College football rankings 2023, Projected Week 13 CFP Top 25: Washington jumps FSU, Georgia dominates
- Washington stayed perfect with a gritty (and wet) win over Oregon State
- Florida State's victory marred by Jordan Travis injury
- Georgia, Ohio State dominate to keep hold of Top 2
Projected Top 25 College Football Playoff rankings after Week 12: No. 15-11
15. Oregon State Beavers
Let’s be real, it’d be disingenuous to knock Jonathan Smith’s Beavers too much after the effort they put forth in Corvallis against a Top 5 team in the country. Oregon State fought tooth and nail against a great team but came up just short in a dogfight. This team has three losses, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a truly bad one, especially since the Wazzu loss was back when the Cougs were healthy and cooking.
14. LSU Tigers
With all due respect to Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr., Jayden Daniels should be the Heisman Trophy winner. If the award is to honor the peak of individual excellence, no one has been more electric than the LSU quarterback, and he put on another show in Baton Rouge on Saturday night, albeit against Georgia State. Daniels had five first-half touchdowns, added onto that in the second half, and just ran the Panthers off of the field in a blowout win for the Tigers.
13. Oklahoma Sooners
Still alive for a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game if they can get some help, the Sooners almost squandered that on Saturday in Provo as they went on the road to face a struggling BYU team. The Cougars ran all over Oklahoma, though, and kept themselves in the fight despite committing three turnovers. OU scored on a beastly 16-yard Gavin Sawchuk run in the fourth quarter to win, 31-24, but it was anything but pretty from Brent Venables’ team.
12. Ole Miss Rebels
If you were watching the first half of Ole Miss hosting UL Monroe, you were probably wondering what the hell was going on when Lane Kiffin’s team went into halftime up just 7-3. Thankfully for the overall mental health of Oxford, the Rebels got cooking in the second half with Jaxson Dart throwing three touchdown passes and securing the 35-3 win. Ole Miss is still alive for the New Year’s Six, but they’ll need to be better in the Egg Bowl next week to make sure the hopes keep a pulse.
11. Penn State Nittany Lions
On the heels of the loss to Michigan last week, completing the James Franklin signature double of dominating the majority of the Big Ten but losing to the Wolverines and Ohio State, Penn State welcomed Rutgers to town. It was a rock fight in Happy Valley but the Nittany Lions defense once again proved its merit as it completely stifled the Scarlet Knights. The run game then helped carry the load. However, Drew Allar left this game with an injury, which is something to monitor moving forward for PSU, even if their Big Ten or CFP dreams died last week.