College football rankings 2021: Projected Week 14 AP Top 25 after Michigan downs Ohio State, Alabama escapes, Oklahoma collapses in Bedlam
Predicting the AP Top 25 college football rankings after a crazy Week 13 rivalry week with Ohio State falling to Michigan,
If there’s one thing we can always count on from rivalry week, it’s absolute insanity. And Week 13 did not disappoint in that regard on Thursday, Friday and Saturday as there were AP Top 25 teams slipping up all around and losing their place in the college football rankings.
Most notably, Michigan finally got over the giant-sized hump known as Ohio State in convincing fashion, Alabama nearly lost to an Auburn team that was 6-5 coming into the game, and Oklahoma lost control of a Bedlam Series they’ve dominated over the past two decades.
That’s not all we saw, though, and the AP Top 25 college football rankings are definitely going to change in a big way after the final week of the regular season.
Projected AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 13: No. 25-21
25. Minnesota Golden Gophers
Everyone in Minnesota wanted more than just than Paul Bunyan’s Axe — they wanted to make Wisconsin hurt as a Gophers win would knock the Badgers out of the Big Ten Championship Game. P.J. Fleck delivered on that wish and, despite a horrible loss to Bowling Green, Minnesota is now 8-4 and deserving of a spot at the back end of the AP Top 25.
24. Clemson Tigers
Dabo Swinney deserves a lot of credit for never allowing his Clemson Tigers to quit. Despite early losses, despite big injuries, and despite the human-nature desire to pack it in, they never did, including capping off their year with a dominant win over South Carolina in the Palmetto Bowl, even if they fell just short of the ACC Championship Game.
23. NC State Wolfpack
In all honesty, the Wolfpack shouldn’t have won on Friday night. They were dead to rights against rival UNC, trailing by nine points with just minutes remaining. Then the Tar Heels did everything possible to blow the game and give it back to their rivals. As such, NC State is going to move up just one spot in the rankings and not move despite some losses ahead of them.
22. Texas A&M Aggies
For a season in which Jimbo Fisher led the Aggies to a win over Alabama, you would think that they would be doing better than finishing fifth in the SEC West and outside the top 20 in the AP poll. Yet, that’s the reality as Texas A&M took a game they should’ve won and allowed LSU to come back and pick up the shocking win.
21. UTSA Roadrunners
One victory away from a perfect regular season and the Roadrunners tripped all over themselves against a North Texas team that became bowl-eligible with the win over UTSA. Considering that they’re still 11-1, this shouldn’t be like the CFP committee where they kill this team but they definitely have to drop with the undefeated record now tarnished.