College football rankings 2021: Projected Week 14 AP Top 25 after Michigan downs Ohio State, Alabama escapes, Oklahoma collapses in Bedlam

10. Ohio State Buckeyes

Especially with the way they trounced Purdue and Michigan State leading up to The Game, it seemed as if the stage was perfectly set for Ohio State to dominate rival Michigan yet again, make Jim Harbaugh 0-6 against the Buckeyes, and allow Ryan to all but punch his ticket to the College Football Playoff once again. Unfortunately, the scene in Ann Arbor played out much differently.

To over-simplify the matter, Ohio State got hit in the mouth with a true haymaker for the first time since they played Oregon and didn’t know how to react. The offense played fine but was stifled far more often than they’re used to. Meanwhile, they had no answer for the Michigan rushing attack and that was all she wrote. Now, the Buckeyes are surely out of the playoff, out of the Big Ten Championship Game and making alternative postseason plans.

9. Oregon Ducks

The animosity-filled rivalry with Oregon State certainly had some fans in Eugene worried heading into Saturday, especially with the way the Ducks have let them down on numerous occasions this season, most recently last week with the dud they laid in a can’t-lose spot against Stanford. Things definitely got crazy against the Beavers but hats off Oregon for getting it done.

Winning the rivalry game only takes away some of the sting of what could’ve been for Mario Cristobal, his team and the fans, though. This team had a surefire path to the playoff and the blew it with the loss to Utah. That’s a tough pill to swallow but, hey, maybe exacting revenge in the rematch against the Utes in the Pac-12 title game will help ease the blow a bit more.