College football rankings 2023, Projected Week 12 CFP Top 25: Georgia claims No. 1, Michigan makes statement

Projected Top 25 College Football Playoff rankings after Week 11: No. 15-11

15. LSU Tigers

It’s the same story we’ve seen time and again from LSU. Jayden Daniels and the Tigers offense are absolutely electric, which the QB showed with two 50+ yard rushing scores and over 200 yards on the ground with 600+ yards of total offense and five total touchdowns. But the defense still can’t stop a cold at this point, which allowed Florida to keep things close in Baton Rouge on Saturday night and put LSU in danger of losing its fourth game of the season. A couple of timely late stops and Daniels cooking, however, got the win for LSU and pushes them into the Top 15 again.

14. Ole Miss Rebels

Ole Miss may have to navigate the rest of its season without starting quarterback Jaxson Dart as the veteran was forced out of the loss to Georgia in the second half after a big collision. It wouldn’t have made a difference in Athens, though, as the game was already out of reach by that point. The Rebels defense got a bit exposed in the blowout loss to the reigning national champions, but enough chaos happened in this range of the Top 25 for Ole Miss to stay in the Top 15. 

13. Oklahoma Sooners

With Oklahoma losing Bedlam a week ago, it felt as if the Sooners fell completely out of the college football consciousness. West Virginia certainly won’t forget about them after Saturday night, though. Brent Venables’ team put a hurting on the Mountaineers in Norman, scoring seemingly whenever they wanted and doing more than enough defensively to make this a blowout. And with Oklahoma State’s stunning blowout upset loss to UCF, the Sooners are once again alive for a rematch with Texas in the Big 12 title game. 

12. Penn State Nittany Lions

Another spotlight game, another chapter of James Franklin disappointing the fan base. This was almost the same game as Penn State’s loss to Ohio State earlier in the year. Drew Allar and the offense had nothing going for most of this game outside of a handful of plays. And while the Nittany Lions defense did an overall great job – though they were run against handily – it wasn’t enough. PSU is likely heading toward a 10-2 finish once again after this performance.

11. Missouri Tigers

The Selection Committee only dropped Missouri two spots in the Top 25 after the loss to Georgia last week, which shows that there’s a lot of deserved respect being given to Eli Drinkwitz’s Tigers. They showed why on Saturday as they embarrassed Tennessee in a 36-7 blowout where they had their way on both sides of the ball, particularly with a career day for former walk-on Cody Schrader (321 all-purpose yards). Mizzou’s hopes of playing for an SEC title are all but dead, but a New Year’s Six bid is still a possibility.