College football rankings 2023, Projected Week 12 CFP Top 25: Georgia claims No. 1, Michigan makes statement
- Georgia and Michigan both strengthened resumés with statement wins
- Oklahoma State, Kansas, Tennessee upset embarrassingly
- Alabama, Ohio State leave no doubt
Projected Top 25 College Football Playoff rankings after Week 11: No. 4-3
4. Florida State Seminoles
Florida State faced arguably its biggest remaining roadblock to a perfect regular season on Saturday as they welcomed rival Miami to Tallahassee. It looked as if the Seminoles might run away with this one too after Keon Coleman continued a huge game with a six-yard touchdown catch (to complement a 57-yard punt return that set up that drive) that put FSU up 27-13. However, a busted coverage made things quite nerve-wracking down the stretch with the Canes closing the deficit to just one score.
Emory Williams was forced out with a gnarly arm injury on Miami’s final drive as Tyler Van Dyke came in and ultimately threw the game-sealing interception.
Florida State’s defense, on the whole, played well in this game outside of just a couple of plays. And we know how dangerous this offense can be with all of the weapons around Jordan Travis. They avoided this landmine and, with only North Alabama and limping Florida remaining before the ACC Championship Game, their CFP spot is looking more and more likely.
3. Michigan Wolverines
Despite all of the possible distractions around the Wolverines program and despite not having Jim Harbaugh on the sidelines, Michigan answered its first big test of the 2023 season quite emphatically. On the road in Happy Valley, Harbaugh’s team ran all over Manny Diaz’s defense (for 227 yards to be exact) while holding Drew Allar and Co. to just 238 yards of total offense. The end result was a 24-15 road win for Michigan that will certainly boost their resumé.
Make no mistake, it wasn’t a perfect effort by any means. Michigan was held under 300 yards of total offense with OC Sherrone Moore at the helm in Harbaugh's stead as J.J. McCarthy threw for just 60 yards on eight attempts. At the same time, to be on the road in a hostile environment without the head coach and still win comfortably on the back of the defense and run game, what more can you ask for? Michigan keeps checking boxes as they keep their perfect season alive at 10-0.