College football rankings: Top 25 teams moving up, down in Week 13

These college football teams will give AP top 25 voters something to think about as they create the new rankings coming out of a big weekend and heading into Week 13 action.

Predicting what college football teams will be moving up, and down, in the AP top 25 rankings moving into Week 13 action. / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

It was a Statement Saturday across college football this past weekend, especially in a pair of prove-it matchups in the SEC that will force some big decisions from AP top 25 voters when they cast their ballots for the new rankings heading into Week 13.

Facing likely elimination from the College Football Playoff, a preseason national title favorite passed a huge test at home against a highly-ranked conference rival, while the Big 12 title picture got much more interesting with some notable results across that league.

What teams will be on the move in the AP top 25 college football rankings this week? 

Let’s take a shot at predicting who’s moving up, and who’s going down, in the polls heading into Week 13.

Rankings reflect AP top 25 poll

Moving up: Georgia

Last week’s ranking: No. 11

Under an avalanche of criticism for his play this season, Georgia quarterback Carson Beck needed to play his best football at the moment when his team needed him most.

Facing almost certain playoff elimination, Beck responded with a signature performance as the Bulldogs rebounded from an early deficit to put away rival Tennessee by 2 touchdowns at home.

Beck passed for 246 yards and 2 touchdowns with no turnovers, benefiting from some markedly improved protection behind a line that had struggled against quality defenses, but reserved some of its most inspired play in the face of the Vols’ elite pass rushers at just the right time.

Georgia outscored Tennessee, 31-7, after spotting its rival a 10-0 lead early on, and made a statement with a long scoring drive in the fourth quarter over 92 yards to add another touchdown spurred by Beck hitting on throws of 28 and 21 yards.

Getting a solid win against the highly-ranked Volunteers lifts an enormous weight off Georgia’s back heading into the final stretch of the regular season.

Having that win makes things much easier looking ahead to home games against UMass and Georgia Tech to close out before playoff selection, making a 10-2 record a virtual certainty now.

AP voters may be reluctant to jump the Bulldogs over the Ole Miss team they lost to last week, but should move into the top 10 as the Vols slide down, likely behind Georgia but ahead of idle Miami.

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Moving down: Tennessee 

Last week’s ranking: No. 6

Having quarterback Nico Iamaleava on the field after a concussion scare last week was meant to be the third and decisive factor for the Vols, which had a perceived advantage both defensively and running the ball heading into Georgia this week.

Tennessee did put together some long drives but struggled manufacturing many big offensive gainers, finishing without a pass play of more than 20 yards as Iamaleava didn’t score a touchdown and the team didn’t score a single point in the second half in the loss.

Dylan Sampson powered through for a touchdown that gave Tennessee a lead and finished with 101 yards, but Iamaleava had just 167 passing yards in the losing effort and now hasn’t reached 200 yards in 6 of his 7 appearances against SEC opposition this year.

Georgia’s 31 points were the most by far the Volunteers allowed in a game, having previously allowed a season-worst 19 points in a loss at Arkansas.

AP top 25 voters have been willing to punish SEC teams for losing on the road -- they dumped Georgia 9 spots after last week’s loss at Ole Miss -- so we should see UT out of the top 10 in this week’s rankings.

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Moving up: Colorado

Last week’s ranking: No. 18

At this time last year, the Buffaloes were in the midst of a five-game losing streak and about to drop a sixth straight game on their way to a Big 12-worst 1-8 conference mark.

What a difference a year makes: Colorado is now 8-2 overall with a 6-1 league record after beating up Utah, in complete control of its destiny in the Big 12 title picture and, by proxy, College Football Playoff contention.

But it’s not just the Buffaloes’ famous offense that’s doing all the work these days. 

Colorado’s improved defense made a statement of sorts on Saturday, generating some consistent pressure that resulted in the unit forcing 4 sacks and intercepting 3 passes.

“We haven’t even put it all together yet,” head coach Deion Sanders said after Saturday’s win.

“Like, we haven’t even played our best game. That should be, in itself, scary. Like, man, when I said: ‘We comin’, we still comin’. We never stopped comin’. We are comin’. And we ain’t nearly there yet.’”

Star two-way player Travis Hunter put on another show, now with more than 900 all-purpose yards and 10 touchdowns on offense and 3 interceptions on defense.

With his play this weekend, Hunter further cemented his lead in the Heisman Trophy race with his performance, emerging at -500 to win college football’s highest individual honor, according to the odds at FanDuel Sportsbook.

Colorado could join Clemson in jumping idle Army in the rankings this week.

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Moving down: LSU

Last week’s ranking: No. 21

Brian Kelly had won 10 games every season as a head coach since 2017, but that streak came to an ignominious end this week after LSU’s stunning loss at Florida.

To call the second half of this season disappointing would be an understatement.

LSU recovered from a Week 1 loss to USC to play itself into SEC title contention on a streak that included a win against No. 9 Ole Miss, but Saturday saw the Tigers drop a third straight game, with all of those losses coming by more than 10 points.

LSU’s offense had been broadly productive if a little one-dimensional, but the unit only got into the end zone once against one of the SEC’s worst performing defenses this season.

Even LSU’s superb offensive line finally gave way, allowing 7 sacks of quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, 1 more than the unit had surrendered in its first 9 games combined this year.

A win in the Swamp would have put LSU in a unique position to take advantage of the SEC’s tiebreaker procedure with a path, albeit narrow, to Atlanta, but now its lofty postseason ambitions are effectively over.

As is its time in the AP top 25 rankings, as LSU should fall out of the poll this week.

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Moving up: South Carolina

Last week’s ranking: No. 23

That tough defense has been the Gamecocks’ calling card most of the year, but on Saturday it was quarterback LaNorris Sellers and the offense who came through in the clutch to hold off a resilient Missouri team at home.

Mizzou took a lead twice in the fourth quarter and on both occasions Sellers had the response, culminating in the game-winning drive on which he connected with Raheim Sanders on the clinching touchdown with just 15 seconds left in regulation.

Since starting 3-3 with close losses to LSU and Alabama, the Gamecocks have won 4 straight games against SEC competition for the first time in a dozen seasons.

With losses by higher-ranked LSU, Louisville, and Kansas State, there should be room for AP top 25 voters to reward South Carolina with as many as three spots higher in this week’s rankings.

Who else could move?

- BYU will drop a few spots in this week’s poll after suffering its first loss of the season at home against Kansas and looking ahead to a huge game at Arizona State next week.

- Louisville came into this week at No. 22 in the AP rankings, but could fall out of the poll entirely after a stunning loss on the road against underdog Stanford, deflating the team’s momentum coming off the win at Clemson and falling to 6-4 on the year.

- Tulane should get more votes after emerging at No. 25 in last week’s rankings and following an impressive 35-0 win over Navy that clinched the team a spot in the AAC Championship Game.

- Arizona State should enter the AP top 25 rankings this week after moving to 8-2 and into the third-place position in the Big 12 standings after upsetting Kansas State on the road, setting up a huge clash with BYU next Saturday.

- Conversely, K-State could fall out of the rankings after a second-straight loss that effectively ended its Big 12 title chances after having been a contender most of the year.

- Washington State dropped its first game since September in a loss at New Mexico during the late-night window and is in danger of falling out of the poll this week.

- No. 24 Missouri should fall out of the rankings after a loss at South Carolina.

More ... When the AP top 25 rankings come out

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