for massive gains and throwing for beautiful deep touchdowns seemingly every possession. Sure, these guys aren’t contenders, but Jayden Daniels made 2023 a memorable season regardless for LSU fans.

FPI Rankings 11-25

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